Rainbow Dash sweated. There was not a single minute of the day when she did not sweat. Even when she was beneath the blissful shade of the lean-to, she struggled just to keep from fainting due to the heat of the sun-baked ocean.
At the moment, she was preoccupying herself with a delicate task. She squatted over, teeth clenching the handle of her hatchet as she continued etching the finishing touches of a small circle into the raft's starboardmost plank of wood. This figure alone was taking the better part of an hour, and previous eight figures had consumed two full days.
With gentle persistence, however, she was at last finished with the final “O.” Spitting the hatchet back into her saddlebag, she stepped back and admired her task, having to cock her head upside down in order to better read it from the center of the raft: “Scootaloo.”
The mare smiled tiredly.
A spray of salt water kissed her flanks.
She turned and looked ahead, squinting.
Foamy waves undulated wildly ahead of her. She was approaching another oceanic swell.
Sighing slightly to herself, Rainbow Dash trotted briskly to the back of the raft, dipped the rudder in, and steered the vessel slightly towards port, preparing to round the crest of the incoming waves at an angle.
The sun set in the west, opposite of the Yaerfaerda symbol. Both beacons bobbed on either side of the watery world like lanterns situated on an epic sea saw.
Rainbow Dash clung to the mast while this recent bout of turbulence passed over. The sensation only gave her slight nausea; Rainbow was remarkably in control of her faculties. Mentally, the mare chalked it up to years of flying every stomach-churning aerial maneuver in comprehension.
It still didn't make the moment pass by any more swiftly. The pegasus remained hooked to the mast, shuddering as she watched the waves bob and weave around her. All the while, the persistent scent of salt and moisture filled her nostrils, making it hard to shut the moment out of her beleaguered mind.
By nightfall, the ocean had calmed somewhat.
Rainbow Dash lay on her back, dipping a lazy hoof into the rippling waters. She hadn't seen a single hint of marine life since she shoved off the Grand Choke's dry surface—so she had little worry of sharks or other predators.
It only made the moment all the more dull.
She inhaled and exhaled, her eyes darting around the stars above. She locked her eyes on the center of the cosmos, and—with great audacity—began counting the twinkling specks outward in a spiral. She'd get further and further in the count, but would ultimately blink one time too many, lose her place, and have to start over again. The largest number she got was two hundred and fourteen, and when she lost that she simply gave up, accepting that she had counted enough.
Relaxing her mind, Rainbow Dash focused on the silver haze the stars produced when she allowed her eyes to shut part of the way. Without even a crescent moon to illuminate her oceanic sojourn, the world took on an eerie, dim glow. She started pondering about life on the dark side of the plane—if this was the kind of existence they had to look forward to, day after sunless day. Was it so incredibly bleak and desolate that they still had to fight over something? Was the Trinary War capable of illuminating the bastions of the Midnight Armory?
Rainbow Dash's eyes flickered open. She imagined torchlight shining off of Chrysalis' glossy exoskeleton. Only in quiet, subdued moments like this did Rainbow Dash reawaken to just how incredibly quickly the mutant alicorn had chosen to surrender. Perhaps it wasn't all a victory for Harmony. Perhaps Chrysalis had simply remembered enough about the Dark Side to realize just how hopeless that half of the world was.
It was the Changeling Queen's past, and it all but consumed her. What could Rainbow Dash expect, knowing that the Dark Side was her only absolute future?
The mare shuddered. She ran a hoof up to her neck, feeling along the golden lengths of the pendant.
She had far more “futures” than just one, and all of them equally bleak. To keep from dwelling on it, Rainbow Dash tried recounting the cosmos, and somewhere amidst the taxing task, she fell blissfully asleep.
Three morsels.
There were only three Heaven Slices left, and even that was a generous estimate. Their edges had gone black due to disintegration and decay. Rainbow Dash had tried her best to restore them with doses of Harmony from her pendant, but there was no real way to tell how many nutrients they still contained until she ate them. However, she was afraid to eat them too liberally—or else they might lose their enchanted cohesion altogether.
It didn't change the fact that Rainbow Dash's stomach practically screamed in hunger. On this occasion, she had gone for a full two days without eating. She figured that—now that she had the raft riding the winds over the ocean—she might not have to exert herself quite so much. She was only partially right. Now, as the sun rose, it was getting increasingly hard to keep her eyes open, much less her limbs moving. In just a matter of hours, the world would start getting roasting hot all around her, and she knew that there was only one true way to weather it.
So, with a nervous shudder, she folded the last two bits away and started nibbling on the smallest, brownest Heaven Slice in her hooves. The taste—if you could even call it that—was beyond bland. Rainbow Dash feared that it was too late to properly utilize the gift that the Val Roans had given her.
With a despondent look in her eyes, she pivoted about and glanced at the slender jar poking out of her satchel. There was barely any mist left inside the jar of Nebulum, and Rainbow feared that the next time she turned the nozzle may be her last.
The ocean swelled around her, churning as she glided ever eastward, into the great blue oblivion.
I almost envy you, my motion sickness is very bad. Just almost
5750723 I wonder if she'll make the attempt to form a moisture cloud at some point. Maybe after she feels her magic returning.
Well, I certainly didn't see that coming a couple days ago.
That being said, "awwwwwww".
Hang in there, Dash...
Rainbow Dash continues to sail east.
Scootaloo is best dinghy.
Its suprising just how slow the old ships sailed on average, given at 1 knot, thats to the horizon in a day and less than 6 months to cross the Atlantic. You have to kno the sheet method to get any sort of water when out at sea, or a shaman might call it the the cold fire cauldron.
Wish oh wish oh wish for fish. But not that one. Or giant crab.
Aww she named the raft. That's sweet.
Not sure how long she can keep this up, honestly.
oh what have you gotten into?
death seeks you, and here you invite it
I fear you won't make to shore "alive"
but well do i wish you, captain of the scootaloo
Personally I think she needs a difficulty tweak, let's make it rain.
Rainbow Dash confirmed as shipping herself with Scootaloo.
Inb4 she makes a Wilson
She lasted weeks with only eight or so Heaven Slices. Hardcore. But now she's running out. Will she survive the rest?
Well, of course she will, but still.
-Spirit
13 chapters to go. And things are not looking well for our little east horse. :/
5751059
Zombie Dash.
5751114 I considered that she might die and then come back to life. And of course it's been considered that this has already happened multiple times before and we just don't know it yet.
I wonder if Rainbow will go into another trance like she did when crossing the Choke
At this point, I'm thinking that time is, for whatever reason, passing faster than she thinks it is. That could be the ending, where Rainbow Dash reaches Rohbredden, and she finds out (through communication with Luna) that 80 years have passed and the whole Jury, except Kera, is dead
At least we have the Scootaship. Scootaraft?
Jeez, Rainbow. I know you're bummed about not being able to fly right now, but isn't that kind of harsh?
I predict an extended stay in a hospital after she drifts up, half dead from starvation and thirst and sunburnt so bad it looks like she tried to trot through a furnace.
-Treachery and deceit, kingdom of conceit Yaerfaerda.
5750947 *sigh* I would perhaps have had something to say, but shipping has left me dead inside.
Here's hoping Dash can survive this.
In a gesture of empathy towards those of us who have so much less than we do, I choose to suffer naught but a fraction of Rainbow Dash's current hardships.
I will consume nothing but water until the third update after this one, and I challenge you all to do the same.
She's still in the Grand Choke if magic is still being denied. That is a massive null-zone.
5750944
No one likes the water temple. no one
She's on a boat motherfuckers.
She better hope her journey on the ocean is almost finished, almost out of food and basically out of water is a very very bad situation.
5751143
I really, really, really hope that isn't the case.
She only has 3 pieces of the heaven's slices left, so we now know about how long until she finds something.
5751191
That did not even occur to me until you posted it.
You have succeeded in making the warm fuzzies disappear.
5751254
We won't ever forget.
Well ain't that sweet.
sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-with-a-chicken-on-a-raft.png
i.imgur.com/wp4cXqP.png
5751191 ...welp, there goes the feels...
She'll get to an island by the end of this book, I just know it!
"Fate is never fair. You are caught in a current much stronger than you are; struggle against it and you'll drown not just yourself but those who try to save you. Swim with it. and you'll survive” - Cassandra Clare
5751191 You're my hero...
If I could use Youtube in my office, I would post here the song La Costa del Silencio... Well, it doesn't matter.
Plot twist. East horse is actually from the east. The kingdom she is about to reach was called Equestria thousands of years ago. The pony expedition that tried to cross the Choke was Cadance's.
5751143
But she couldn't go years between eating or drinking; she's limited by her need for food.
5751143
...Don't you do this to me...
5752274
Time dilation.
(Ha ha! Sci-fi!)
5752191
*brain/eye twitch*
Don't you dare, IC!
Still waiting for the "oh shit" moment when Rainbow finally sees something; life, death, land, whatever.
5751143
That would be beyond depressing.
5752364
*puts on nerdy glasses*
Actually, time dilation (or gravitational redshifting, as it's sometimes called) isn't science fiction. It's a measurable phenomenon that occurs with changes in gravity. For example, if you have two identical, perfect watches, and you keep one on earth, and send the other up to the ISS for a year, when they're brought back together, the one that went to the ISS will bee slightly ahead of the one from Earth.
A real-life example of this is in 2011, there was a false report of a particle that scientists thought traveled faster than light. This was because the aforementioned scientists forgot to calibrate their satellites for special relativity.
Long and short of it, watch the movie Interstellar. It explains the concept so much better than I can.
5752364
5752274
Also, Rainbow could be dying and coming back to life, and she might just be unaware of it. I mentioned it several chapters ago, in chapter 180 (5727931)
5752902
*puts on nerdier glasses*
But there's no cause for any time dilation. Gravity is no different here than anywhere else on the plane, certainly not different enough to have been noticed by Rainbow Dash. And even then, that level of gravitational time dilation requires a gravitational field you'll find naturally only near the event horizon of a black hole.
The alternative is that RD has been traveling very close to the speed of light for the last eighty years. That would seem unlikely.
If there has been massive time dilation, then it had to have been magically induced, which puts it outside the realm of Relativity—and right now there's an acute shortage of magic where she is.
5752977 *nerdiness intensifies*
Well, think of it this way: if Rainbow Dash is on a giant ring, then where's the gravity coming from? It's likely that there's not enough mass to get close to Earth gravity at any one point. So how does everyone stick to the surface?
i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac276/Beowulf1990/mr-bean-magic.gif
Well, it's been clearly established at this point that there is no magic in the Grand Choke or the Great Sea. So now it's all messed up. And I realize that if there was no gravity, technically Rainbow would be moving faster across the Choke and the Sea, but science went out the window a long time ago, and I'm just trying to keep the nerdiness going.
5753050
5752977
5752902
i.imgur.com/1BJHYYs.jpg
5752902
Gah. Figured I'd get called out on this. This is what happens when Robo has a gap between what goes on in his mind and what words end up being posted. Especially early in the morning.
I meant time dilation under reasons of sci-fi. There's nothing around (such as a black hole) to cause the degree of time dilation that would cause weeks/months to pass for Dash, but years for everyone else. (unless there's a black hole around that we don't know about). In this case, I call magic. (i.e. sci-fi). We're nearing the edge of a magic-powered ring world fragment where some of the normal rules of physics don't apply. This is one reason why I'm so eager to get to the part where Dash is at the edge of the world.
I wanna see some fuckin' loopy shit happen.
5752977 <- This.
5753050 It's worse than that. Never mind the strength of gravity, the direction is problematic. Except for a select few locations, "down" will not be perpendicular to the surface, not even remotely; in the region of the Grand Choke, it would be nearly parallel to the surface. There's a reason planets are spherical in shape. It could work if the ring was intact, but even then "down" would be at a slight angle near the outer edge. But with the ring broken… no way. It can't be gravity in the Newtonian or Einsteinian sense.
Okay, so it's magic. But there is no magic in the Grand Choke. Uh…
5753517
5753050
The more obvious question is how one side of the plane is dark. Where does the sun go when it sets so that it doesn't light the other half of the plane? Does it cease to be?
5753544 Or simply switched off. It was stated that Celestia wasn't strong enough to light both sides.
5753552
That's some serious dayling savings
Perhaps it's a sortof illusion conjured up every morning and dissipated every evening.
If it is, we would know when Dash passed to the dark side, when she sees it forming right above her head. It would make for a nice freakout too.
Rainbow almost died at the end of the last book too, as bleak as things look, we know not to count her out yet.