"I am certain, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, fighting the urge to yawn. "There are no more changelings hidden inside Darkreach." A tired blink. "At least, I think I'm sure of it."
"Well are you or aren't you?" Pinkie asked.
"I... uhm... I-I believe that I got a feel for the creature about halfway through hunting it down," Fluttershy said. "Now that I know..."
"We get it, Fluttershy," Twilight said, rubbing her eyes. "You'll be able to sense them from now on."
"I... wouldn't count on that so quickly," Applejack said. She waved a hoof at Fluttershy, smiling. "No offense, sugarcube. But them creatures are hatched for the sole purpose of outsmartin' other ponyfolk. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more to them that we have yet to witness."
"Good heavens!" Rarity dramatically remarked. "Something more to them than taking on the entire Herald single-hoofedly and then exploding?! I shudder to think!"
"Don't freak out, Rarity," Rainbow Dash said. She sat in a stairwell beneath a flickering light. The mare was alone with her phantom friends. "The last thing I want to do is take us and the Herald purposefully into any lands or nests owned by Tchern." She fiddled with her saddlebag, eventually disrobing the regal violet material. Some of the straps were starting to fray. She made a mental note of getting Kepler's assistance in stitching the trusty old pack whole again. "The key to this journey is getting to the Midnight Armory in one piece. That won't be doable if we pick fights with creatures we can't handle. Trust me... we're already better prepared now thanks to what we went through."
"A run-in with Tchern is inevitable, Rainbow," Twilight said. "Don't you think? I mean... after all... we're far from the only group of ponies trying to get into the Midnight Armory."
"What gets me is that after all this time..." Pinkie Pie gazed about, her muzzle scrunched. "...how come nopony's gotten inside and grabbed the Harmonic Prism already?"
"Because they're all fighting for it, Pinkie," Twilight said. "The three factions of the Trinary War, remember?"
"Soooooooooooo literally not a single one of those big bad armies have been able to control the point where the Armory's located?" Pinkie remarked. "I've had pillow fights before but—no matter how many slumber party ponies are involved—there's always a queen of the hill!"
"That..." Twilight blinked, teetering blearily. "I have no explanation for that."
"Maybe an army has control of the Armory, but they haven't been able to get inside?" Fluttershy said. "You remember Celestia's and Luna's warning about the 'trial' left by the alicorns to even lay eyes on the Harmonic Prism within."
"In any case, it's still the one and only target we need to be concerned with," Rainbow said. "And one thing's for certain..." She narrowed her eyes. "You guys need to get some rest."
"But Rainbow..." Twilight fumbled through a yawn. "...Discord..."
"It's okay so long as one of you girls sticks with me—"
"ME!" Pinkie Pie jumped up, hovering in place with a grin and a hoof raised. "I'll be on Dashie Watch first!"
"Whelp..." Applejack smiled. "Reckon you've got yer first volunteer."
"Way to bring your A-Game, Pinkie." Rainbow shuddered. "I can't promise it'll be very exciting. I'll likely be spending the next few hours—"
"Resting?" Rarity asked.
"... ... ...scavenging through Darkreach for clues about the Emeraldinians and then resting," Rainbow Dash said. "I owe the Herald that much after all they've gone through."
"Darling, you owe the Herald a centeredness of being," Rarity said. "Get some rest. Let Pinkie watch over you. By the time we're all done in the Vanilla Zone, Pinkie can take her turn and sooner than we know it—we'll all be fully recharged and synched with each other."
"Heeheeeeee!" Pinkie twirled in midair. "'Synch' rhymes with 'pink!'"
"Uh huh..." Fluttershy blinked... blinked again... then gazed at Rainbow with a liquid smile. "You're certain you will be okay with only one of us guarding you?"
"I can definitely count on Pinkie," Rainbow said, winking back. "You get some rest."
"I just... can't get over how sad that poor changeling's final moments were," Fluttershy said. "In fact, its whole life in general! Abandoned by its own mother—the Queen—to thirst for love and then commit nothing but atrocities."
"The faster you go to sleep the more you'll be able to forget about it," Rainbow said.
"That might work for you, Rainbow, but not for me." Fluttershy winced instantly. "Oh... I-I'm sorry..." She rubbed her eyes. "That wasn't a nice thing to say."
"It's okay, Fluttershy," Rainbow said. "If it helps you to know, there were tons of changeling sob stories just like this one's back on the Light Side... but I was ultimately able to help out most of them. Chrysalis too."
"Do you think there's such a hope for Tchern and her hive?"
Rainbow had no response.
