"So, uh..." Ariel squatted and unsquatted, stretching her back and wing muscles. "Any particular way you wanna... y'know... do this?"
Rainbow Dash sat in the middle of an endless ocean of flat rock. She had taken off her saddlebag and was rummaging through it. "Hmmm?" she exhaled out the side of her muzzle.
"Like... you take the lead... I follow you..." Ariel shrugged. "I ascend first... you follow me..." She shrugged again.
Rainbow's hoof brushed past bundled food, supplies, and a flickering gloss orb. She lingered slightly, her hoof resting on the edge of the Dragon Stone. "We're just flying," she muttered. "Not getting married."
"But... it's a strange sky and we're on the Dark Side and there's chaos everywhere and—"
"I've yet to see anything chaotic."
"Rainbow..."
Rainbow exhaled, brushing the stone aside and reaching for a pair of goggles nestled in the far corner of her saddlebag. "Alright, Ariel. You want a two step program?" She pulled the article out, smiling slightly at its familiarity. "Step One: we chillax. Step Two: we chillax some more."
Ariel gulped. "Sorries." She sighed, letting her wings droop. "I guess I just felt that... that this place is so crazy weird that it must hold its own sort of intense gravity. Y'know?"
"No..." Rainbow's hoof brushed across the initials "S.L." "I don't."
"Err..."
"It's just a sky," Rainbow droned. "Unless it's suddenly filled with dragons or managliders or giant airships piloted by maniacal one-eyed psycopaths... then it's no different than any other sky. For realsies." She looked at the Heraldite situated next to her. "If we freak out over every alien detail of this part of the plane, then we'll never take off and fly anywhere."
"I... I-I guess you have a point."
Rainbow gulped. "And... I guess I should be sorry too."
Ariel's ears twitched. "What for?"
"I should be better at making decisions—y'know... for the group. Especially when it comes to flying."
Ariel shrugged. "You got far with the Noble Jury. I'm guessing it wasn't a pressing issue with them."
"Yeah, well—I cheated." Rainbow's lips smirked ever so slightly. "We had a manaship... and I had a hammock."
"Oh yeah?"
"Ohhhhhhhhhh yeah..." Rainbow raised the goggles to her eyes. She brushed a hoof across a lone crack resting across one of the glass lenses. "A friggin' space elk was doing all the navigation. And when that didn't deliver, Pilate filled all the gaps with his zebra senses."
"I'll... pretend that I know what that means," Ariel wheezed.
"All good and fine, girl. I've only ever done the same." Rainbow breathed calmly. "How about this? I'll take point. You fly behind me. When I want us to fly faster or higher, I'll signal with my tail."
"You... want me to stare at your tail the whole time..."
"Uh... yeah?"
Ariel cleared her throat. "Works for me."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Eeuuughhhh..."
"Hey..." Ariel smirked. "You told me twice that we gotta 'chillax.'"
"Feed my ego any more and I'll sink like a stone."
Ariel giggled. "Looks like most of the Rainbow Dash I know survived Bleak's Plummet after all."
"You really don't know a whole lot about this alleged 'Rainbow Dash.'"
Ariel blinked. "You could tell us," she said in a soft tone. "You could tell all of us."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow returned to examining the lenses. "...from the look of things, we're gonna get easily bored on this twilight trek, soooooo—"
The goggles reflected dull scales glinting by.
"... ... ...?!" Rainbow Dash spun around, blinking at the pale thin horizon that marked the distant edge of the world.
Ariel noticed her sudden movement. "What?" When there was no response, Ariel trotted closer. "Rainbow, what is it?"
Rainbow opened her lips... but said nothing. She blinked again, gazing at dreary blackness all around. Finally, she looked at the goggles again. All they were reflecting was starlight.
"... ... ...Rainbow?"
"Nothing. It's..." Rainbow shook the cobwebs out of her skull. "Been awake for a bit too long, I guess. Seeing shadows..."
"Do you want to rest up a bit? I'm sure the group won't mind—"
"Nah. Everything about our journey across the Dark Side so far has been total lame sauce." Rainbow strapped the goggles on. "We'd better survey the landscape, make some progress, then rest up." She tightened the article around her head and looked at the mare beside her. "Or did you need a breather?"
Ariel easily shook her head. "I'm super good to go!"
"Cool. Wings spread, girl." Rainbow trotted forward. "For added protection."
"Last question."
"Shoot."
"If... for some reason we get lost in the... y'know... darkness..." Ariel gulped. "Should I just look for your ruby pendant or—?"
"Nah, I'll get Fluttershy and the other girls to help." Rainbow patted Ariel's shoulder with a set of wingfeathers. "I'll find you."
Ariel exhaled through a smile. "Best thing I heard all day."
"Silly bird horse." Fwooosh! Rainbow shot towards the twilight. "There is no 'day.'"
Well, I can't see how this will be anything but a winning situation for everypony.
Oh just shut up and have another make out session you two.
Something about Dash using the term Bird Horse tickles me.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Ah, Shell. The Prime Enforcer Imploding Flankhole.
Also, psychopaths, never heard of a psycopath.
Maybe the Dragon Stone is giving East Bird Horse some visions of Axan? I feel like Fluttershy would've sensed a dragon swooping in that closely.
i dont approve of this ship... oh well, onwards!
tee hee
cute chapter
Dash is seeing things? Or perhaps not? Hmm, I know she wants to "chillax" but I just keep getting the feeling that taking the Dark Side, well, lightly could be as dangerous as stressing yourself out too much. I know you got to keep it together Dash, just try to not get cocky either. Well, more so than usual.
and Ariel gets everything she ever wanted. Well, short of actually making out with Rainbow again, but who knows, Rainbow's gonna need some company on this Dark Side slog.
...if only Roarke was here...
... ...how long until Seraphimus gets inducted into the Harmonic Harem?
The world seems bleak and empty, but this line sent shivers down my spine. I hadn't considered the possibility that RD might already be under scrutiny from invisible beings on this kaizo side of the world.
Now what could these scales be? Endrax's brood? Some member of the Trinary War? Shell, back from the dead for Shell Retribution 2: The Electric Bugaloo Reckoning? Find out maybe next time on Adventuring Bird Horse!
Someone could be following them but I think Fluttershy would have know. Or it could be because she has the stone and she's seeing things but whatever it could be it doesn't sound so good. Also I really miss the Noble Jury hope we get to hear from them again sometime.
So basically the only thing that's changed in that Ariel has permission now.
Scales? Sounds like some of Endrax's drakes might be still alive.
Heh blueberry butt.
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A wing-wing situation if you will!
Hey. Hey, no. You get outta here. This here's a feathery fuzz chapter.
Hallucinations can wait til after the great mushroom binge.
I will admit, that beginning caught me off guard!
Damnit Rainbow, don't you know when you're being stalked?!
Burd hoers gonna burd!
Things have been going awfully well for them so far, it is a mite suspicious that they've been left alone and haven't encountered anything yet. I'd predict that flash of scales Rainbow saw is the start of an unfortunate encounter for the group for if they are being spied on, it means the ground team is probably about to run into trouble.
On another note, it's nice to see Rainbow giving Ariel permission. Wonder if this ship will go anywhere now that they're pretty much trapped on the dark side.
i still wanna know how the sarosians are making more moon rune rocks.
Maybe Dark Side has a cosmic ray charge like moon regolith, or maybe they figured how to use chaos magic...
Dash is still dying right? Feel like she hasn't had one of her episodes in a long time. I think it was right before the group got to blues ranch?
A good hunter spends as little time and effort finding, tracking, ambushing and capturing their prey. The longer the prey keeps moving and the longer teh hunter can rest, up to usually given limits, the far better advantage the hunter has.
I mean, how many desert oasis have giant crocodiles hiding in the water?
Follow dat ass.
Nooooo. not Mules.
There is something there.
But dull scales? I find it curious that the narrator would point out that attribute in particular. All dragons we've met so far were in possession of rather shiny scales - or at least not scales so coarse and dull that it was worth pointing out in particular. A member of Endrax' brood shadowing them would make plenty of sense, but this particular phrasing irks me. Then again - what else could it be?
Random speculation: Axan's Dragonstone is probably how Alamais got her vision interrupted in chapter 2. It's not entirely inconceivable that she can, more or less, hear everything Rainbow Dash now says.
Of course, the last time this happened, it resulted in Josho joining the team... and Rainbow getting chased by Shell.
So many ships... but only one may prevail!
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To be fair, they've not done anything yet, so typically not much can go wrong
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
No day but today!
525,600 minutes...
So much Innuendo
Makes me wonder what Rainbow saw...
"We're just flying," he muttered.
"We're just flying," he muttered.
"We're just flying," he muttered.
It's an rule 63 Dragon Stone.
and they don't realize it !
Well, this was pretty cute I must say. Ariel get to be pretty lucky with this flight.
So I'm beginning to wonder how much longer is Seraphimus going to stay knocked out? It can't be too much longer I just hope it's after these two get back.
It's not far-fetched to assume that the ominous dull scales will probably bite them in the near future. The question is, what are they? Dragons are unlikely; we have seen the destruction of Endrax's flock. Unless some remnant survivors scattered after the battle and retreated to the edge later on. Equally unlikely are Changelings, Sarosians and the Night Shard.
Maybe it's a sign of the first chaos spawn encounter? They could be similar to the flying chaos serpents from the Ledomare/Xona Arc.
Don't you know anything Rainbow? It is never 'just me being tired' or 'just the wind' you dingus!
Pegasi, I swear...
I think just because Rainbow Dash loved her metal mare, doesn't mean she can't also love Ariel. She loved AJ, and even though she was for all intents and purposes, dead. She still loved her, while loving Roark. Love is not a finite resources, the heart grows to let us love all those we care about. I don't think there's anything wrong with the two of them finding comfort in each other.
This pair is too cute. You better not dare die on me Ariel!
waves fist threateningly in IC's direction
They are not as alone as they think.
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Weren't the runes they used back in the flashback red? I'm guessing they ran out of moon rocks a long time ago and have switched to a new ammo source.
Nice bird horse flirting chapter
Ariel wants it soooooo bad. Um, I think we need to tally up the harem again. For me, at least. I can't keep track after Durandana.
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Realistically(and thankfully) never. However indirectly, Rainbow is responsible for the death of her family. Not even Tumblr could ship that.
Ohhhhh m- oh they're talking about flying.
I think Ariel might be kind of distracted when you give the signal for "higher".
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Directly or indirectly, Rainbow is not responsible for those deaths. Verlax is. Verlax more or less turned Rohbredden into a giant bomb with one hell of a fuse. The entire kingdom was one hell of a trap.
Given her experiences regarding Axan (who was following her) she should know better than to just dismiss this. We know it isn't Endrax, but it could be one of her children, sent to look for some kind of salvation. At any rate, keep eyes peeled and they should be okay.
10/04/2017
22:28 UTC
I think I'm starting to ship it. Can't hold on to Rainboarke forever
OooOooOooh
I like the interaction between these two. Makes things not quite as dark.
It's Toothless!!
Goddamn IC wasting perfectly good opportunities to have the main cast react to this mare on mare action
Yeah, that's not shipping fuel at all.
"The goggles reflected dull scales glinting by."
Me: