"Nnnngh..."
"Oh! Are you feeling alright? Are you experiencing any pain?"
"It's... hard to say, Miss Bellesmith. It's certainly... unique, is all."
"The runic plate is necessary in order to transfer information between the manasphere and your cerebral cortex. Aside from actually... uhm... drilling into your skull... eheh... this is the best means we have to create a junction. As you can imagine, it can't not be a tight fit..."
"And you're certain that this... this... uh... Optical and Sensory... erm..."
"Just call it 'O.A.S.I.S.' for short. Heehee... and to be honest, Mr. Pilate, no, we don't know if it will work. For the moment, all I'm making sure of is that it will not bring you or your nervous system any harm. If it integrates—good. We'll work from there. For the time being, take it easy, and we'll see next about giving you back some of your sight."
"I won't be able to see perfectly, then?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Pilate. At best, this will allow you to read, scan nearby objects, and commit structural things to memory. It won't replace your eyes, but I think you'll find it a means of continuing your intellectual pursuits."
"Well, I certainly can't complain about that. Did you try this device out yourself?"
"I... I did when I first invented the prototype, yes. But... I-I'm afraid to say that I'm not entirely a fitting or compatible subject."
"Why is that?"
"It's... complicated. But I'm glad to have this opportunity with you, now. After hearing what you did on board Ledo's Pride, I think you more than deserve a chance to regain at least a portion of your senses again."
"Is that why you're doing this, then?"
"Hmmm?"
"Is this your attempt to reward me for heroism?"
"Nopony can properly reward you for what you've done, Mr. Pilate. Over a hundred ponies are alive now thanks to you. No, I see this as... as..."
"Yes...?"
"A gift, Mr. Pilate. It's a gift from me to you. And if it works, then I'll feel like I've done something good... just like you've done something immeasurably wonderful for this world."
"I... I don't know what to say, Miss Bellesmith."
"Please. Heehee. Just call me—"
"Belle..."
Pilate raised a trembling hoof. He gulped.
"Belle... where... wh-where...?"
"Shhhh... Easy does it, Pilate," Eagle Eye said from where he squatted low, cradling the zebra's head. He gave the stallion's cheek a loving pat and said, "Your beloved's fine. So is Kera. A few bumps and bruises, but nothing to be scared of."
"Then..." Pilate winced, struggling to sit up. "What happened? Did we—?"
The mess hall shook—as did the rest of the ship. Wincing, Eagle Eye held Pilate tight while he glanced up at the rain-swept portholes. "We're still in the Flurries. We made it past that one nasty wasterspout, but... but..."
Pilate's clear eyes quivered. "But what...?"
With a flap of her wings, Rainbow glided down the mess hall. "This is wrong..." She gritted her teeth while her mane still dribbled with rain water. "Something's not right. You feel that?"
Josho looked up from where he knelt beside Bellesmith and Kera. "How come we haven't done much shaking and jostling?"
"Th-that's a good thing, right?!" Eagle Eye glanced up. "We've got the Lounge off our tail and we're out of reach of that cyclone!"
Rainbow gazed out the window. She saw swirling mists jetting past the Noble Jury on either side. "But we're not through the storm." She gulped. "If you ask me, it's almost like we're being threaded through a particularly nasty needle-eye."
"With each passing week, I don't know what gets more colorful," Josho spat. "Your mane or your analogies."
"Stay here." Rainbow Dash darted down the hallway, leaving a trail of rainwater behind her. "I'm checking on the cockpit!"
"Rainbow, slow down!" Eagle Eye squeaked. "You just went water-skiing through a hurricane! Don't wear yourself out!" His voice echoed against the bulkheads. Frowning, he muttered, "If you stripped her of awesome, all you'd have is 'stubborn.'"
Belle nodded, holding Kera close. "You've no idea..."
Rainbow Dash crawled up the last few rungs of the vertical crawlspace and entered the crowded cockpit. "Floydien? Elma? Can any of you guys tell me just where in the hay we are?!"
"Grrrrnngh!" Floydien replied with a teeth-gnashing grunt, his cloven hooves clutching tight to the controls of the ship. "It's like farting down a glimmer canal! Each direction I budge ends with shake shake!"
