Sonikah slept soundly... or at least as soundly as she would allow herself to.
The mare curled up under a burlap sheet of sackcloth, shivering. Her breath came out in misty vapors.
“Mrmmfff...”
Wincing, she rolled over on her mat. Doing so exposed her fuzzy face to the first rays of dawn. Her eyes rolled beneath their lids. Then, after a few tense breaths, she squinted into the morning haze.
An empty wooden floor stretched across the foyer of her run-down “sanctuary.”
“Hmmm...” The monk's eyes fluttered closed. Seconds passed. All of a sudden, her eyes flew back open. “...!” The mare sat up with a gasp, gawking at the emptiness all around her.
The sleeping mats belonging to bother her two Luminard companions were gone... along with the Luminards themselves.
She sat in place, braids flouncing with each shiver that ran through her body. Despite the pain in her cold joints, the mare hobbled up to her hooves and scampered out and onto the courtyard. A thin layer of snow blanketed the old stones and patchwork grass. The newly-constructed wooden trough had formed a fresh sheet of translucent ice along the top of its watery surface. A pale rabbit lingered at the edge of the babbling brook—and upon sight of Sonikah, it dashed off into the powdered forests of Elm Prefecture that surrounded the abandoned habitat.
Sonikah stared left and right. At last, her gaze fell to the floor—and she jolted slightly.
Three sets of hoofprints in the snow led away from the clearing, heading due west along the beaten path, surrounded by trees.
“... ... ...” Sonikah's brow furrowed and she snarled: “Theanim...”
“And—you know—the interesting thing is...” Theanim smiled as he marched along the wooded path, his bulging backpacks flouncing under snowfall. “...they only do it to make themselves more 'streamlined' for swimming.”
Two pious stallions trotted after him, carrying bags of their own. “You mean it's not an exercise in ascetic cleanliness?”
“Well, I suppose one could say that the Nealand tradition of mane-shaving is hygenic in its own way, but it's not religiously motivated.” Theanim looked over his shoulder with a smirk. “The long and short of it is: I've been to many... many places across Rohbredden and the seven seas abroad. And in all of those travels, I find that manestyling—or the lack thereof—is the chief way one can identify culture.”
“Are there any ponies who bind their manes like the foals of Verlaxion?”
“You mean like your Luminard siblings and cousins?” Theanim shook his head. “Negatory. Although I do hear that the Snow Bloods of Dust Prefecture like to use dyes to off-set the predominantly pale mane colors that are indicative of their geneology.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Through a rudimentary application of smoke embers and lichen pigments.” Theanim fidgeted slightly. “With a touch of bat guano so as to ward off prowling mountain manticores.” He let loose a chuckle. “A good old friend of mine is rather fond of that last detail...”
“Professor!” Sonikah's voice reverberated through the trees.
“Ohhhhhh defecation.” Theanim cleared his throat, pivoting until he was trotting backwards. “Looks as though the morning sun rises twice today...”
Huffing and puffing, Sonikah caught up to the trio on galloping hooves. Flustered and frowning, she dragged her hooves and barked at the group—but mostly just at Theanim. “Professor Mane, what do you think you're doing?!”
“Respirating.” Theanim shrugged. “Cellular regenerating.” A smile. “With more or less success, abominably digesting.”
“What gives you the right to trot off with my brethren?!”
“Uhm...” Theanim raised an eyebrow. “I asked them? Politely? You do remember politeness, I hope.”
“This is outrageous!” Sonikah stomped her hooves. “How dare you attempt to make off with the forsaken foals of Verlaxion!” She pointed east, back down the path. “We were granted sanctuary!”
“Funny you should say that!” Theanim beamed. “Because that's precisely where I've offered to take them!” He pivoted so that he was facing west towards where he was marching. “Sanctuary!”
Sonikah blinked. “Huh?”
“Dearest elder...” One of the two pilgrims looked back at her. “Pleace. Patience and good temperament. By Verlaxion's grace, we entreat you.”
“I have good temperament!!!” Sonikah growled.
The two monks winced, glancing at each other. One stallion cleared his throat before saying, “We meant no direspect, elder. You had made it clear that you wished to remain at this sanctuary. That is why we did not wish to disturb you.”
“And yet you wished to abandon our holy station?!” Sonikah's voice cracked. “How does this fall within Verlaxion's will?!”
“Our duty is to our fellow brothers and sisters, as well as to the gracious Goddess. Have you not taught us that, as Kyron did?”
“Huh?” Sonikah blinked, her muzzle awash in confusion.
“Oh!” Theanim glanced over his shoulder. “That's right! Now might be a good time to relay the message, dear fellows.”
“Please, elder.” One stallion hoofed her a scroll with the Talon's seal. “Take special note of this. Perhaps then you will see the necessity in our departure.”
Sonikah grabbed the scroll. Hobbling along, she read it with squinting eyes. Her lips pursed wide and wider in disbelief.
“We had every intention of returning, elder. But—as you can see—it is necessary that we look after the remaining members of the flock—”
“Professor!” Sonikah scampered past her two fellow monks and backtrotted in front of the stallion in question. “Theanim. Explain this to me.” She frowned. “Is... is this some kind of forgery?”
“Pfft! I would most certainly hope not.” Theanim smiled. “Or else the Lieutenant of the Right Talon of Verlaxion has a great deal of explaining to do.”
“But... but if this is real, then...” Sonikah shook her head breathily. “Why h-haven't I been told about it?!”
“It's like I keep trying to tell you...” Theanim leaned forward, his blue eyes narrow. “The Consortium brought you here for their own interests. They didn't want you and your fellow companions to prosper in some spiritual sanctuary. They wanted you to perish, alone and miserable and forgotten in the dismal heart of Elm Prefecture!” He took a deep breath. “Well...” He pointed at the scroll in her grasp. “By the look of things, somepony else has a different idea.”
“This... has t-to be some sort of trick!”
“And just who would such a trick benefit, hmmm?”
Sonikah was silent.
“'A doubting soul deserves enlightenment.'” Theanim smiled. “Isn't that a basic tenet of worshipping our Goddess? Regardless of one's loyalty to the ill-fortuned Quade?”
“Well, yes, but...”
“I implore you to come along with us, elder,” Theanim said. “Indeed, we will have to take a train and a steamship to arrive at our destination, but... I promise you.” He strapped his goggles over his eyes and smiled into the falling snow. “It's a long, arduous, and undeniably painful trip on hoof to get even halfway there. Plenty of time for ascetic introspection and meditation, yes?”
Sonikah frowned at him.
The professor merely grinned back.
“Mrmmmfff...” Sonikah slowed her trot, taking position behind the two stallions. “Very well. But I am only doing this to oversee the safety of my two fellow pilgrims.”
“Splendid!” Theanim continued forward with a slight skip to his trot. “And—perhaps, along the way—you can teach me some of your awe-inspiring monk chanting! I've heard it's a veritable world wonder of vocal accomplishment!”
“We will do no such thing.” Sonikah grumbled. “This journey is not meant to hold court to your whimsy.”
“Dear elder!” One of the stallions smiled at her. “Did you know that some cultures put bat guano in their mane for purely secular reasons?”
“That is irrelevant to Verlaxion's ultimate plan of mercy and retribution!”
“Ahhhhh yes...” Theanim smiled twitchingly into the elm forest surrounding their path. “This is going to be a long trip indeed...”
“Would you look at that...”
“Wowie zowie!”
“Just... h-how did those trees even manage to grow on such jagged peaks?”
“Time, Rarity. Many... many eons of geological erosion mixed with the persistent moisture of an especially preserved microclimate.”
“I see tulip trees... dawn redwood... ooooh! Look at those dove trees! Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?”
“And that mist! It's... it's almost as if the rocks are floating!”
“Heeheehee! Oh look! Dashie's waking up! She's gotta see this!”
“Rainbow?” Twilight's voice whispered. “Rainbow Dash?”
“Mrmmmf... huh...?” Rainbow Dash raised her head. A red whelt persisted on her brow from where she had spent several nightly hours resting it against two crossed hooves. The mare took one look at the hazy morning light around her, and she gasped. “Holy—!”
Rarity and Fluttershy spun about. “Rainbow!” Rarity reached out. “Careful! Don't move too—”
Rainbow Dash caught herself at the last second. Teeth gnashing, she teetered backwards before she could plummet off the side of a sandstone cliff. Overcome with panting breaths, the mare slumped back into a tiny curved niche of rock just two steps from the edge of that portion of mountainside.
“Just calm down, Rainbow—” Twilight insisted.
“You... you morons!” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “You let me fall asleep?!” Her voice cracked. “I thought I made it clear that I had to put as much distance between—”
Fluttershy suddenly floated in front of her. Turquoise eyes burned like torches. “Keep. Your voice. Down.”
Rainbow immediately zipped her lips. She stood in place, shivering, eyes darting left and right.
Fluttershy sighed, then smiled gently. “The Talon are far... far away, Rainbow.”
“Flutters thinks they missed us completely!” Pinkie said. “For the last two hours, they've been searching in the wrong area!”
Fluttershy nodded, facing Rainbow again. “As soon as they started making their way back to this location, we were prepared to wake you. In the meantime—”
“—we felt it necessary to afford you some rest, darling,” Rarity said. Her ears folded back as she murmured, “We only have your best interests in mind. Please don't be mad at us.”
Rainbow sighed. “I'm not mad,” she whispered. “It's just... dang it...”
“We're looking after you, Dashie,” Pinkie said in the pale morning mists. “It's gonna be okay! You'll see!”
“Uh huh...”
“Are you...” Twilight Sparkle floated close. “Are you feeling well rested?”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow brushed at some bangs that weren't there. “Yeah. I... k-kinda am, actually.”
“Goodies!” Pinkie grinned a crescent moon while floating backwards. “Then fears your eyes on this!” She swept a hoof at the northern sky.
“Mrmmmf... please, Pinkie. As if anything you girls have to show would have a snowflake's chance in Tartarus of... surprising... ... ...me?” She blinked. Hard.
Before her stretched a sea of mists—a foggy ocean adrift with jagged stone formations jutting up out of nowhere. Pale lengths of brown and yellow rock shone in patches beneath emerald vines and clusters of verdant green foilage. The “mountains”—if they could even be called that—were more akin to sandstone needles, sticking up out of the mists to make inexplicable islands of geological wonder. Some scraped the sky for hundreds of naked feet—only to be capped off with a miraculous rooftops of lush trees at the very top. To Rainbow Dash, it looked like the Mist Cliffs comprised a forest that continued itself one impossible frog-leap after another across horizontal and vertical space.
What amazed her even more was the sheer scale of this topograhical phenomenon. Through the occasional hole in the mists—affording brief, lengthy glimpses across the mountainscape—she could spot more and more ridges stretching up out of the canyon as far as the pony eye could see. There was no telling just how far the sandstone needles went. In the distance, some mountains even careened against one another, like granite lovers embracing with loose boulders balanced precariously atop their heads—all joined together by loose vines and thick foliage. No matter how precarious the landscape, the forest simply did not cease.
To say that Rainbow Dash had been rendered breathless was an understatement. It almost looked as though the Petrispines had made love to the mountains surrounding the Sunset Tract—and the union had given birth to an ocean of petrified mountain peaks, resting in a craggy valley like the ribs of a giant, slain beast, now awash in rolling fog and humid moisture.
“Well... that's something else,” the pegasus murmured.
“Isn't is just gorgeous, though?” Rarity cooed. “And inspiring too!”
“Bet it's giving you a headache, Rare-Rare,” Pinkie remarked. “Still tihnk your horn you can guide Dashie around?”
“Oh please!” Rarity waved her hoof while rolling her eyes. “Pish posh! I have this structural sensibility game down to a T!” She smiled daintily. “It's like sewing the hem of a dress with my eyes clothes and coming out with something fit for a princess!”
“Always the princess analogies with you.” Pinkie squinted.
“Take it or leave it, love.”
“Now m-might be a time to leave it,” Fluttershy muttered. “I feel the Talon sweeping their way east again.”
“Then there's no time.” Rainbow Dash kept her voice down. She re-fastened her saddlebag and shuffled along the cliffside path. “Did we reach the barbed path that Pearl talked about last night? I can't remember.”
“Not yet, darling,” Rarity said. “That junction of converging paths is somewhere east of here.”
“Then it juts north?”
“Erm... more or less.” Rarity nodded. “Affirmative.”
“Shhhhhh...” Twilight insisted. “We have to keep our voices down.”
“Don't you mean just Dashie?”
“I get what she means, Pinkie,” Rainbow whispered, crouching low. She glanced aside, watching as the mists rolled swiftly through the stone needles like silent white froth. “Something tells me this is gonna be like hide-and-seek... only with my neck on the line.”
“Ohhhhh...” Fluttershy's ears folded. “I was never good at that game.”
“That's fine, Fluttershy!” Twilight wheezed. “You do the seeking while we help Rainbow with the hiding.”
“Uhm... okay.”
“Goodness gracious...” Rarity shivered as she followed Rainbow into a patch of stone-grazing fog. “...I've got a very bad feeling about this.”
Sonikah needs to chill and let Will be done, man.
Thirty squats, ):(. Knock 'em out!
The more I think about it the more the commander scares me in our inevitable upcoming confrontation....zealots are often unpredictable and dangerous and with no Keris to be her voice of reason....well things could go south quickly. Rest as much as you can Dashie, you're going to need it.
6804049 Hey Jake, were you an announcer at AGDQ earlier? I thought I heard the guy say "I'm Jake the Army guy, later" or something to that effect, but I may just be imagining it.
Dat scenery tho'.
That would definitely be a sight to behold.
6804087
YES, I was!!
I will also be hosting tonight from 1-3AM Eastern time.
6804074 Mmm I worry for the safety of Keris.
So... can't she just walk on the fog? It seems like that would be safer.
Sanctuary? Escort? Is this a mission in Fallout 4?
Turning a head scans kilometers, avian eyes means long range; nightcover and mist can speed things up, but there's a time limit on the food. Without caves or camo, and difficult maneuvering, including not being able to hide behind cuz there's no simple way to go behind tall, wide rocks...
So the Luminards and Theanim are going back to the Quade, and
SCENERY PORN
6804116 Dude, that's awesome. I love AGDQ. When I heard you I was like....that's gotta be the same dude. Well have fun bud, I'm jealous as hell.
6804124 So what are you thinking...like maybe Keris has to sacrifice himself, before the commander acquires some chill? Of course in an epic jump inbetween the two and take a crossbolt to the side...with a last softly spoken monologue on overcoming our differences...damn my imagination.
Those monks make a great comedy trio. Somebody write it. Better yet, IC, you write it and give us more monk chapters.
6804136
Not if she wants to hide in it, and not in the pitch black.
alltechf.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/P-landscape-Yellow-Mountain-2-Cliffs-Mist-Pines.-Huangshan-China.jpg
So much for Seraphimus and the gang being introduced to Princess Luna.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/5/5/889463.gif
NSFM
6804146
Must be why I started hearing Codsworth every time Theanim exclaimed.
6804147
*Nealand
Ah, Rarity worries too much. What could possibly go wrong?
Well now... these next few chapters are going to be so tense.
Did Seraph see Dash's pendant glow?
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
2 chapters today? A good birthday gift for me. Thanks Imploding
Sigh, I wanted to post a link to teh short story involving a man on the run, the authorities after him, and just how hard it is to chase after someone hiding on the surface of a small asteroid.
Oh well, looking forward to Dash finding the Gods Halo.
6804116
Wow, that's awesome! I've been watching the stream on and off all week, just gives me more reason to tune in. Nice work, dude!
ooh its getting close! not to rain bad thoughts on this amazing story but am i the only one kinda wondering why RD still cant fly? i mean she took an arrow to the knee...i mean wing, quite some time ago back in the quade and even after a chaos transformation that SHOULD of healed her (or at least help speed the process along) and all the time at red barge and on the latter journey she still is injured? Was it like a permanent destruction of her wing or something? Is she ever going to be able to fly again? or are we waiting for some epic reveal of her regaining the ability to take to the skies? i feel as its just being used as a plot device to increase the drama and tension of this pursuit...and its working. i can see how less treacherous and dramatical this would be if she could just...fly over the mountain or rainboom away from the talon. But still i feel as if some mention of how her wing is doing/progressing in its healing needs to be made at least, a wincing attempt to spread her wing to at least let us know that she's not quite healed and ready to fly yet. She cant stay grounded forever...i mean she's already lost the ability to fight and bad flank around bullets and such.
Then don't jinx it.
Pffft, dunno, you tell them. You've been doing a good job so far at making it up.
6804660
Yeah, the complete blowing off a trusted friend who had interacted with Rd for an extended period should at least have some weight.
6804504 I beleive it has something to do with the seeds, it has been mentioned in earlier chapters that it is not healing like it should've after the chaos transformation. I believe that the chaos side is winning now and the flames of the other girls have had a diminishing effect on staving off the chaos....now will the final honest flame fix it all? Probably or else this series is going to end a lot shorter than any of us are thinking. Once all the elements are combined inside loyalty I predict that it will be enough to lock out the chaos from killing her until she can reach the armory...kinda like quarantining a virus.
6804221
Oh. Y-Yeah that...
Please delete that before IC can read it!
Please dont let Keris die...
6804296 probably a good thing that the red wavelengths of light don't travel through water (and water vapor) very well.
Even after considering the incident that was the Quade, Sonikah still seems like a bitch...
6804896
Desperation in faithless circumstances leads one to provoke answers to one's prayers, my fellow Quade Guard.
Rainbow, you really needed it. (Also, this is the only real decision besides not helping you they can make. Everything else is under your control. Stop with the micromanagement.)
Never has such gorgeous scenery made me so anxious.
Oh, I just love Theamin.
And that is why I love Fluttershy. She seems shy on the outside, but she can get so serious when she needs to.
6804504
I figured it out: the crossbow bolts and crossbow used at the Quade were ancient heirlooms, so they too got coated with Chaos Dust!!! That is what prevents Rainbow's wing from healing!
I'm also getting a bad vibe that something bad's gonna happen...
More extremely beautiful scenery, always a nice thing to read about in this series. Nice to catch up with Theanim's and his little group I have a feeling they are going to get into quite a huge mess soon.
Good chapters
Scenery porn? The second best kind!
6804100 Sinrar's gonna love mapping this out!
6804136 yeah, I remember back in darkenstine she did a bunch of hiding in steam. It feels like ):( has really downplayed her weather sculpting abilities since then.
images.sodahead.com/polls/002416387/1549355282_1206_oh_god_no_why_answer_2_xlarge.png
The scenery porn chapters return, even in the midst of a chase sequence!
I'm drooling. This could make for some dramatic moments as they play hide and seek; the kind you want to see in oil paint.
6805134
i would gladly believe that if it was stated. i have no problem with it happening, like i said the story wouldnt be as good if she could just fly away. but i think it at least needs some kind of recognition or excuse other than it just being so for plot purposes. which is no discredit to the author, the story is amazing. But some things cant just be overlooked or ignored for the sake of it.
6804742
i can buy it...ill book mark it under "dramatic reveal"
Religiously tsundere purple mountains...
Ah, yes, Lu Shan. Before Rainbow leaves, she needs to reverse the course of a waterfall, to return it to the Milky Way.
Obby all this scenery~~
Dammit Rarity, don't you know what happens when you say that? You nearly get snuffed by the Trade Federation... or get devoured by hideous execution beasts... or squished in a rapidly closing depressurizing hangar bay... or tractor-beamed into the Death Star... or attacked by Mynocks... or get roasted by Ewoks.
DON'T EVER SAY THAT AGAIN!
Ouch.
Someone needs to commission artwork of all these incredibly beautiful places that Rainbow keeps encountering. They would fit perfectly in the print versions of this series.
I love Theanim - I keep wishing we could get a meeting between him and Pilate. And I really hope Sonikah is able to come back around. I feel bad for her - she was so sweet and trusting back in the Quade so I can understand her feeling so bitter and betrayed. Not just by Rainbow, but probably by Velaxion as well for allowing things to happen as they did even if she won't admit it.
Speaking of Pilate, I wonder if they might show up again before Dash reaches the edge. Surely the folks in Val Roa have noticed the fall of the Grand Choke / Blight. Seems natural that they might try sending an expedition to investigate. And one would expect such a venture to include at least a couple of brilliant scientists with adventuring experience. Probably wishful thinking, but still...
I also wonder if Dash being capture by the Talon might actually be to her advantage. Assuming it could happen without her being beaten to a pulp. A peaceful surrender facilitated by Keris perhaps. But they would bring her before the council, where there is the stairway leading to Verlaxion's throne. Which is where she is trying to get, right? Of course somehow she'd have to get away from them once there and up the stairs. I know she's aiming for the alternate access that Nana told her about. But between the terrain and constant cat-and-mouse with the Talon, that may end up being harder that letting the Talon take her there and figuring out how to get away at that point. Not sure which would be the stupider plan tho.
Maybe the Talon could show up with Dash before the council at the same time as the Val Roan diplomatic and scientific expedition. Wouldn't that be a hell of a thing!