Jake and Floydien came to a stop. Their coach creaked as it settled along the southern fringes of the main city. Low-rise apartment buildings and decrepit streets stretched around them. The moose and elk stared into the desolate hills rolling south from where they were positioned.
After looking all around and finding the coast to be clear, Jake cleared his throat and gave the wagon a little kick.
Rainbow Dash poked her head out. It was dark, and night was about to fall. A purple sky hung over the arid worldscape.
“Okay...” She hopped out, hovering on blue wings. “This shouldn't take too crazy long. Head back to the High Council building. I'll meet with the Duchess and the rest of the group back at Plaza Topaz.”
“Try not to get discovered and tortured violently for your precocious snooping,” Jake said.
“Thank you, Constable Obvious.” She flew off. “Try not to drool.”
“Drool?!” Jake slobbered. He glared aside at the elk. “I do not drool!”
Floydien squinted one eye at the moose. “...literal spit is literal.”
Jake felt his chin, blinking. He grunted as he felt Floydien trotting in a circle, forcing him and the wagon to face north once again.
Rainbow Dash flew south.
She tried not to overshoot her destination. After all, it was getting dark, and every shadow was starting to look the same. The mare mentally retraced the directions Duchess Arcanista had given her. Her head pivoted towards the east, and she scanned the landscape for a flat slab of stone surrounded by altars.
At some point, she got distracted. Rainbow's eyes shot dead east, and she was entranced by the lavender beacon of Yaerfaerda. Perhaps it was her imagination, but it almost felt as if the light was closer.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow rubbed her clenched eyes and sighed. Refocusing on her flight, she looked straight down—flinching. She at last saw Shepherd's Rock. Any more seconds of flying and she would zoom past it.
Angling her wings, she glided earthward in a spiraling circle. She landed behind a cleft of stone with a soundless shuffle of hooves. There, she spotted some thorny bushes hugging close to the earth, and she found a dark niche within which she as able to hide. Squatting on all fours, she kept her body low to the ground and held her breath. Her ears twitched as she listened to the air, waiting for any sound of trotting hooves.
The sunlight of the day was almost entirely extinguished. In a matter of moments, it would be First Shine.
Her targets would arrive.
“The way I see it, this far out against the Grand Choke, the shapeshifting Queen wants to regain her strength,” Kera said, reclining on a balcony chair overlooking the night-drenched Sandstone District. “If she makes enough misery to feed on, she could get super powerful. Even powerful enough to leap the Grand Choke in a single bound and then lay waste to... I dunno... whoever lives over there.”
“To what end?” Eine asked, sitting across from her on another seat.
“Hmmm?” Kera blinked. “Oh, I totally didn't say it at this morning's speech, did I?”
“Everydeer's been left to guess, Your Highness.”
“Well, from what we Xonans can guess...” Kera stifled a yawn. “The monster is from the dark side of the world.”
“Dark side...?”
“You know, the flat side of this plane that the sun and moon don't illuminate?” Kera smirked. “Turns out the monster is from there. She has—like—a brother who's waaaaay more powerful, and the two of them are waging some sort of undending war against two other armies. Pretty epic stuff.”
Eine blinked. “Cosmologists have theorized about the properties of the dark side, but never once did we think that there were actual inhabitants there.”
“Heheh...” Kera smirked. “Wow, you're rather thoughtful for a catering deer.”
“Yes, well...” Eine squirmed.
“When we snooped the shapeshifter out along the borders of Ledomare and Xona, we sapped her of most her power. So, even though she's escaped, she's super... crazy weak at the moment, which is why we wish to corner her while we can. If we don't put a stop to her now, she may get powerful again, and then she'd be next-to-impossible to deal with.”
“That certainly wouldn't do,” Eine said.
“Nope. It's a good thing that the Duchess Arcanista was nice enough to help me and my entourage enter Val Roa. Otherwise, we'd never have gotten word out about this creep.”
“Yes...” Eine nodded. “Most fortunate indeed.”