"Come on, darlin'..." Applejack gave Fluttershy a gentle push. "Time to count sheep hoppin' over the edge of the world."
"Mmmmmmm... sheep..." Fluttershy happily drifted into a ruby portal and vanished. "Nini..."
"I would love to say something sweet, charismatic, and inspiring, but..." Rarity yawned. "I haven't any."
"Jee, thanks Rarity," Rainbow droned with a smug grin.
"You're welcome, darling." And she vanished. Twilight hovered after her.
"If you find anything out about Darkreach while we're away, you'll tell us first thing we wake..." The lavender unicorn raised an eyebrow. "Right?"
"You betcha, egghead. Now don't get cracked."
"Hmmm... I won't." Twilight drifted backwards into ruby oblivion. "Take care, Rainbow... Pinkie..."
Applejack drifted after her. "Funny..."
"Hmmm?" Rainbow craned her neck.
"... ... ...that the changeling would choose to attack you as me at one point."
Rainbow froze in place. Her muzzle paled slightly.
Applejack tilted her hat back. "Reckon them bug-horses have many different ways of messin' with ya."
"Yeah." Rainbow gulped. "They do."
"Heh... yer somethin' else, Rainbow." Applejack tipped her hat one last time and vanished. "Keep up the good work."
"You bet, AJ." Rainbow exhaled with relief. "So..." Her ears perked as she looked at Pinkie. "Just you and me for a while, Pinks. Like old times."
"Soooooooooo who's Miss Clunk-a-Junk?" Pinkie asked, eyebrows wagging.
"Buh?"
"Y'knowwwwwwwww..." Pinkie giggle-snorted. "The pony with the metal eyes and red braids that the changeling turned into?"
Rainbow's ears drooped. "Buh."
Going straight for the figurative jugular there I see, Pinkie.
Don't neglect the rest for too long, Dash. It'll lead to bad thing every time.
Someone who really shouldn't be called that, unless you want your anus pulled out through your nostrils.
And here's Pinkie with the hard hitting questions.
Aj is an actual a lie-detector Dash. How long do you really think you can keep your feelings hidden?
Oh yeah, like she will keep that sort of thought through this
Rainboarke sails once again!
...I think?
Look at it this way Dash, if you tell Pinkie, you can probably trust her to keep it secret as long as you make her swear a Pinkie Promise on it. Seriously though, what is with this group and keeping secrets? Do any of them really think its gonna last throughout the whole Dark Side trek? I'd say its better to clear the freakin' air of that kind of crud now while the danger is still relatively low and they're still in a somewhat secure spot. But nope, I get the feeling all this emotional stuff is only going to sit and spin until just the most inopportune moment where it can do the most damage.
As for the Midnight Armor, my guess is that it's just flat out inaccessible. The factions of the Trinary War might fight over the territory it occupies, but nobody can actually get inside it.
And yeah, this shit is gonna be the roughest on Fluttershy. She's already had to feel a bunch of unnecessary death on the Light Side. How bad is it going to be for her when she feels that magnified by a factor of thousands? It'd be useful to look into the possibility of somehow shutting out or turning off their sensory abilities, if such a thing is possible, if only so there can be some insulation to keep Flutters from going insane before they even reach the Midnight Armory.
oh right, Dash has only told Shy about Roarke.
I forgot about that.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Pinkie is going to be fun for Dash to listen too. Also I'm pretty sure that AJ has this figured out but is just waiting for Dash to tell her the truth herself.
And now its time to actually get that exploration achievement...
Open all of the things, check all of the documents, play all of the logs...
More like "Trunk-a-Junk", amirite?
y'know, as in junk in the trunk?
... I'll see myself out.
Maybe but with how long they've been in the Dark Side I'm not so sure....
I wonder who will own that hill... or in this case the rock bottom.
Is it wrong that I just want a couple chapters of Rainbow being a filly and talking about her old adventures with the Herald and her friends?
Just, lay it all out in 7k words, then a 3k word chapter where she confesses the romances and loves she's had on her journey thus far?
I'm seriously a romantic and am aching to see Rainbow content with herself again. She doesn't need to huff Ariel's plot in front of the group, but am I really the only one who realized that as soon as Rainbow landed on the last continent and Twilight reappeared, Rainbows been emotionally and mentally closed off.
When she was with The Noble Jury, she was alive and passionate. Adventurous and confident.
Since Rust, especially, she's just been all... Emo.
I'm kind of just venting/ranting, but RD dealt with a lot of problems before now, and it seems that without love, she's not the mare she can be, she's just the mare she has to be.
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Yeah, doors that way. ----->
You can come back tomorrow, though.
I don't really like the idea of avoiding Discord, he is literally Dash's soul mate. Best to establish a good relationship with Discord now.
Hard to tell whether the implication in Pinkie's question is serious, or just a joke. She's been goofy all the time, but she is no idiot.
I've heard this one before:
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/falloutequestria/images/0/05/Pinkie_pie_s_1984_by_risenlordm-d3lk93x.png/revision/latest?cb=20120219132850
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I thought it was more the embarrassment of past feelings. I was under the assumption that she had moved on from her affections towards Applejack while she was with Roarke.
Oh man... finally the Rainboarke train comes out of the station, and Pinkie's the next conductor. I forgot that Rainbow had only told Fluttershy about Roarke (I remembered her talking about Roarke in Utaan but I forgot with who and when), so slowly the truth is coming out. Hopefully. I don't expect Pinkie to just drop it when Rainbow tries to get her to.
I should have seen that coming from pinkie.
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I could have sworn they had a full group (minus Applejack) conversation about Roarke on the way to Frostknife...
Lunas supplied saddlebags have gone for 2 years across half th Light Side and an unknown period of time in the brutal magicless region of the Grand Choke, and is starting to show signs of wear after less than a week on the chaotic Dark Side? Something insidious erodiong more than freindship and minds?
Pinkie takes note of Everyone that appears, so she can plan the appropiate number of cukcakes and party invites?
But who're you gonna prank on the Dark Side, Dashie? I don't think any of the factions really have a sense of humor at this point.
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Nope, it was just after Ariel kissed her, the others went to sleep after Twilight lectured them on gender balances and sexual preferences in equestrian and breezy culture, Shy stayed behind a bit, and guessed that Roarke was the one that Dash told Ariel her heart belonged to, because it was the name Dash was repeating in her sleep.
From there they had a discussion about how nopony else noticed her crush on AJ and Shy enjoying the winghugs Dash used to give her when they were in flight school.
Dash and Pink. They fight crime.
I expect a fun conversation full of pinkyisms, followed quickly by breaking the Pinkie once Discord starts mocking Dash and she can do nothing about it.
Everyone but Applejack of the ghosts should know about Dash and Roarke, in Utaan 172 Dash is talkin with them about it.
A little past halway in the chapter
Though, i suppose hearing about someone and then seeing them are two very different things
Time to come clean Dashie.
I can't believe Applejack would be that naive. I think she knows, but is waiting for dash to tell her in her own time.
Penny in the air!
Of course Pinkie would remember that. That's why Rainbow was so dumbstruck. This is going to be a looooooong . . . um, I don't even know what to call segments of time on this side because there is no day or nighy cycle. It's just always night, all the time.
Either way, it's going to be a long one.
Uh oh. This'll be fun.
Recall the vision we saw of Endrax closing off the Armory with her own dead body. Most likely it will remain sealed until the three missing fragments of her have been returned, each one of which is in the possession of one of the three armies - which will just as likely make for our overarching story objective, after all.
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I love looking for the pieces of the tri-force
Either it has active defenses or is like sunlight to vampires.
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Well, considering it's pieces of her, it'd be more like pieces of heart.
Earlier, Logan talked with Seraphimus about how the Changeling didn't turn into Verlax. Seraphimus was definitely dedicated to Verlax, but he made it sound like it was the other way around: the Changeling can only transform into those who love her back.
So does this mean Applejack...
Only if Rainbow and co. don't just give up on them as unsalvageable. Who knows, maybe they can turn them into an ally, Luna knows they are going to need more in the coming days.
10/17/2017
14:45 UTC
Didn't she already told Pinks? Or is it just Twilight and Rarity?
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She told all of them. Is this a continuity error?
Really laying it on thick that the dark side is just the worst most terrible place of all time. Lots of chapters ahead to catch up on to see how that turns out, fuck I'm further behind than I thought I was.
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It is, iirc, unless that was just Fluttershy awake at that point or maybe just Pinkie was asleep? I don't remember the specifics too clearly
Maybe not initially, but I have a hunch you will not be able to avoidd them forever.
11/13/2019
18:28 UTC
Most of the time, buh is a question. This time it’s a statement. Spill it
Welp... time to come clean, Rainbow. You were gonna have to eventually.
It was only with another read through that I realized that pinkie pretty much ignored rainbow when she was explaining who Roarke was a book ago.
I uh....kinda doubt that.
....ah, right. We didn't fully talk about that yet, did we?
Dashies waifu, duh Pinkie.