"It's been like this for the past ten minutes," Ebon Mane spoke up, sweating nervously. "As soon as we broke through the tornado, this... path formed..."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "Path?!"
"I've never seen anything like it!" Elma exclaimed. "It's like a tiny jetstream of air, blowing in one singular direction!"
"Well, screw the air!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Slow down and try and bank out of it!"
"If it suits the Color Wheel!" Floydien pulled sideways on the controls.
"Ah jeez, Floydien!" Ebon flailed. "Not again—"
The ship instantly rattled as if it was running aground. Zaid and Ebon bumped into each other yet again while Rainbow had to catch Elma to keep her from falling down the vertical passage.
"Never mind! Ease off!" Rainbow spat. "Ease off!"
Floydien evened the Noble Jury yet again. "Floydien tried to tell her!"
"Scrkkkk! Handsome! What's with the rattle in the saddle?!"
"We're caught in some sort of wind current!" Elma spoke above the crowd, her reptilian eyes reflecting the jets of rain on both the starboard and port side of the cockpit's windshield. "Judging from the movement of the precipitation, I'd say we were being shoved forward!"
"You mean Nancy's become a kite?!"
"Let's test that." Rainbow Dash looked at the elk. "Floydien?"
"What shimmering idea does the boomer have now?"
"Think you can cut the engines?"
"Nnnngh... Nancy needs a vacation." Floydien spoke to the intercom. "Blonde boomer! You heard the feather feathers!"
"Okies. Here we goesies." There was a gulping sound, then the noise of steam pipes hissing.
The ship jostled once, but continued gliding forward.
Rainbow Dash squinted out the windshield. "...Props, did you cut the engines yet?"
"I sure did, Dashie! Just thirty seconds ago!"
"But we're still moving forward," Ebon muttered.
"How is this possible...?!" Elma gazed up at Rainbow with a gaping beak. "No wind current has maintained itself so cohesively and so powerful for this long!"
"You sure about that?"
"Look at it!" Elma pointed out with a scaled foot. "We're in a virtual tunnel, heading in one direction!"
"You sure you can't slow us down any, Mr. Floydien?" Ebon asked.
"Even with sails, Nancy is out of control!" The elk sneered, "Floydien doesn't like it one bit. No no no."
"It's almost as if it wants us to go in one direction," Zaid said.
Everypony looked at him.
"What do you mean...?" Rainbow squinted. "'It?'"
The ex-cultist shrugged. "I dunno. But you gotta admit it's pretty dang eerie."
"Could the Lounge be behind this?" Ebon remarked. "Some sort of... mana-induced weather control?"
"No friggin' way," Rainbow Dash muttered, gazing nervously out the windshield. "I just schooled those guys royally. I'm sure they're still in one piece somewhere, but they're definitely out for the count."
"Maybe there are more of the dudes in their big black balls?" Zaid said.
"Do you see any flickers of yellow skystone?" Props' voice asked.
The ponies took a few seconds to look.
"Nope, just normal scary-as-heck lightning," Rainbow droned.
"Then I can't imagine what else would empower the Lounge to control a part of the Flurries!"
"We gotta find some way out of here," Ebon said. "What if pulled a sharp left or right and pierced through just like with the cyclone?"
"Is sailboat boomer a goldfish?!" Floydien said, "Nancy tried that minutes ago! Floydien is not about to tear beloved to scrap scrap!"
"Maybe if... uh... uh..." Rainbow Dash bonked her wet head several times, desperately trying to think. "Maybe if I got outside, stood myself on the bow, and spread my wings to break the airstream?"
"You really wanna die fabulously today, don't you?" Zaid said with a squint.
"Didn't you tell us earlier that your pegasus limbs can't manipulate this weather for some reason?" Elma said.
Rainbow's ears drooped. "Darn it, you're right. Just what is this place?"
"Uhhhhh... bestie friendsies?" Props' voice crackled over the intercom. "Why are we accelerating?!"
Ebon's face scrunched. "We're accelerating?"
"We totally are!"
"Impossible!" Floydien frowned. "Floydien didn't tell Nancy Jane to speed up!" He glanced down at the controls and did a double-take. "Nancy! Why do you speed up?!"
