//------------------------------//
// The Long Curve Ahead 
// Story: Ofolrodi 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

"The Dark Side has a friggin' ocean?!" Flynn spat.

Rainbow nodded, squatting before the fire of the Herald's camp.  Flynn, Logan, Ariel, Kepler, Wildcard, Logan, and Rainbow Dash huddled in a close circle atop the urban platform, staring intently through the crackling flames.  "Merula says it's huge... like... really huge."  She gestured with her hoof.  "And it stretches for hundreds upon hundreds of miles across the center of the Curve."

Wildcard hand-signed:  "All the way to the Midnight Armory?"

Rainbow shook her head.  "No.  It stops at Petra."

"This... gobstopper city Merula mentioned?" Logan remarked.

"Goblin," Ariel corrected.  She turned to smirk at Rainbow.  "By the way, you're catching up quick with Wildcard's wind speech."

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "Thanks."

Wildcard smirked.

"Remind me..."  Logan gestured.  "What are goblins?"

"They arre akin to trrolls," Kepler said.  "Albeit—prresumably—capable of harrborring sapience and possibly even mannerrs."

"Rainbow's met their kind before," Flynn added.

Logan looked at him.  "On the Light Side?"

"Right."  The balding stallion nodded.  "Bipedal creatures.  Big ears.  Ugly as buck."  He squinted his good eye across the warm flames.  "Say... didn't we find something in Darkreach that had to do with them?"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow glanced aside to where Fluttershy and the rest of her ghostly friends were quietly, observantly lingering.  "We found an illustration that Commander Gwen's expedition had made.  Perhaps drawn by Warhol or Ranort themselves."

"It depicted three distinctly different types of creatures, Rainbow Dash," Twilight reminded.

"Yes.  She's right."  Fluttershy gulped.  "And one of them we met."

Rainbow nodded.  "The trolls."

"But goblins are different?" Logan asked.

"Oh, definitely," Rainbow said.  "Just like trolls, they're... a kind of 'imp.'  Trolls—I never met on the Light Side.  Goblins are a different story."

"Brbrrbrbrbrrr..."  Ariel hugged herself, shivering.  "Lucky you."

"Don't get me wrong.  Goblins are no treasures either," Rainbow Dash explained.  "Back in Val Roa, they were best described as devious, greedy, and aggressively mercantilist."

"Great," Flynn droned with a sly smirk.  "Already on the Dark Side we've had changelings, spiders, and a giant wyrm.  The next thing we need is sales representatives."

"For all I know, m-maybe these Dark Side imps are different!" Rainbow Dash remarked.

"Do you honestly believe that, though?" Ariel asked.

Rainbow blinked.  She sighed and hung her head.  "... ... ...guess it's only safe to expect the worst."

"Which is what makes me curious," Flynn remarked.  "Why are you bringing up this massive ocean that you've learned about?"

Rainbow looked up with renewed firmness in her eyes.  "Because—according to Merula—the Dihmers and the imps of Petra have been trading with one another for generations."  She gestured.  "And they ferry their goods across this ocean."

"How does that help us, exactly?" Flynn asked.

Kepler spoke up:  "It's alrready been made known to us that the Bloodwings appearr happy to leave the Dihmerrs be.  If this trrade between the local Edgeside Dihmerrs and the goblins of Petrra has indeed been unimpeded afterr all this time..."

Logan finished:  "...then that gives us a possible avenue of safe travel to a place far closer to the Midnight Armory."  He nodded.  "If this route is virtually untouched by the Bloodwings, it might be the safest venture we can make."

"Across an ocean?"  Flynn grimaced.  "We've dealt with enough dangerous crap over barren rock.  Just how prepared are we to deal with unfathomable watery depths?!"

"It's a heck of a lot safer than blindly trouncing over sarosian or changeling lands!" Ariel remarked.

"Indeed!"  Kepler smiled.  "And—forr all we know—the Emerraldinian Expedition likely utilized the same rroute!"

With a somber breath, Wildcard hand-signed:  "For all we know the ocean is as far as Commander Gwen ever got."

Kepler clammed up.

Ariel and Rainbow exchanged glances.

Logan leaned forward.  Clearing his throat, he asked:  "What did Merula say about this... this Petra City?"  His brow furrowed.  "If it's controlled by the cousins of trolls, I can't imagine it's a happy place to hang your axe."

"She didn't have much to say, unfortunately," Rainbow Dash said, gazing once again into the flames.  "Seems that Abaddon's song is more concerned about the arrival of the Austraeoh and less obsessed with goblin urban planning."

"Merula did make it sound pretty magnificent," Ariel remarked, grinning slightly.  "'A beacon of light to rival Penumbra, in artifice as opposed to essence,' I believe is what she said through that... silken bullhorn thingy of hers.  Ick."

"Apparently Dihmers camp in communities along the Edgeside shores of the Ocean," Rainbow explained.  "And they ferry watercraft to and from Petra... sustaining the goblin economy with resources that the Dihmers eke from the wasteland."

"What do the Dihmers get in return?" Wildcard inquisitively sliced with his talons.

"I'm... not sure..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted.  "It's not protection—I can tell you that.  Changelings still prey on them all the time.  The Bloodwings leave them alone."

"Any reason why?" Flynn asked.

"Ach... not entirrely clearr," Kepler interjected.  "Something only the Darrk Vigil can explain, I suspect."

"Maybe doing commerce with the goblins is what give Dihmers a sense of accomplishment.   Their one purpose in life. Whatever.  Doesn't matter."  Rainbow looked at Logan.  "Fact is—yes—it would seem that they mastered a safe route through this Ocean.  It covers almost a fourth of the full length of the Dark Side.  After that, it's Petra.  And... uhm..."

"What...?"  Flynn asked.

"Well... according to Merula... most of Tchern's hives are tightly flanking Petra.  Along the Omega end."

"Oh."  Flynn huffed, smiling painfully.  "Is that all."

"So..."  Logan gestured.  "Ocean.  Goblin city.  Changeling hives..."  Logan's brow furrowed.  "...what's after that?"

"Well... traveling inward, heading towards Alpha a bit..."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "...you have the ceaselessly charred battlegrounds of the Trinary War, followed by the boneyards of the fallen dead, and then—voila!  Super spiffy alicorn ziggurat!"

"And beyond that?"  Flynn asked.  "Is that where the Night Shard are hanging out?"

Rainbow nodded.  "For the most part."

"Well then..."  Logan pressed his forelimbs tighter to the floor and glanced at the others.  "Looks like we almost have it all mapped out."

"Just how far is it to this... Ocean?" Flynn asked.

"If we head straight Curveside," Rainbow explained.  "Approximately four dozen song-strings."

"Song-strings?"  Flynn's natural eye bugged.  "The Hell...?!"

"Merula's terminology," Ariel said softly.  "She... made it sound like it was super long."

"But..."  Rainbow pointed.  "If we head towards Omega... about forty-five degrees off the central Curveside Axis..."  She looked at the group as a whole.  "...we'll approach a massive bay of the Ocean.  It's almost entirely populated by Dihmers."

"Dihmer territory, huh?"

"Yes.  But..."  Rainbow inhaled through her teeth.  "...it's also skirting dangerously close to the lands of the Lunar Hunt."

"The Bloodwings?"

"Yyyyyyyyyyeah..."  Rainbow nodded.  "On one hoof, it's the closest we can get to the Ocean and—by extension—"safer" passage towards the heart of the Dark Side."

"But, at the same time, it apprroaches the lairr of the Darrk Vigil," Kepler remarked.  "And this infamous 'Lexxic' who now appearrs to be empowerring theirr murrderrous numberrs."

"Yeah..."  Flynn shuddered.  "He doesn't sound like that much of a swell party host."

Wildcard gestured:  "Where exactly are the sarosians camped out?"

"In a big friggin' tree," Rainbow Dash said.  "Almost due north from us."

"Due north?" Logan remarked.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, then face hoofed.  "I-I mean straight Omega."

"She could have just said 'due east!'" Applejack remarked.

"No, Applejack."  Rarity shook her head.  "Relative to Rainbow's trip through the Light Side, it would be heading 'due north.'"

"... ... ..."  Applejack blinked at her.  "But that Ranort fellow's map is practically a big danglin' fly-strip!  Wouldn't it be 'east' to us if headin' up the map would be the new 'north?'"

"No it's... that's not..."  Rarity grimaced, ultimately face-hoofing herself.  "Now you've gotten me confused."

"Guys, please," Rainbow groaned.

"Let'ssss just settle for heading towards Omega," Twilight said.

"Just as Rainbow had decided..."  Fluttershy exhaled.

"Doesn't matter!"  Pinkie Pie grinned wide.  "Because we're not even remotely headed towards those big leather-winged meanie heads!"  She gave her anchor a ghostly nudge.  "Isn't that right, Dashie?!  It's Ocean surf or bust!"

"... ... ..."  Rainbow Dash squirmed visibly.  Velvet lines formed worriedly across her muzzle.  She stared off in a look of anxious contemplation.

Pinkie blinked.  "... ... ...Dashie?"

Logan noticed it too.  "Rainbow?  What are you thinking?"

"Th-thinking...?"  Rainbow nervously gulped.  "I'm thinking..."  She looked at the Herald.

Flynn, Logan, Kepler, Wildcard, an Ariel looked back.  The last two appeared the most concerned—as always.

"Uh oh..."  Fluttershy mewled.

Relaxing slightly, Rainbow sighed.  "I'm thinking that... we should maybe think seriously about... about heading towards the Bloodwings."

"Heading towards the Bloodwings."  Flynn's good eye blinked.  "Like... to talk."

"Mmmmmmmm... yeah."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Something like that."

"Rainbow Dash, there's no 'something like that' with these leafy-eared viscera garglers!" Flynn cackled.  "Didn't you just get done telling us Merula's enchanting tale concerning Lexxic and the Merry Massacre?!"

"She's a spider, Flynn.  She's used to gargling guts."

"This isn't a damned joke!"  Flynn's mechanical eye rotated angrily.  "Lexxic sounds like a sadistic bastard with too big a thirst for blood and too much support from his fellow assholes!  When one single figure gets that much unchecked authority and militaristic power..."  Flynn shook his head.  "...I don't care who or what you're fighting for.  It's dangerous as Hell!  Not to mention unpredictable!"

"Flynn—"

"I thought the whole point was not to tip the scales of this Trinary War!" Flynn stated.  "Lexxic sounds like nothing but bad news!  A flying refrigerator with all the parts rattling off!"

"And like the changelings or the Night Shard are gonna be any more approachable?!" Ariel's voice cracked.

Kepler gestured.  "The Bloodwings arre sarrosians.  If nothing else, we have a leverrage of historry on them, my good frriend."

"These aren't the same ponies," Flynn remarked.  "I mean it.  I'm not just being the bald-headed stick-in-the-mud douchebag here.  The Austraeoh's survival is paramount and... and I don't think approaching the Bloodwings is gonna solve anything.  I mean... it's clear to me that Lexxic isn't some dumb bastard you can talk down his pedestal."

"Merrula has made his infamy quite clearr..."  Kepler nodded.  "But what good would it do any of us—orr this expedition as a whole—to assume that he is completely unapprroachable?"

"How you not listened to everything Merula has said?" Logan remarked.

Meanwhile, Flynn glared at Kepler.  "The last time we ran into a single despot imbued with this much power was Chandler.  A fool.  A punk.  A baboon."  The stallion's eye narrowed.  "And yet... just how easy was he to deal with?"

Kepler clenched his jaw shut.

Flynn looked at the others.  "What did it cost us to be rid of that asshole?!  Huh?  Or have we all forgotten?"

Wildcard hung his head, sighing.  Ariel reached over to squeeze his feathery shoulder, and he patted her fetlock back with a metal talon.

Rainbow's gaze wandered—as did her thoughts.  It was Logan who brought her back to the moment:

"Didn't Merula say that the Bloodwings kill everything non-Dihmer that they see?"

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Yeah..."  She said in a tender voice.

"I hate to agree so quickly with baldy here, but... it doesn't sound like a good solution, Rainbow."  Logan remarked.  "These creeps have banged their heads against the bastions of the other factions over and over again.  Now they're resorting to an all-out blitz of murder to get the slightest inkling of an edge in this War."  Logan sighed.  "I know I like a good fight... but that's not why I'm suggesting we should keep them at axe's length.  Flynn's right.  We've sacrificed a lot to get this far on account of zealous jerks.  We can't afford to sacrifice you."

"But..."  Rainbow sat up straight.  "...at one point or another, the risk must be taken."

"Rainbow—"

"This right here is the only city populated by anything we can remotely call 'allies!'" Rainbow said, gesturing at the empty spires all around them.  "And the Winter Children of Abaddon simply cannot afford to venture outside the nest that their songful Queen has made!  Once we leave this place, we'll be on our own!  Again!"  She leaned forward.  "Against the Bloodwings, the Night Shard, and the Changelings we are all we've got to depend on!"

"Then let's try and cozy up with the Dihmers!" Flynn exclaimed.  "Or the goblins!  Hell... maybe even travel back Edgeside and give that giant wyrm a butt massage until we've made a friend!"

"Because I believe there may still be hope with the sarosians!"

"Hope?!  Where?!"

"Here!"  Rainbow Dash pointed at her Element of Loyalty, causing Twilight and the others to blink.  "With me!  In me!"

Wildcard's goggles reflected a faint ruby glow.

Ariel's lips pursed.  "Princess Luna's enchantment..."

"Not just any enchantment..."  Rainbow smirked.  "A blessing."

"Ach.  She's rright," Kepler declared.

Logan sighed, folding his forelimbs.  "You really think that's going to have an effect on the Dark Vigil?!"

"I..."  Rainbow bit her lip.  "I don't know..."

"That's an honest answer," Logan said with a nod.

"Then can't we accept it as an honest possiblity?"  Rainbow gestured.  "If these Bloodwings can actually be receptive to Luna's enchantment... then maybe they'll be receptive to our message as well."

"You... you think it's still strong enough to work?"  Flynn asked.

Wildcard gestured:  "Luna did reinvigorate the spell with her magic at Bleak's Plummet."

"She did?" Ariel blinked.

"If Wildcard remembers it, I'm not going to argue," Rarity remarked.

"Wildcard remembers!" Rainbow blurted.  "Just... just think about it!"  She gestured.  "If we can actually... like really make an impression on the Bloodwings... impress them... win their trust with the power of Princess Luna—their beloved Nightmare Moon—then maybe we can actually tip the Trinary War in our favor."

"To what end?"  Flynn asked.  "Getting the Shards back—"

"From the other two factions!"  Rainbow nodded with enthusiasm.  "Totally!"

"You make it sound like lightning can strike twice," Logan said.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow squinted.  "Huh?"

"Things aren't guaranteed to go the same way as they did with Xarchellus' flock," Logan explained.  "Didn't Luna say it herself?  The Dark Vigil have been separated and enraged on their own for so long that they're probably 'unsalvageable.'"

"It's too soon to write them off."

"Says who?"

"Says me."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "I mean it.  If we can make an appeal to the sarosians—in a way that they haven't been impressed before—the results could be awesome.  And it'd be ten times awesomer if we can get their help in kicking the other factions butt."

"Have... have you thought this out, Rainbow?" Logan asked, eyebrow arched.  "Like... really thought it out?"

Before Rainbow could open her muzzle—

"Of course she hasn't."

Every member of the Herald turned their heads.

Rainbow's ghostly friends looked as well.

"She hasn't thought it out," Seraphimus said, marching icily towards the campfire in the middle of the elevated platform.  "She never thinks anything out.  It was her greatest strength back in Rohbredden.  But here?"  The former Talon Commander gravely shook her head.  "It's her greatest weakness."

"Ah right..."  Pinkie rolled her eyes.  "I thought I smelled something angsty."

"Come to chew the fat, birdie?"  Flynn droned with a dull smirk.

"I couldn't help but overhear your redundant dispute," Seraphimus said.

"Redundant?!"  Ariel pointed.  "Rainbow's been making some valid points—"

"But she's neglected to consider the most important point of all."  Charcoal brown eyes swept across the Herald before settling emotionlessly on Rainbow's face.  "That once she's miraculously gained control of the Bloodwings... she will also have gained control of Lexxic... and all the powers of pain, torture, and misery that he wields so heartlessly."

Rainbow bit her lip.

"Tell me, Rainbow Dash..."  Seraphimus breathed calmly.  "...what would you do with your 'Harmonic' self once you've become the ally of chaos and genocide?"