“Arcanista needs a break, y'know?”
“In what way?”
“Well, she's a faithful noble who serves Val Roa and its Royal Family! But... like... she's been treated like crap by the High Council for years.”
Eine sat up straight, his eyes firm. “Is that so...?”
“Yeah. Seems that a bunch of delegates within the High Council love to curb-stomp members who don't dance to their tune. Arcanista's one of the unlucky representatives. I mean... heck... she had a brother who was kicked out of Val Roa just for trying to speak out against it!”
“In... what way does the Council do this unruly behavior?”
“Pffft. Heck if I know. It's politics.”
“But...” Eine's brow furrowed. “You're a Princess. Aren't you supposed to be knowledgeable of this sort of subject matter?”
“Hey, all of that is in Lasairfion's court,” Kera said. “At least... that's the best I can figure.” She fidgeted. “I'm just the one sent on missions of good will and peace. A spokespony, ya dig?”
“Erm...”
“Heh... you think the Prince of Val Roa knows anything about what's really going on in this country?” Kera smirked. “If he did, I'm sure he would have put a stop to the nonsense by now! I mean... he's gonna be King in just three... two days, right?”
Eine sighed long and hard, his ears drooping as he gazed aside. “Yes. You... imagine he would be on top of things.”
“But hey. He's just a kid.” Kera shrugged. “If I got to rule Xona in place of my sister... ho ho hoooooo...” She smirked. “I'm already drooling at the possibilities.”
“Surely, Your Highness, you would put the welfare of your subjects above that of your own whim.”
“Heh... you bet!” Kera smiled. “I'd do something about righting all the wrongs that both Xona and Ledomare has done. I'd try and get ponies and deer and turtles and whatever to cooperate better, so that way we don't rub goblins and naga and—heck—even shape-shifters the wrong way.” Her nostrils flared as she gazed off into the distance. “Poverty... hunger... broken families.” She gulped. “I'd do something about all of those nasty things. We live in a world that's got places so peaceful and harmonic that it makes every other kingdom look like a nightmare in comparison. I know that this is true, because I've seen it in the face of an awesome pony who's convinced me that it exists. Everything has a way of getting ugly, but you shouldn't have to lose faith because of it. You... shouldn't let yourself go blind.”
Eine gazed softly at her.
Kera sighed. “But... y'know... there's only so much one can do. And with so little time.” She smirked. “The Duchess and I are here in Val Roa to make a difference. If we can get that one step done right, then we can work on the rest later, right? And with new friends and allies even.”
Eine slowly nodded. “I have no doubt that your heart and integrity are in the right place.” He smiled slightly. “Even if your manners aren't.”
“Jee. Thanks. I'm guessing you're out of grasshoppers.”
“Er...”
“Eh, forget I mentioned anything.” Kera sat up, fidgeting in her gown. “If I stuffed any more down my throat, I'm liable to pop a seam in this darn thing.”
“May I ask one question, Your Highness?”
She giggled. “Just one?”
He smiled gently. “If you were Princess of this land... soon to be Queen... what would you do?”
Kera blinked. “You mean if—like—I was 'Princess Kera of the House of Evo?'”
“Precisely.”
“Well... heh...” She smirked. “I'd read up on the speech that a certain Xonan Princess gave at the High Council meeting today.”
“But of course.”
“Then...” Kera took a deep breath. “Then I would arrange a meeting with everrrrrrydeer I claim to trust. I would stare each and every one of them in the eye and ask them what they will do to make sure we're not being invaded by a shape-shifting menace.”
“And just what would that accomplish?” Eine asked, standing up across from her.
“Isn't it obvious?” Kera shrugged. “If the monster is in this kingdom, what better a form to take than one of the Prince's most trusted advisors? The Military... the Council... the Palace... she could be anywhere! And anyone! And I'd do my darnedest to find out who and why before it's too late!”
“Too... late...?”
“You really think this creep's going to wait to kill me until after I have become Queen?” Kera smirked. “But... heh... that's not my bed to make. I really... really don't envy the Prince right about now. But... then again... what he doesn't know can't hurt him. Or... it totally can, but he won't feel a thing when he does.”
“That's...” Eine gulped, feeling his blood run cold. “...morbid?”
“Right. That's why the Duchess and I are trying to dig out the shape shifter before anything like that can happen. It sure as heck wouldn't be pretty.” Kera paced across the balcony, then stopped dead in her tracks. “Wait a second...” She turned and squinted up at the pinprick-dazzled sky. “What friggin' time is it?”
Rainbow Dash was starting to squirm.
The shroud of night had already fallen. It was obviously well past “First Shine” in every definitive sense of the term. She spent most of the time fussing with her tail hairs, counting the number of strands still unnaturally dyed green despite the midday rinse. Soon it became too dark for Rainbow to distract herself, and she started to panic.
The mare was about to leap out of her hiding and give the place an aerial comb over when—
Hoofsteps.
Rainbow Dash froze. She stuck her tongue against the roof of her mouth while every muscle in her body locked in place. At first, she didn't know where the hoofsteps were coming from... until something strode over her. She stopped breathing momentarily, watching as a tall, tall elk nearly squashed her, walking blindly past the niche where she was hiding. When he was a few strides away, she finally exhaled, then crawled far enough forward to tilt her head and crane her neck past the nearest cleft of stone.
A large buck stood facing the slab of Shepherd's Rock. Rainbow could make out his broad antlers in the starlight. A few outer branches shimmered with a metallic glint. When he spoke, it was with a voice she hadn't heard before.
“Come forth,” he growled in an authoritative tone. “There is much at stake and very little under control. We risk more by waiting in the shadows.”
Rainbow whispered to herself: “Saikano...” At the sound of rustling bushes, she looked aside. Two more bodies approached the flat stone at Shepherd's Rock.
Arcanista's gonna get some brownie points after this is all over.
...You did that on purpose. (*hue*)
It is of the happening.
"And here I announce the meeting of the Triumvirate of Evil."
5309730 Evel Knievel's on the Axis of Evil.
Kera's so cool this chapter. Why does she have to be so cool? Can I be Kera when I grow up? Please?
HeeeheeeheEEHEEHEEEHEEHEEEEYAAAAAAAAYY
ist1-2.filesor.com/pimpandhost.com/5/2/8/8/52886/1/e/H/s/1eHs8/Pinkie_Pie_Rocket_Take_Off.gif
Well I hope Keras advice will serve Eine well, and hopefully if he does it it won't get him killed. Can't wait to see who the other two people are in the shadows this should be good.
And the ship starts sailing itself.
I bet Saikano is Chrysalis.
The shipping continues.
5309730 "ALL RISE."
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Legion_of_Doom.jpg
So much shipping down here in the comments!
Yay! I've caught up! How's everypony doing? Everydeer feeling fine?
I doubt that Kera's dialogue would have changed much even if she knew Eine is the prince,it would have just been directed at him.
5309886 ah, feels good to be caught up doesn't it?
Anyway, about the chapter, it seems Eine is thinking things through and taking it slow. I expect Kera's plan to happen as she said. Them he reveals himself to Kera and we see how things go with the SS Einra. Will it sail or sink. Also, time to meet the bad guys. Are any of them Chrysalis, or is she not even in Val Roa? Only the great and powerful IC knows. May he show is the answers through the power of Zadubadabu.
While we're here, I figured I should mention something that I've been meaning to say for a while but I haven't because it's kinda embarrassing but fuck it I don't care anymore
I take no small measure of comfort in knowing that, regardless of what happens, regardless of how busy my life gets, regardless of how stressful things become, there'll almost always be another chapter of Austraeoh waiting for me when I get home from a long day. It's become an unexpected constant in my life, a small but welcome highlight of my daily schedule, and I relish every opportunity to indulge in Rainbow's eastward journey and spend a few minutes of silly fun pow-wowing with the cadre of commenters that inevitably swarm each chapter.
I still have no clue how you manage to juggle Austraeoh, all your other stories, and whatever it is you do in real life all at once, but I imagine it's no small feat. With that in mind, I just wanted to say: thank you, IC, for writing (and continuing to write) this story. You are a luminous lemur and I lavish you with lemons.
Now get rolling on that Keraine or I willcrucify youAs for the rest of you, knowing you dorks will be faffing about after every chapter makes my day just a little bit brighter. Never stop being awesome and fun.
Or else I will make you join IC on the stakeI'm guessing that the other two will be Fishberry and Sharp Quill... Since I remember those three are the only characters that stare blankly ahead while yapping to nopon—nodeer in particular...
5309921
I agree. Being able to read a chapter of this fic can really give a smile on my freakingly busy day.
So please don't stake me >.> eep!
It begins
i.imgur.com/30eEul4.gif
You know what? Maybe everyone's just bad. Maybe there aren't even changelings, just an evil general, chancellor, and secretary.
Sometimes people are just dicks.
...probably not, but still worth considering.
Its a very good thing that Dash dosnt make use of EEs florel and herbal shampoos, cos unless it happens to be desert night bloom odour, its got a chance to be rather eye watering.
Pity Kera ran out of room, there should be honeyed and chocolate grashoppers, or better, locusts. Then again, Im sure that requirement is trickling down through the royal supplies procedures, being sourced and selected etc.
Poor lad, he looks just like a deer in the headlights. Except he wishes it was just an oncoming 18 wheeler. And not Amtrak.
I feel like there's a joke I'm not getting.
5309886
I'm a changeling. Or dead. Depending on what version of Elma you go with.
5310221 At least you get a character! What do I get? Nothing! *the fruit bat flies away in tears*
5309921
Silly Swanny.
This is Yaerfaerda, Austraeoh finished two years ago.
5310243
Maybe you'll be a Sarosian in one of the next books.
5310243
Hey. Took me roughly two and a half stories of passive-bitching about it in the comments for me, and in the end he used the most obscure reference to me possible. The name "Elma" was a half developed character I name dropped like, once 6 or so months before Elma the Changeling appeared, and I literally had to read the sentence twice to confirm that yes, he used this name. Who knows. We might get a Simon replacement that's a fruit bat or something.
Well, hopefully we'll get some juicy, full-bodied answers out of Rainbow's eavesdropping, but I suspect IC will save the choicest cuts for a later date.
Also, the whole mention of the Yaerfaerda symbol, and especially it seeming closer now, brings back to my mind the old idea that Rainbow might die at the end of this book. I mean, seriously. What if the Yaerfaerda symbol is an omen of death? She saw it at the end of Urohringr, and very nearly died. When she managed to pull through, she saw it again, merely further "down the road", as t'were. The only problem is that it hasn't shown up earlier in the series, like when she almost died back in Silvadel.
I guess we'll see. I may be/probably am/hopefully will be wrong.
5309921
I agree 1000%. I've been following this story daily for close to two years now. It's virtually a part of my routine at this point, and there is something comforting about it. I almost dread that day--off in 2017 or 2018--when this series ends. I imagine the day after the last chapter will be very, very strange. But until then, we can just enjoy the ride.
5310390 But the Yaerfaerda symbol was her salvation. It identified the entrance to the machine world, allowing her to relight the extinguished flame and putting her chaos into remission. None of this required her near death experience. Before this symbol appeared there was the lavender trail. It seemed to serve the same purpose, the only real difference being RD could see it only when her eyes were open. And I don't think she could see even that until after she encountered the first machine world flame. She's getting "powered up" with every flame encountered.
The real question is why is the symbol closer? The machine world is rather immobile. What could be moving?
5310476
You may very well be right, but the symbol has always given me an ominous vibe. Heck, even the name (translating to something like "across worlds", as far as I can tell) could be interpreted as death (though, admittedly, it might also refer to a literal journey across the world, or to the other side of the world-plane). Maybe it is just an extension of the lavender light, but... why would the symbol be needed at all then? Like I said, you're probably right--as usual, I'm just throwing other possibilities around--but I'm reasonably sure that something else, beyond what seems obvious, is going on with the symbol. I wouldn't put money on it yet, but I'm getting that sense.
OK
5310390
While I feel like the Yaerfaerda symbol is not linked to a static object or place, I doubt it is indeed death coming to take the Austraeoh. In my head, the mention of it getting closer is foreboding, yes, but then there's also the possibility of it being a means of passage over the Grand Choke, a piece of ancient machinery set in motion at the end of Urohringr to facilitate the transfer between the light and dark sides of the world. Kind of like an elevator, come to think of it. But eh, I'm very likely wrong, so don't mind my yapping.
5309921
And there will be more amazing chapters for many months to come, as well as silly commenters and their absurd theories. Not to mention more occasions for you to
forcepredict future ships.5310476
What if - go with me here - it's not their machine world?
We know the ring split into 12 "planes". What if this symbol is just another plane coming into place?
The way I see it is there are more or less three choices IC has right now.
1. RD goes over the edge of this plane that is just past The Grand Choke.
2. RD goes past The Grand Choke and there is more of the plain on the other side.
3. By the time RD gets to the edge of the plain, just past The Grand Choke, she finds another plane that needs connecting to hers, one that bears the Yaerfaerda symbol.
Only option three really explains the moving symbol.
OR RD could be imagining things.
Blasphemy!
Maybe it's just shipping goggles, but I got Keraine vibes from this.
5309921
Couldn't agree with you more. It'll be a sad day when this all ends... but no need to fret about that yet. After all, we've still got about 3,5 years left!
PS: I guess you could say you're threatening to put our lives at stake.
Hmm. Next chapter will give us a lot of info. Im calling it now though, these aren't the bad guys.
The prince is innocent and isn't in the loop, saikano knows something is up and has been trying to figure out what since the military is not where it should be and the other high authorities have been acting so weird. Fishberry is scared shitless. Eine's advisor is set up to be a R/C assassin.
That leaves us with no more suspects... Unless it's Arcanista. Now wouldn't that be a twist!
With this chapter, Kera can finally make her claim of the title of best princess.
5309921
Aww, we love you too, sweetie.
Now, forty push-ups for getting sappy. Knock 'em out!
Well I knew it wasn't Eine.
My suspicions of Saikano have resurfaced though... but he ain't allied with the Changeling Queen.
5310824
Have we covered all cardinal directions yet? If so, time for intercardinal directions.
Oh, and don't forget secondary-intercardinal directions.
i.ytimg.com/vi/Qn_rrpodQqw/hqdefault.jpg
There's a lot of directions.
5310787
That is an intriguing possibility.
The question, of course, is why would another plane be approaching now? They have been flying apart for thousands of years. And what needs to be done to ensure the two planes make contact in a controlled fashion.
Skirts did warn us, and I quote:
Logically, that includes Imploding Colon himself.
5310278
5310281
Thank you! You have made the fruit bat feel better! *the fruit bat smiles*
The drooling could mean that Jake is now also under the influence.
I'm putting my money on Arcanista being Chrysalis.
5311508 Be careful what you wish for. I'm in two of his stories, and in the other one I had to endure a shopping trip with Rarity as part of her plan to ship me with Rainbow Dash. Oh, and model for a Wonderbolt outfit. (No, Rarity did not know about RD's obsession with AJ, so you can guess how well that went!)
words, yes
hmm, yes
The idea of another plane reconnecting makes sense, though how the other segment would even find Ms. Dash's....
but that's for ):( to decide; if he uses that idea at all
also, something about the whole meeting in the shadows bit feels less "down with the monarchy" and more "illegal but helpful use of resources"
meh
also, on that note
wise Kera is wise
5309921
Hallelujah Amen, brother
5309921 You sure know how to make me feel guilty about forgetting to read this over the weekend, don't you?
I remember when I used to do that. