"Gaa-aaaaughhh!" Seething, writhing, Seraphimus hollered at the nearest thing to her. "Goddess damn you, Jordan! At least the Blight is natural decay in Verlaxion's shadow! But you?!" She forced the sled to rock and rattled as she rambled and spat. "You defiled all that was good in the light! You don't deserve her mercy! Damn you and every moment of trust I ever once held in you! The blood of Rohbredden is on your claws you impudent waste of flesh! Rrrrgh—baaaaaaaaaaaugh!"
Wildcard sighed. He calmly turned and looked at the rest of the Herald.
Logan stood, leaning a forelimb casually against his axe. Noticeably rattled, Kepler and Flynn remained huddled behind him... peeking over the obese stallion's girth to catch glimpses of the rabid griffin.
Not long after, Ariel and Rainbow Dash landed. Ariel winced hard... and immediately found a hiding place alongside Kepler and Flynn.
"Well..." Pinkie Pie dug the edge of her hoof into her ghostly ear as the air around them resonated with the impenetrable squawking. "...at least we've got a reliable sled alarm!"
"Pinkie..." Twilight sighed, then looked towards Applejack. "Applejack? Your thoughts?"
"She's plum loco."
"I mean... can you sense where she's at? Emotionally?"
"Yeah!" Applejack raised her voice to be heard amidst the bellowing. "I sense that she's plum loco!"
Twilight hollered back, "I mean can you tell if she's retaining any honest sanity inside that bird brain of hers?!?"
"Girls! Please!" Rarity clamped two hooves over her head and grimaced. "Isn't there enough yelling as it is?!"
"Maybe... uhm..." Fluttershy squirmed in place. "...maybe Wildcard can calm her down?"
Pinkie pointed. "He's been standing in front of her this whole time!"
"Oh... uh..." Fluttershy shifted in place. "...perhaps Kepler could fix up a nice warm Bleakweed broth?"
Twilight glared at her. "Seriously?" she droned.
"Well... it a-always worked for Angel whenever he was in a f-fussy mood!"
"Oh yeah?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Did Angel ever launch himself at you at the speed of sound while you was fixin' to cross to the Dark Side and nearly killed you and all yer friends in an apocalyptic temper tantrum?"
"Hmmmmm..." Fluttershy gulped, leaning away from the shrieking creature with a nervous smile. "M-maybe Wildcard can calm her down!"
"Eughhh..." Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed.
"Just relax everypony," Rainbow muttered aside.
"Relax?!?" Pinkie squeaked.
"Try... to relax!" Rainbow said with a frown... then trotted forward to join the Herald.
"...going to slay you infidels and feast your goddess forsaken entrails to the sharks! I swear to Verlaxion...!" Seraphimus continued, scarcely pausing to breathe.
Logan looked aside at Rainbow with a bored expression. He muttered, "You want me to say 'I told you so' or wait until an hour from now and then say 'I told you so?'"
"Stuff it, Big Show." Rainbow nodded in Wildcard's direction. "How long has she been awake for?"
"You mean you haven't heard the siren from second one?!" Ariel wheezed.
Wildcard held a few claws up, formed a fist, then a few less talons.
"Eight minutes..." Rainbow Dash nodded. Her nostrils flared with a winded sigh. "It's only been the sound of sentient explosions for eight minutes."
"Can we please find a way to silence her?!" Rarity shrieked, clutching her pony ears.
"Reckon there's only one way to make sure of that, sugarcube," Applejack said.
Rarity glared. "I'm open to any option."
"Seriously, though, this isn't good at all," Twilight said, grimacing. "We still don't know what we're in for out here. She could wake up Celestia-knows-what and send all of the Dark Side's populace after us!"
"Terrific..." Rainbow slurred.
"...because I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion! Chosen by the Goddess! By the Six Tribes I shall righteously slay you infidels!"
Flynn whistled. "She's said 'infidels'... like... eleven times."
"Aye..." Kepler nodded, blinking behind his spectacles. "And 'rrighteous' close to twenty-five."
"Who does that?" Flynn exhaled.
"I've got a better question," Logan belched. "Who allows it." Schiiing! He lifted the blade of his axe for emphasis while looking at Rainbow. "I'm tellin' ya, Rainbow... just one firm swing. Our ears—as well as Wildcard's muscles—will all be better off for it."
"The answer to that is the same now as it was at the Edge of the World, Big Show."
"But—"
"I don't like it any more than you do, but we are not killing her."
"Sooooooo..." Logan rubbed his aching head amidst the screaming. "...instead we're just killing ourselves slowly."
"Let it go, emo colt," Ariel said firmly. "Rainbow Dash said to spare Seraphimus' life and that's what we're doing."
"What life?!" Logan waved a meaty forelimb. "That's not a griffin! That's a bullhorn with tits!"
"She's the Austraeoh and what she says goes!"
"Oh, will you climb out her butt for one measely second?!" Logan frowned. "Being good, merciful, ethical horse-morons ain't gonna help us when Miss Screamgasm exposes us to the factions of the Trinary War with her radical uvulating!"
"It won't come to that!" Rainbow screamed—then winced from overcompensating for the bedlam. "Look—we've got a long way ahead of us before we run into anything—"
"We don't know that—"
"We've got a long way ahead!" Rainbow emphasized, frowning. "If there was something around that could hear 'Sirenphimus' then Fluttershy would be able to sense it first. And so far—she's sensed nothing nearby!" She turned to look at her ghostly companion. "Right, Fluttershy?"
"'Write?'" The wincing pegasus rubbed her ghostly ears. "'Write' what?!?"
"...into the gates of oblivion along with the infidels of the Seventh Tribe...!"
"Aaaaaaaand twelve," Flynn muttered out the side of his muzzle.
"Ha-Hah! She's on a rroll!"
"Okay... fine..." Rainbow trotted firmly towards the sled. "Maybe if I just let her get it all out of her system—"
With a shrill whistle, Wildcard blocked the petite pegasus' path.
"Get it out of her system?!" Logan cackled. "If she deflated anymore from yelling, we could use her as a throw rug!"
"Your desire to spare her life is a noble thing, Rainbow," Flynn said, nodding. "But... if you speak to her—face to face—while she's in this state..." He winced. "...then who knows how far gone Seraphimus will be. She'd probably be better off dead."
"Works in my book!" Logan said with a grin.
"No no no!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "We are not going to let her just roll over and die! The murder ended back in the land of Verlax!"
"Hah!" Logan's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure of that?"
"Rainbow—" Twilight began.
"Yes!" Rainbow huffed. "I am!" She knocked Wildcard's talon away, turned around, and headed straight towards the bent horizon. "If you insist—I won't talk to her. But we can't stop right here and hang around as if this is some sort of crazy griffin heavy metal concert! We gotta keep moving!"
"And... and..." Ariel shivered from head to tail. "Endure all of... that?"
Kepler added, "It would be considerrably morre bearrable if herr vitrriolic phrrases carried a morre rrobust vocabularry..."
"Grin and bear it..."
"But—" Flynn began.
"I said grin and bear it!" Rainbow hollered over her shoulder, beyond peeved. "You're the Herald! You've thrown yourself at wendigoes and sarosians for my sake! Surely a brief tune-in to 'Lost Marbles FM' won't murder you!" With a grunting sigh, she pressed onward... pointing with her wingtips. "Now come one! Up ahead, the plateau dips into a canyon. And—if the slab is of any indication—that's where we're going to find Darkreach!"
Wildcard sighed. Reluctantly, he shuffled back to the source of the screams and re-hitched himself to the vibrating sled.
"This..." Flynn rubbed his bald skull as he marched after Rainbow. "...is going to leave a mark on my cerebellum."
"Oh hush," Rainbow spat, frowning ahead. "This may be the Dark Side, but we're still creatures that need to breathe oxygen. Just give it an hour. She has to pass out at some point or another..."
An hour later...
"...rip every sinew of flesh out from underneath your putrid skin for every foal of Verlaxion freezing to death for your holocaustal sacriledge—!!!" the air echoed with the griffin's bellicose lungs.
Logan glanced aside under the sheen of twilight. "I told you so—"
"Stuff it!" Rainbow snarled.
Why is "whack her over the head, then install a gag while she's out" not an option? For that matter, why wasn't she gagged when she was being tied up? I know beaks are sharp and all, but surely there was some scrap metal available or something? Maybe tie it shut somehow instead?
The chapter title alone made my sides leave the planet for orbit!
All we are missing is some short skirts
.....is it strange that I really want to know all of Sera's insults? Because I do. Alot.
I sense a mutiny afoot.
I'm still with Big Shot, useless moralizing like this is, well, useless.
I'm honestly not invested in her story, she's literally Shell 2.0 with the "madness" and rantings.
Don't tell me she has to kill an entire village before Rainbow offs her.
(Though, war turkey will at least be an amusing source of conflict what with the trap coming up.)
I spent the entire time waiting for Rainbow just to slowly walk up to her and give her a nice, solid bitch-slap right across the beak.
Disappointment.
8248567
Oooooo, like the way Croc's and Gators have their mouths taped shut when they're being relocated!
Hmm.. but all they have is wire, and wire might cut her beak in half if she strained against it too much.
"Oh don't mind me, it's just a hobby, I've heard these heroic speeches so much that I like to keep count of how many times I've heard certain phrases."
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
They don't have to kill her, but maybe if they hit her hard enough, her beak will do that Daffy Duck thing.
8248592
Seraphimus will eventually stop screaming. The question is what will happen afterwards.
This "putting up with a screeching enemy whom you've captured and want to reform" arc sounds an awful lot like Gollum...
I love you Dash, and am in agreement with you, but I will also point out that gags are a thing, and exist for good reason. Even if you have to cut some tail or mane hair in order to fashion said gag, it might be worth it.
Also, Seraphimus, I'm almost impressed by the pipes you've got, but what is your voice-box made out of that it can keep that up for so long?
Huh, wonder if Flynn knows any convenient silence spells? Probably not.
*sigh* The sad thing is, Dash, you did kind of bring this bit on yourself by playing the villain for all Rohbredden. You literally played the role of an 'infidel', so its not like you can actually blame Seraphimus for looking at you this way. Not that I don't get why you thought you had to play the role of the bad guy, but its kind of bass ackwards to blame Seraphimus or any of the others in Rohbredden for seeing you and the Herald in this kind of disfavorable light. You literally convinced them all you murdered their Goddess. This result is kind of expected, and really let me ask you... had anyone done something similar in Equestria would the result have been any different? Like if someone had pretended to murder Celestia, and really hammed up playing the role of the villain that murdered your Sunbutt Princess, would anyone in Equestria feel any less violent towards that person? Wouldn't the Royal Guard, the Wonderbolts, guys like Shining Armor, and even you Dash have chased that 'villain' to the corners of Equestria and beyond to bring them to justice?
Just saying Dash, while Seraphimus seems unreasonable here... let's face it, she's acting pretty much like a lot of people would in her situation, a situation you had a big role in creating yourself.
Which if course may well explain why you're so dead set on sparring her, and why you wanted to keep casualties to an absolute minimum back on the Edge. Just bringing it up because this is something you need to keep in mind and be willing to acknowledge and address when dealing with Seraphimus. If you keep treating her like she's crazy and has no legitimate grievances with you, I don't think you'll ever get through to her.
Somebody gag that bird! xD
Meh, this isn't the hard part. Eventually Seraph will yell herself hoarse and her voice will give out. I'm more concerned about what happens when she calms down and starts thinking.
I don't see why they don't just knock her out honestly. As others have said gaging her would be pretty easy, at least compared to listening to her ramble.
Let's just wait and see if she becomes a little
horsehoarse from all that yelling.So what exactly is Rainbow's endgame here? Because honestly, I don't think she has one. Rainbow has been known to be impulsive, and I believe this is the greatest example right here. Thinking on emotion and maybe a little instinct, she decided to not kill Sera even though she pretty much killed Axan. I understand that maybe she feels like she's doing the harmonic thing, even if she wants to just off Sera, but Verlax is dead. Her trials are over, and she no longer needs to worry about questioning herself and her decisions.
I really don't feel like killing Sera is a good idea just because killing is bad anyway, but killing yourself is just a frowned upon, and that is exactly what Rainbow is going to do; if not herself, it will be someone she cares about. All I can say is that this isn't Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, or even Juniper Montage (though, to be honest, no villain is like Juniper Montage; she was super weak, but that's exactly what she was meant to be). We are dealing with a Chrysalis here, and the only difference is that she's captured.
What would have happened had Twilight decided to capture Chrysalis (in the show, in case you guys are thinking about Chrysalis for this universe) instead of letting her go? Would it have changed anything? Can Chrysalis be saved? I don't really know, and I am just as hung up on Sera here. I just have a feeling that Rainbow will gratefully regret this.
Like, wouldn't Rainbow feel just awful if Ariel never got that pizza because every Changeling and their collective mother Tchern came by because of something stupid that Seraphimus did? Shit, it makes me feel bad just thinking about it. I am just kind of hanging on the edge from here on out because I was kind of hoping she wouldn't wake up until waaaaaaay later. Unfortunately, nothing ever goes the way they should.
You had Bleakweed broth in Equestria?
Seraphimus is all the rage now.
You know, for a combination of cat and bird, she barks an awful lot.
So, will they be betting on the counts, or having a drinking contest?
Gonna be a pretty long while for her to calm down....
Looks like Seraphimus is gonna use it till she loses it. That'll be fun.
I wonder if Rainbow Dash is saving Seraphimus, not for harmonys sake, but for her own. Perhaps she has to believe that there's coming back from this. If the cat bird can come back from the brink, then maybe Rainbow can as well.
Please just gag her already. The abuse of the word "righteous" is getting unbearable.
Alright, let's do this!
I can safely say that even the most rabid of angel-haters could not say yes to this. And that's an achievement.
Oh really?
This could've gone several ways. I'm glad it went the funny one.
8248567
Because then it'd be less funny.
8248592
Eh. Give it a chapter or two.
8248690
So she'll get a second life as a pony? I mean it took some pretty serious alicorn magic to change Axan, I don't think she can simply yell herself into a small horse.
As to people saying 'gag her', um...beak? I'm not sure how you gag that, might take special equipment (more like a muzzle) that they don't have.
I finally remembered what this scene reminds me of
Lost marbles FM
Hella Mad, Hella crazy
100% metal
This one made me smile.
Searaphimus has a limited but passionate vocabulary.
I guess it’s fair to assume that doing things ‘the harmonic way’ is an important part of the whole Austraeoh process. Verlax can’t have been that crazy. But if Seraphimus breaks free and hurts/kills one of the Heralds, then Rainbow would be flat out irresponsible not to kill her.
It’s commendable to restrain and rehabilitate violent people, but doing so at the expense of that person’s future victims is just selfish.
8249052
Some people are too far gone.
I am picking up a decrease in ambient harmony between all characters, but there is no corresponding increase in ambient tension. Curious.
I propose the Dark Side is draining away the Harmonic Magic of Friendship generated by the Herald's interpersonal emotional bonds!
Acts of altruism and forbearance now have a sharply negative emotional energy profit, as the Dark Side is leeching away a portion of all Harmonic Energy generated by empathetic activities before it can be fully recieved by an unprepared target.
However, the Dark Side cannot directly drain harmonic energy trapped within a crystal matrix or within a self-cohesive (aka soul-like) energy amalgamate without the an external catalyst to disrupt the integrity of the insulating mass
Assuming this to be true, we can conclude (at least) three possible methods by which to maintain a positive energy profits:
In abstract, the Dark Side is exerting a negative osmotic pressure on any high concentrations of harmony, which is emotionally "dehydrating" RD and the Herald+1 while leaving everyone's base emotional states and internal chaos static.
The Dark Side makes you salty. :)
Well, they can use her squawking to overload changelings with rage, buck up sensitive batpony ears or demoralize enemies in general.
At this point just see how long she can go. We could invite everyone on this side of the world to the show, place bets and come together as living beings not as crazy mad as Sera.
Damn, you'd think her vocal cords would have worn out by now!
8248765
Yeah, I feel like something is wrong with that. I could believe that she used the exact same thing, but it most likely is under a different name because I don't believe that anything in Equestria is under that name. This may be a continuity error.
A strong, enduring lung - the mark of every proper traditional military commander!
To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't put it past him. Would you?
8248643 Actually, the analogy you just construed is an excellent example of the opposite of your point. Can you really see Shining Armor and consorts react to Celestia's murder by pulling a Shell? They would be far more concerned with mourning and damage control, with comforting each other and retaining the stability of the realm than vengeance. Something like Utaan could have never happened in Equestria. That's exactly the point. It needed the mentality of Rohbredden, so utterly devoid of harmony and warmth, a mentality Verlax has cultivated for aeons.
8248739
This is the moment of non sequitur right here. And doubly so: Verlax has planned far beyond her own death and we know that, the final stages of her trials were enacted well after she had passed away. And it certainly does not follow that an end to her trials means Rainbow doesn't need to question her decisions anymore. She always needs to do that. Everyone does. That's what the entire gauntlet was about from the start. And in saving Seraphimus, Dash has made a decision in defiance of that plan for the first time since her arrival in Rohbredden. It is the single instance of her breaking the mould that Verlax had prepared for her. It is about more than just acting in accordance with Harmony; it is about proving Verlax wrong. Proving that twilight is not inevitable.
8249130
From a pseudo-scientific standpoint, I cannot lie that this is most likely true. However, as I said in my own comment, Rainbow Dash has been in flux with her balance because of the part chaos that has been basically very uncomfortable so close to the sun (aka Celestia and anything harmonic in general), but what happens to her harmony within her if she is in a mainly chaotic side of the plane? Chaos too close to harmony does what it does to her, but what of the opposite? Because if chaos drains harmony, as you say, then Rainbow has even more to worry about because she will eventually have no harmony left within her to stave off the vice grip of chaos.
Either use a gondola bar as a bit with a wrap to clamp her beak to it preventing movement, or use a feeding pipe and wrap.
Whats good for the goose.
Eat a snickers, Seraphimus. You're not you when you're hungry.
Seriously, though. It is kind of saddening to see how far Seraphimus has fallen. Reminds me of some of those Shakespearian tragic heroes.
8249275
I'm not sure I can agree with that, at least not in its entirety.
Harmonious or not, Equestria has never endured the straight up murder of one of its beloved Princesses, and if someone did kill Celestia or Luna, and then behaved as Dash "acted" in regards to taking on the role of a highly antagonistic villain who took full claim for the murder and proceeded to provoke the whole realm over it I would find it exceedingly hard to buy that the Royal Guard, led by Shining Armor, wouldn't seek to bring that villain to justice at almost any cost.
Would they be as lethal about it as Rohbredden? Maybe. They Royal Guard have those spears for a reason, I assume. Even if they sought to capture the villain alive for punishment such as banishment to Tartaros, do you really believe that the Equestrians would be any less dedicated to the pursuit of said justice than the Rohbreddenites? Honestly Rohbredden as a culture wasn't even all that lacking in core moral values or harmony compared to many countries Dash flew through. They were fairly normal, and responded to Dash's actions as almost any country of people likely would have... and I can't honestly strike Equestria off that list.
Equestria may be a paragon of a nation, but even they have their limits, and I think what Dash did is something that would push that limit if not outright break it.
I mean, think about it. If Shining Armor not only believed that someone had murdered Princess Celestia, but furthermore that this murder's actions had also cost him the life of his beloved wife Cadence and his child Flurry Heart, and also knew that this villain was also responsible for the deaths of several members of his fellow Royal Guard... would you really be that surprised if he got at least close to Seraphimus' current level of rage and hate?
The pony's of Equestria are good folk. So are the ponies and griffins of Rohbredden. Its just that they got put into a terrible situation, partially concocted by Dash's own choices. Choices forced by Verlax, yes, but still Dash's responsibility to a degree. And my point is that Dash can't claim completely innocence here nor treat Seraphimus like she isn't at least somewhat justified in being as angry as she is.
Once they find Tchernoville, use Seraphimus as a tribute to Tchern. Her feelings would fed have Chrysalis' swarm better than the entire Ledo-Xona front.
The title is a lie ! There isn't any "raaaaaaaaaaaaaugh" in the chapter, only some "Gaa-aaaaughhh!"and "Rrrrgh—baaaaaaaaaaaugh!" .
And now all we need to do is sucker the Changelings into morphing RD and the Herald, then let Seraphimus loose; she'll mow a path to the Armory in her current mood.
8248768
Considering she's said righteous around 25 times in 8 minutes, if they had a drinking contest they wouldn't travel half a mile before they passed out.
8249323
Even though the bulk of Rohbreddon has a legitimate reason to hate Dash through their eyes, I don't think Seraphimus falls into the same catagory. Even though Sera likes to play to being some fashion of holy warrior bent on revenge, she never came across as being overtly devout, even going so far as to break down in anger at Verlax. I think she has a much more simple problem: the inability to let go. She couldn't let go and mourn in a healthy way when her family first came down with illness, when she had to know deep down that she would never see them again. And now she can't let go and grieve for them now that they are dead. Instead she's launched into a vengeance quest under the false pretense of avenging her god when everything really boils to down her family that wasn't realistically ever coming back.
If something terrible happened to somebody I loved and they were put into one of those cryogenic suspension programs, it wouldn't be reasonable to declare holy war on the power company if there were suddenly a total power failure and the back-up generator didn't come on. A reasonable person would mourn and accept the fact that they were probably never going to see them again anyway.
I guess I just don't think it's fair to Dash by calling this particular scenario her fault because Sera wants to kill her for taking the blame when Seraphimus' family was already dead.
8249130
I'm thinking that the recent hallucinations and change in chaos are actually Discord manifesting himself or that he's already taken ghost form and hiding, the boundary they can travel from Dash should be pretty large by now. This might actually drain the chaos out of Dash and make her mortal once again.
My question would be how in the world is The Herald going to deal with two screaming half-birbs?
8249584
How so? She wants to murder somebody for the death of her terminally ill family, that seems pretty irrational to me.
God damn, would everyone step off the murder train for a second? I know they're all upset because of the ruined Gondola and needlessly killing off my favourite character of the post-Choke era, but are they seriously petitioning to kill her because she's noisy? I'm going to buy into the whole "dark side makes you salty" theory because the Herald needlessly and noisily whining is fairly common, but even the ghosts are at eachothers' throats on the "be quiet catbird" issue.
When we get to the actual nasty stuff in the dark side, I hope they're going to be a bit more rational.