"Nnnngh..." Eagle Eye wandered into the ship's kitchen, his hooves taking him on a loose, zig-zagged path. He blinked blearily, wincing from the bright light sources in front of him.
As the room came into focus, the ex-mercenary caught sight of a familiar burgundy shape. "Well, good morning, sleepy head," Ebon remarked with a smile, all the while stirring a pot full of a dense soup mixture. "You certainly kerplunked for a long, long time."
"Mmmf... I-I was up late last night, practicing sword and shield maneuvers on the top deck."
"Pffft." Ebon smirked. "Didn't Stratopolis give you enough practice?"
"Funny you should say that." Eagle leaned against the doorframe and rubbed his muzzle, eyes blinking. "In truth, I'm super behind. Guess I wore myself out..." A few more blinks, and he squinted at the cook. "I thought we were scrimping meals for the time being."
"Mmmm... We are. But today, we've got reason to celebrate. So I'm making extra broth for everyone."
"Oh?" Eagle Eye stifled a yawn. "What's the occasion?"
"You mean you don't know?"
Eagle dizzily shook his head.
Ebon glanced over. "That's what you get for sleeping through half the day." He grinned. "Turns out Rainbow's sword that she found in Stratopolis is closely tied to Celestia."
"Celestia?" Eagle Eye's muzzle fell agape. "You mean as in Princess Celestia?"
Ebon nodded. "The one and only! That's why it's so empty below deck, in case you may have noticed. Almost everypony is up top, listening to what the ruler of Equestria has to say."
"Even Floydien?"
"Even Floydien."
"But... y-you came down here...?"
"Well, somepony's gotta feed the rest." Ebon smirked. "Besides, at this point, Rainbow and Celestia are probably just catching up. I already got a good earful, listening in on the Princess talk about Commander Hurricane, Chrysalis, and a bunch of freed changelings in Equestria..."
"Wait..." Eagle Eye suddenly stood up straight, his fuzzy ears perking. "Freed changelings? Chrysalis?"
"Hmmm?" Ebon glanced over while he continued to stir. "Why, yes. Seems like the Equestrians sequestered them from the rest of the populace until they could understand why there were suddenly shape-shifters in the kingdom." He smiled. "Turns out the changelings are mostly harmless. Heh... almost makes you wish we ran into them instead of the ones who brought us to Stratopolis in the first place, huh?"
Eagle Eye stared into the far corner of the kitchen. "Did... did they even know that they were changelings?"
"I... don't think so." Ebon shrugged, glancing into his pot. "From the sound of it, they've been posing as normal Equestrians for a long time. Then, out of nowhere, they showed their true colors. And it happened around the same time Rainbow Dash confronted Chrysalis face to face... well, maybe it wasn't her real face, but you get what I mean, Eagle—" Ebon looked up, and he dropped the ladle in his grasp. "Eagle?" He blinked.
The unicorn was gone.
"...and that's just the thing, there were literally thousands of pegasi who were mutated by the purple slime," Rainbow Dash said, her mane blown by the high winds. The ocean stretched around the Noble Jury in every direction as she paced a circle about the glowing sword lying atop the deck. "I mean, I didn't exactly count them, as I was too busy kicking their ugly flanks... but you get the picture."
"And that's quite distressing, considering that less than one hundred and fifty pegasi accompanied Commander Hurricane on her heroic trip."
"So you see where I'm getting at, Your Highness?"
"Indeed. It's only logical to conclude that the majority of corrupted pegasi you encountered belonged to something other than the Pegasopolitan Officer's brigade."
"Pilate and I think it's more of... y'know..." Rainbow Dash swiveled and faced the sword. "...the ancient pegasi I keep hearing about."
"The ones to whom the 'Herald' were supposedly faithful to?"
"All I've ever learned about them, Princess Celestia, leads me to believe that they were supremely bad dudes." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What if they were responsible for all the nasty crud that happened in Stratopolis?"
"Do you mean to suggest that they were the ones who steered the city into Equestrian airspace thousands of years ago?"
"Erm... no. Actually, I think they were wasted long before then."
"Interesting..."
"I know, right?" Rainbow squatted by the sword, staring into its golden surfaces. "Here's what I'm thinking. The old world—Urohringr—was once whole, a solid ring of sorts. But then it split up. And these giant floaty city thingies—the Sentinels—were lost in all the chaos. But—like—the pegasi found one of the Sentinels and took it over. Now, based on what Belle has experienced in her past sequencing with the likes of Nightshade and Nightshade's foals, it's a firm guess that these pegasi were also responsible for splitting Urohringr up to begin with. Now, wouldn't that make sense? If they wanted to separate the pieces of the ring, then it makes sense that they'd want to—y'know—dominate the newer and smaller piece of real estate. So they took over Stratopolis with the hope of flying it around and acting like they owned the place. And, for all we know, maybe they did. But... like... at some point they bit off a little more than they could chew..."
"And they infested themselves with this infernal, viscous material which you described..."
"I know, right?" Rainbow nodded. "Princess Celestia..." She gulped. "What if there aren't any of these pegasi left? What if they ultimately killed themselves off by doing this crap?"
"I detect a great deal of distress in your voice. Why does this possiblity worry you, Rainbow Dash?"
"Well..." Rainbow fidgeted, then ran a hoof through her mane. "If all the pegasi are gone, then who do we have left who'll have a clue to undo the damage that's been done?"
"From what you've told me, it sounds like that part of the world has more and more hints for you to uncover. Even with all of the resources and historical archives of Canterlot at my subjects' disposal, you still stand to learn for more than we can about this."
"Yeah, but... I feel like there's a lot that I'm supposed to learn in so little time." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She flung a weak gaze towards Pilate, Bellesmith, and the others. "And we both know it's very... very little time..."
Silence. Then, at last, Celestia spoke in a calm tone. "Rainbow Dash, I cannot pretend to know what truly happened to these ancient pegasi—nefarious or not. However, there is one curious observation that I must point out."
"Hrmmm... yeah? What's that, Your Highness?"
"The inner workings of Stratopolis—including those adorned with the symbols of 'Urohringr'—responded to you and only you. That said, it stands to reason that they responded in a like manner to Commander Hurricane as well."
"Right. And just what are you getting at?"
"Simply that I do not think that all of the pegasi of whom we speak about actually died out," Celestia's voice said. "And, if that is the case, then I refuse to believe that they are all innately evil."
Rainbow Dash blinked. She plopped back on her haunches, her ears twitching to the rattle of her pendant. She turned her head with a dazed expression and glanced nervously at Pilate and Bellesmith. The couple stared back, their expressions no less dumbfounded than Rainbow's.
Far away, across the deck, past where Josho, Zaid, and Roarke stood, Eagle Eye lingered in the shadows of the ship's rear stairwell. He listened in on the conversation, and his hooves trembled slightly. Over and over again, he fought the urge to gallop out onto the deck, for something anchored him in place.
"Princess Celestia," he murmured to himself in the faintest of voices. "Have you seen the changelings? Have you talked to them?" For a moment, it looked like he had gained the strength to charge forth, but he held himself in place, wincing. "Nnnngh... I can't. I just... can't..."
His ears drooped and his eyes grew misty. Slowly, his gaze panned across the deck... until his sight fell upon Elma's timid figure. From afar, the changeling looked as nervous and melancholic as he did.
Eagle heard his heartbeat pounding in his skull. Taking a deep breath, he slowly backed up and trotted down the stairwell, though his eyes remained locked on Elma as long as they could...
Interesting...
If the pegasi were the original caretaker's, and eventual destroyers of the world, it would make sense that world responds to them. Which in tern would mean that it makes sense that RD and Hurricane are descendants...
Rainbows! Everypony is a Rainbow Pony! Including this one!
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WE'RE DOOOOOOMED
It's nice to have the theory all summed up in one solid chunk. It is true, something else turned those ancient peagsi evil, and we've seen that since it was even brought up. Something infected them. Chaos, perhaps, maybe something else, something Rainbow will have to fight.
It's cute how nervous and anxious Eagle Eye is all of the sudden.
I do so, so love all this lore and worldbuilding. Truly fantastic
And what's the deal at the end with Eagle Eye? What has him so riled up?
Hmm, has the Jury chat infected EE with the "Ebon is Changeling" paranoia?
Fifty crunches, ):(. Knock 'em out!
4570853 I have two thoughts right now based on this summation, that have been stewing for a bit, but this brings them forward.
A) What if the original pegasi of the Sentinel were protecting something from getting out (a-la Halo's Flood, for example), and that stuff was it?
B) What if the original pegasi had a damn good reason for shattering the rings, what might it be, and what will the consequences of reuniting the rings be?
And in the case of B), what if the reason they shattered, it, took over the sentinels, and had that smooze-ish nastiness, was a defense against other sections of the rings?
There are a LOT of questions that could be raised there, and I think it's gonna be a long time til we find out.
So... was Celestia implying that Rainbow's line might be descended from the ancient pegasi? I suppose it makes sense...
Though, I have to wonder if the ancient pegasi actually were evil. Even if they did split the world up, perhaps they had some reason to. Perhaps it was even to keep whatever-the-hell that smooze stuff is contained, so it wouldn't spread across the whole of Urohringr, or something. I dunno. The implication I've seen so far is that there's a correlation between Rainbow's ancestry and rainbow-colored manes, and considering the association of rainbows with harmony in the MLP-verse, I struggle to imagine that the ancient pegasi, therefore, would innately be agents of disharmony (unless they were corrupted or something [perhaps even in the same way that Rainbow was 'corrupted' by the essence of Discord]). I guess it remains to be seen...
Also: *adds another tentative tally to the "pro" column of the changeling!Ebon score card*
I don't want to say "I'm still shifty about the whole changeling Ebon" thing, but I already did is, so it doesn't matter.
Looks like EE thinks about that "Ebon is changeling" theory and that's why he is so nervous. Personally I hope he's wrong, but we'll see.
Yes, that makes the most sense. Though up to this point I considered it the most logical option that every modern pegasus would be descended from the proto-culture - I mean, the world will not have invented black powder twice, will it? And it's good to see the whole Ebon changeling thing is still moving.
Just putting it out there...
I'm pretty sure Ebon isn't a changeling.
Admittedly, part of that stems from a stubborn refusal to believe with no real reason for it.
So does that mean Rainbow is descended from the ancient pegasi?
whats up with EE?
Spit it out, Eagle Eye.
Belated realisation: Rainbow Dash is now Desmond Miles.
...holy moly, it's a better fit the more I think about it.
Now here's where the big twist comes. Ebon's not a changeling. It was Eagle Eye the whoooooooole time.
So, the 500 changelings that Luna picked up are ultra deep sleepers frm Chrysalis squad, which puts Ebon/EE from Tcherns or a third party splinter groups?
Oh well, ust when you think youve seen everything, the rabbit hole goes even deeper.
Hmmmm I think that EE is worried that if Ebon is a changeling and its revealed he wont be the same anymore.
Can't wait until it's revealed that Ebon was a alicorn the entire time.
Eagle Eye is acting strange. Also *takes out notepad* lore/world building time! Everyone take notes. We'll need them when we get into the stories in this series.
Some nice information here. But the ancient Pegasus skeleton that Rainbow found back in Innavedr had that enchanted book, I wonder why? Seems to me that they were, at one point, trying (but failing) to bring the flame to the machine world.
And I'm still sticking with my claim that Ebon is not a changeling.
Ebon has been there since the beginning. This is why he doesn't show himself in Celestia's presence.
Sup with EE? Get the feeling he knows something we don't.
and gonna go with a tchernian changling now, cuz he sure isn't a....... wait...........
we never did see in the engine room after Ebon got knocked out.......
*sigh* back to not knowing anything for sure.........
4571563 i....... wouldn't pilate notice? no, they weren't really together long enough........ uh.........
well damn, i can't see why not........
4573837 Also I kinda have to point out that Pilate hasn't sensed a Sleeper Agent style one yet. Might only work on active changelings. That's what I'd assume his excuse would be. Also now that I think about it he's walking around blind right now, and not able to use the magical Virtual Boy of detection.
4572687 Mentioned in there. The storms from the Strip of Flurries were affecting it. Or at least my brain vaguely thinks that was mentioned somewhere.
4570903
I think the critical question is still, "What did EE see when he went down to the engine room after the fight?"
So... Eagle Eye is a changeling? Or Ebon told Eagle Eye that he was a changeling and now Eagle Eye is worried for Ebon?
Oh, IC, why do you confound us so?
Mysterious EE.
*Obligatory EE/Ebon changeling thingy comment*
Wait... is Ebon a changeling after all?
On one hoof, the fake EE didn't seem to recognize him as one (the "blank slate" comment, in particular, seems to be hinting at something else entirely), the AJ wave didn't seem to have an effect on him (at least, Ebon himself didn't notice anything), and Pilate should have "seen" him with the Ocular Array.
On the other hoof, the wave passed while he was unconscious, Pilate hasn't had the OA for a while (though we don't know how long), and Eagle is extremely worried about something (and it doesn't feel like he's just concerned about Elma).
I really don't know what to think. I still feel the arguments against him being a changeling are stronger, but this chapter seems to be leading the story in the other direction...
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I love me some exposition. This sums up the whole idea of the Heralds quite nicely. Something turned them evil, they split up the world, they used (or tried to use) the Sentinels to control everything, and they all died out except for Rainbow Dash's line.
-SPirit
Somethings been up with EE for a while now...
4584770
Ebon is definitely not one of Chrysalis' changelings.
It is still possible that he's one of the other queen's children.
Tchern may or may not be an antagonist. We will see
What's eating at you, EE? I think we'll figure out what happened below ship very soon.
Interesting...
Perhaps these ancient pegasi were part of a tribe that didn't migrate west?
Is Celestial implying that RD and Commander Hurricane are descendants of the supposedly bygone Pegasi about which we keep hearing? This seems like the logical conclusion if we are meant to assume they built this wonky city to respond to their touch.
EBON IS TCHERN. TCHERN IS EBON. FINKLE IS EINHORN!!
This is literally the plot to halo 5 over a year before it came out. Just replace sentinel with guardian
I'll admit that all evidence points to Hurricane and Rainbow being descended from the ancients, but that leaves the question: If there were survivors, why wouldn't Celestia and Luna know more about them? Next to the five divines, they're some of the most ancient and far-traveled beings in the world. How could they travel all the way to the edge multiple times without ever meeting any of those ancient pegasi, or evidence of their existence?
Hm.
EE is distressed about something related to changelings.
The last time EE was seriously distressed, it was related to Ebon. Back then I thought he was freaked out that Ebon was injured or unconscious. But now I remember that he was hiding something because he said "everything is fine".
Okay, changeling theory is definitely back on track.
In fact, what's the timeline here? Wasn't RD's confrontation with Chrysalis some time after EE got back on the Jury? Was he maybe alone with Ebon at the time it went down?
8135755
If I never see Elma and Ebon in the same room at the same time, I'm just gonna assume the worst.
Rainbow keeps dwelling on this "terminal chaos illness" thing in all these conversations, but she hasn't had so much as a single chaos dizzy spell in the whole last arc. If anything she seems to be getting better, not worse, the farther she travels.
Maybe they didn't die out, but they definitely lost a ton of what they once were. Also nice of Celestia to remind Rainbow she is more than a monster, and it is her deeds that decide whether she is good, evil, or other/in between.
09/17/2019
03:09 UTC
Very suspicious, EE.