The ship started shaking—gently at first—then building up to a turbulent rattle.
"Uhhhhh..." Ebon squirmed, shuffling backwards as hard sheets of rain pelted the windshield harder and harder. "Guys? I don't like this..."
"What's going on?!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"The wind walls are closing in!" Elma Boreal gasped. "It's like we're being funneled somewhere!"
"Oh great," Zaid muttered. "A sky toilet—Whoadayum!" He suddenly fell back.
So did every other pony, for the Noble Jury was taking an inexplicable nose dive. Air howled through the seams of the bulkheads as the vessel approached incomprehensible velocities. Floydien tried grabbing his controls, but the sticks jerked and swayed away from him. Cursing under his breath, he tried zapping all manner of energy bolts into his console, but the ship refused to obey him.
"The steam pipes are doing a fireworks display down here!" Props stammered through the flickering intercom. "Unky Prowsie and I can barely hold them together!"
"What's going on?! What's going on?!" Ebon mewled.
"Just don't panic!" Rainbow shouted above the rattling metal plates all around them. "There's gotta be a reasonable explanation for—"
The Noble Jury pulled up, evening out and veering slightly to starboard. As Rainbow Dash clamored for a hoof-hold inside the careening cockpit, she caught a swift glance of the outside world. Through the gray haze of the Flurries, she spotted a dark shape looming directly ahead.
A deep gasp escaped the pegasus' throat.
Before long, the dark shape spread, becoming several—like gigantic bodies looming in the mists.
"What..." Elma sputtered, her head cowardly peering from just beneath the lid of her shell. "What is that...?!"
Something flew past the port side at murderous speed. Rainbow's head swiveled to see it, but all she managed to spot was a hazy streak. Something else flew past the starboard side, but she was too slow to spot it. More shapes loomed. She looked ahead, spotting dark splotches like islands floating amidst the Flurries.
"Are they ships?!" Ebon breathlessly murmured. "The Lounge?"
"No..." Rainbow shook her head. "Too large! If I didn't know better—"
"Pressure's increasing! What in the soot is going on out there, you guys?!"
"Don't look now!" Zaid exclaimed, pointing ahead with a wickedly bright eyes. "But I think we're about to hit a wall!"
Gasps filled the cockpit... until the "wall" turned out to be simply a thick sheet of rain. Nevertheless, everypony braced themselves as the Noble Jury shot on through. And just like that, all of the turbulence and rattling ended. It was quiet enough to hear a pindrop. A coat of rainwater rolled over the windshield, and when it cleared—Rainbow Dash saw buildings, monoliths, temples, courtyards, marble plateaus—all floating like gray balloons in a drizzling pocket of air.
Rainbow Dash's jaw fell agape. Her eyes blinked, and in that blink she imagined sunny skies and a green Equestrian landscape below. When her eyelids reopened, she saw a massive building soaring past their starboard side. She squinted, making out ribbed marble columns and tattered banners. A sculpted figure dribbled with moisture, bearing a long snout, hooves, and a spread pair of wings.
And then Rainbow felt her pendant rising up against her chin. Not only that, but her rain-soaked mane was flouncing towards the ceiling.
"We're falling!" Elma shouted.
With a grunt, Floydien finally re-gripped the controls. He yanked back hard, wheezing into the intercom. "Blonde boomer! The engines—"
"Unky Prowsie! Hit it! Hit it—Scrkkk!" Props' voice was cut off by the incessant hiss of steam.
"Even us out!" Zaid shouted. "Even us out!"
"What does boomer think Floydien is trying—?!"
"Look out!" Ebon squeaked, for a giant marble temple loomed ahead.
Rainbow gasped, then pointed. "Aim for the center! There'll be a large open space! The Jury should be able to fit through!"
"How... d-does Color Wheel know—?!"
"Trust me! Glide us there!"
Elma hid her head in her shell while Ebon buried his face in his hooves.
Rainbow Dash braced herself against the cockpit's ceiling, watching with wide eyes as the dark structure loomed frighteningly close...
Rain pelted and charred in several places from the Lounge's energy blasts, the Noble Jury plummeted towards the large floating temple. Sure enough, in between two sets of four marble columns, a large gap loomed. The Noble Jury fit easily through it. The rest of the trip, however, was far less graceful. The vessel's upper skystone made contact first, spitting sparks and tiny chunks of red crystal in every direction. The ship jolted downwards, and the bottom hull of the gondola struck the marble floor.
The air filled with the ear-splitting cacophony of scraping metal. The Noble Jury gradually lost its momentum, careening towards its left side as it slid violently across the hollow temple and careened towards the open space on the other side. For a full thirty seconds, it scraped along, leaving a frictious trail of shrapnel and crumbled mearble bits in its wake. At last, well before it could emerge on the other side, the vessel finally came to rest against a pair of marble columns.
There, the crashed ship lay still, stuck in a forty-five degree lean. Its skystone shards flickered and died while every light on board the vessel shorted out. Everything was dormant, with the Jury's windshield and portholes reflecting lightning from afar.
Slowly, one by one, the ponies inside the cockpit stood up. Zaid helped Ebon to his hooves while Rainbow Dash knocked politely on Elma's shell. Miss Boreal stuck her head out while Floydien shook the cobwebs in his antler'd head.
"Everypony in one piece?" Ebon asked.
"I could do with a few less gray hairs, but otherwise I'm peachy keen," Zaid murmured, staring out the cockpit at the marble pillars looming on either side of them. "Yeesh. Who parked a vomitorium in the middle of birdspace?"
"Nancy Jane, Floydien loves you..." The elk muttered, rubbing his muzzle. "And one of these days, Floydien swears, he's going to buy you some airbags..."
Josho climbed up, sticking his fat head out of the crooked crawlspace below. "What in the Hell is going on here?! Did we make it to the Continent on the other side? Is this Alafreo?!"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Far from it..."
Josho squinted up at her. "What, you expect me to believe an island just appeared in midair?"
Rainbow bit her lip.
"Scrkkk! Guys? At least tell me one thing. Did we head south all of the sudden?"
Ebon tilted his head towards the console. "Why's that, Propsy?"
"Cuz it's really, really warm out there! The instruments are telling me that we're no longer in the arctic! But how's that possible?"
"The temperature..." Elma thought aloud. "Whatever that pocket of air is outside, it's... somehow self-regulated?"
Rainbow Dash gulped. "Somepony's regulating it, alright."
"Huh?"
"I'm going out there."
"What?!"
Rainbow Dash was already scurrying down the crawlspace. "I have to find out something! Keep watch on the ship!"
Eagle Eye was just finishing with helping Pilate and his beloved to their hooves when he heard Rainbow Dash's flapping wings. He spun around, squinting across the gray spotlights that the portholes made through the dark interior.
"Rainbow...?"
"Stay here with Belle and Pilate, Double-E." Rainbow Dash stripped of her rain-soaked leather coat and trotted briskly towards the kitchen. "I'm going outside to investigate."
"Investigate what?! Rainbow, what's going on?!"
"I said stay inside! I mean it!" Rainbow flew on by herself.
"Beloved... I'm so confused..." Pilate muttered. "Where are we?"
Belle could only stare out the window leaning above them at an angle. She saw marble, gusts of rainy wind, and more marble.
With a loud mechanical whir, the hangar doors to the Noble Jury slowly opened. There was no gust of air pulling Rainbow out. Instead, everything felt very calm, moist, and humid. She stepped outside on gently padding hooves.
Standing upon the crooked plank to the hangar, she paused, glancing left and right.
The temple interior stretched before her, flanked by marble columns—beyond which nightmarishly chaotic gales of wind blew in every which direction.
Biting her lip, Rainbow Dash hopped out. Her hooves clapped as they made contact with the floor—a thing that startled her.
"That's... that's real marble..." She furrowed her brow as she shuffled forward. "Then... h-how in Celestia's name is it staying up?"
Nevertheless, she pressed forward, trotting away from the Noble Jury as she approached the nearest edge of the temple. As she came upon the precipice of the platform, she squinted, for a curtain of veiled sunlight bathed her through the gray malaise.
She looked straight up.
Dozens if not hundreds of identical structures loomed—many of them marble temples, some of them granite effigies of ponies... ponies with wings. She was too busy taking in the sights of floating domes and levitating obelisks to gasp at any single one detail.
Lightning flashed, and the resulting thunder echoed quadruply off the multiple, floating structures.
Breathless, Rainbow Dash leaned forward, tilting her head to look below. Through randomly jetting curtains of rain, Rainbow Dash saw more and more granite edifices. A virtual city loomed within the pocket of cyclonic winds, trapping the structures there... and the Noble Jury as well.
Shuddering, she leaned back, until she became aware of a structure looming directly above her. She turned around and glanced up. Her wings spread in surprise.
A sculpture of a mare was positioned at the peak of an arch. Her dark gray features were slick with perpetual rainwater, all dribbling off her muzzle, helmet, and trademark scowl.
"Commander... Hurricane...?" Rainbow Dash sputtered. She blinked, glanced out at the rain and lightning, and blinked again. A gasp escaped her lips, and she stumbled numbly back into the temple, taking a crooked path back to the Noble Jury.
There, she spotted several Jurists standing along the leaning entrance to the hangar. Among the crowd was a pale, red-bearded stallion, and he was jumping for joy.
"Och mah stars an' garters! it's real! it's real an' it's haur!" Grinning from ear to ear, Prowse hoisted Props up and spun around with her in his metallic grip. "Ah kent it! Ah kent eh'd fin' it!"
"Eeep! F-find what, Unky Prowsy?!"
"Whit else dae ye hink, lassie?!" He dropped her and shouted victoriously into the echoing marble chamber. "The Secret Lost Civilization of Zadubadabu! Haa haa haa!" He did a prancing jig, then leaned down to leer at a certain snapping turtle. "An' ye thooght it was aw a wild goose chase, Tankette! Weel, mince 'at in yer lettuce hole an' reek it! Professur Prowse has dain it! Noo an' forever! Hahaaaa!"
Rainbow Dash could only blanch. She plopped down on her flank and ran a hoof through her sopping wet mane.
Eagle Eye trotted forward to the hangar's edge. Gazing at the rain-slick temple, he gulped and rested a hoof on Ebon's shoulder to his side. Ebon tilted his head down and gazed earnestly at the pegasus. "Rainbow, I... I-I don't get it! What kind of a place is this?"
Rainbow swallowed hard and looked back up at them. "Mythological."
Well I didn't think we would be going here this soon. Truth be told I always had a feeling that Stratopolis would have turned out to be Cloudsdale somehow. This is going to one heck of an arc.
Good that we're flashing back with Pilate again. I keep forgetting that he exists.
Does this mean the founders were around when the Ring was whole? My poor brain ... This just raises further questions.
Well, then.
That happened.
I'm gonna go lay down for a while to process this.
Well, now we find out what lies at the bottom of the Oubliette of Myth.
I think we can blaim Zaid for his VINCENT impersonation for this.
Of course, theres more than one thing that can be sucked up by such a vaccuum cleaner, and a ball is really resiliant.
Woot! We're at the Zabadadabudabubu!
Holy fuck it's Stratopolis.
WELCOME TO ZABADABADU, ROGUE
Well, hot damn on a stick...is that Stratopolis?
Ohhhh this is gonna be good.
Considering everything that has happened lately, this would not surprise me in the slightest.
BWAHAHHAHAAA YES!
No longer shall I be afraid that someone at work will inexplicably mention "Stratopolis" and I will, Pavlov-like, respond "Stratopolis is a myth," somehow outing myself as a fan of Austraeoh.
Nice landing!
So... Stratopolis isn't just real, it's also Zadubadabu? Oh man.
Inb4 it's uninhabited. There can only be one pegasus in this story.
Still not convinced Prowse isn't evil though. He could easily have an ulterior motive.
Also still not convinced Zaid isn't a secret changeling. (Sorry, real!Zaid, but you're the only character who hasn't been blood-checked yet IIRC)
4153090 It could be that everything was fine until the ring broke and the ensuing chaos forces introduced the blizzard and Windigoes.
Holy crap. I knew the references all lead up to something.
And I get the feeling that Stratopolis is very, very similar to Athens and they just landed in the Parthenon. Way to desecrate a national monument Dash. I'll be adding that to your bill.
Holy Pegasi, Batmare!
This is about to get a whole lot more "mythological".
Oh my Celestia... THEY FOUND LAPUTA!
1353405
4 books later, and here we are. Nice call, Axan
Wow, I wasn't expecting a Pegasus civilization, but this seems like the right place for one. It could be abandoned because there are no Pegasi flying around, but something must be maintaining the calm weather (which would also be causing the Strip of Flurries because of the mysterious wind that brought the Noble Jury here).
The Lounge most likely knows about this place already... maybe the reason they want to hunt down Prowse is because they want to keep this Zabudabaduabuaa place a secret.
Stratopolis! Yay it's real and NOT on the dark side of donut world!
I wonder how come the others have even heard of it though... We need backstory ponies!
Someone REALLY liked "Castle in the Sky".
Freaking Commander Hurricane?
Does this mean that all this time, they've been flying through the Windigo-infested land that the pre-Equestrians abandoned so long ago?
So. Stratopolis. This is going to be good.
4154287 Perhaps the Windigos have evolved and become Ice Wyrms?
I knew we'd see Stratopolis someday, but I guess I wasn't expecting it so soon. I'm soooooo excited to see what comes of this, you guys don't even know (or maybe you do). I'm especially interested in seeing how Stratopolis ties into the overall mythos of the machine world and its pegasus stewards. Possibly my favorite thing about this series is the world-building and sense of history, so I'm practically salivating now. I'm also curious what, if anything, the Lounge knows about this, especially if they're native to the Strip of Flurries.
Also, I have to admit, I don't think I ever considered that Stratopolis and Zadubadabu were the same place.
Hrmm... this is funky.
Make like a cloud and pop.
Make like a pegasus and freeze.
Make like Athens and Parthenon this space.
Make like Greece and slip.
Make like water and drip.
Make like ____ and _____.
Can't wait 'til we get some insight into this place!
PEGASOPOLIS
Haven't we been calling Pegasopolis a myth for like 600 chapters?
Hell this just got more interesting.
Interesting revelation.
Well, they found the lost kingdom of Zadubadabu and not only that, but it turns out to be Stratopolis. I can quite honestly say I never expected this, but I can also say that this is amazing. I may never have a character, but I have quite possibly the greatest mythological city that ever existed in this universe. Sure, I only have the name Prowse gave it, but it's still Stratopolis. And the Zadubadabu arc is officially started. Now to see how IC does with my kingdom. All hail Stratopolis! All hail Zadubadabu!
4155002 neither did I
We're getting closer... much closer
Well damn, looks like we've finally made it to Stratopolis. I should have expected it with the crazy weather and everything, but still, that sure snuck up on us, didn't it?
24
Honestly I read the last three chapters at once and they were quite a ride.
I feel like I need a smoke after this.
So, let's take stock: Zadumyflankoff is Stratopolis and an ancient pegasi fortress. Hurricane at least is a historical figure and now it gets interesting: up until this point we had more reason to believe that the Hearth's Warming story was just made up folklore in this universe (as there was no Equestria before the alicorns, nor before Harmony. It was not something ponies discovered, but something the alicorns brought.) but now we know at least some parts of it must be right - otherwhise, the Equestrians half a world away wouldn't know about Hurricane. I think it can be considered a valid theory now that the modern Equestrian pegasi are in fact descendants of the ones that used to inhabit that fortress before abandoning it for a journey west. Why? Hearth's Warming folklore tells they fled an eternal winter. The historical background of that story could just be the Strip of Flurries, some kind of metaphysically fuelled storm that the pegasi could not control and that forced them to abandon their hometown. Due to the fact that Rainbow cannot control these winds, I believe it's safe to assume that whatever caused and still causes them was hostile to the pegasi, not the pegasi themselves.
If the pegasi fled west, every remnant of their culture and themselves that we encountered on the way - the six skeletons, the book, the signs on the wall in Foxtaur - now makes sense. But at what time did that happen? They knew of the Austraeoh already but still carried a tome with them (if it was really them) so my guess would be immediately after the Sundering, which would make these pegasi proto-pegasi. It remains to be seen if that ruin contains any remnants of amazing technology, that would pretty much prove that theory - then again, why is Hurricane wearing archaic armour and none of that high-tech gizmo shizzle then? Following up on that, the Flurries might also have been a side effect of the Sundering- or perhaps the Sundering was a response to whatever caused the Flurries. Perhaps they weren't so evil after all; perhaps they were just desperate. I've been wondering how it could be that the alicorns never mentioned anything about meeting the pegasi. It was a huge surprise for us that the pegasi are actually older than then - the way Luna described the world before the arrival of their people strongly suggests there was no thriving pegasus society in Equestria then. But if that was the case, where did they go? When did they resurface? And why the heck hasn't she told us anything about that, I mean she must have been there!
And what about the other two races, anyway. Were those just added into the founding of Equestria by folklore or do they too predate the alicorns and were just never mentioned? Or did all this actually take place AFTER the alicorn's arrival, but how could that be when they were never mentioned in it? How did the pegasi know of the Austraeoh, the question still isn't answered. And, and, and...
Sweet baby Luna.
Have a nice picture.
scottmcgee.org/photos/Wallpapers/cool%20photos/MountRoraima-Venezuela.jpg
4155725
Don't give up hope. Just gripe about it for 3 books and you might get something. I got an absurdly obscure namedrop after doing so. You might get to be a friendly Dragon Rider or something. Named Roran.
4157729 that would be interesting
4157903
*Shrug*
I became a turtle.
Pegasi seem to be more godlike than the Alicorns this far east.
I am absolutely amazed that no pony has mentioned BioShock: infinite in this comments section yet.
4156287 so many possible implications!
4156287 The best part is, it's been less than a day since they entered the Flurries... which means we might have time for one more moonlight conversation.
4160509 Wouldn't be the first time the comparison was drawn. Odrsjot, Chapter 14: "Wipe Away the Dash". They were entering Gray Smoke. That chapter came out right around the time Infinite was released. :P
machine world entrance somewhere
Well, damn. That's quite the twist I wasn't expecting. I was expecting Zabadabadu, but not Stratopolis.
...I don't think that's Zadubadabu...
Stratozadubadabu.
-Spirit
Are they trapped?
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Finally, something to sink my teeth into!
Alright, so the statue of Commander Hurricane more or less confirms that this city is, indeed, Stratopolis. Which begs the question - how is Hurricane a part of Equestrian folklore when her city is several thousand miles from Equestria? Well, this IS a floating city. The only logical explanation is that it drifted by Equestria at some point in time. But then, there's something else - this pegasus civilization brings SO MUCH MORE of the story together. Assuming that this city predates Equestria and that it never moved, it's also possible that the storm in folklore that caused a pilgrimage to new lands for the three main pony races. If that's the case, all of the pegasus relics we've seen thus far - such as the six pegasus skeletons in Ledomare, the tome, the carvings and stonework on Foxtaur, and so on - undoubtably become relics of the pegasus pilgrims of Stratopolis as they traveled west to seek new lands. Or perhaps a combination of theories is possible - the city first flew past Equestria after it's formation, Hurricane eventually going down in legend, the city settled in the west, the storm happened, the pilgrimage happened, and the pilgrims either all died along the way or some made it to Equestria.
Then there's the weather. Possibly the remnants of the very storm that sent the pegasi away (maybe)? Or what was said earlier about it being a controlled storm. Possibly controlled by the Lounge...maybe having something to do with the changelings, even? Only time will tell.
Welp, color me happy. I have to say that I'm very excited for this arc - more excited than I've been in a while! This'll be awesome! These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. 4153891 Axan said something about Stratopolis?
So the folk tales are true.....
Everybody, together!
*eye roll* "Stratopolis is a myth!"
One last time...
It took so long for this to happen . . . so long that I am at a loss for words. Just . . . yes. Stratopolis is real.
I must say I'm hardly surprised that this is real.
I take it we just found Stratopolis.
Too many ponies claimed Stratopolis to be a myth. It was bound to happen.
6012552 yeah I totes called this back in the middle of odrsjot... Still... Awesome.
The Chehkov's Spirit Bomb has finally been discharged. I just hope it lives up to the hype.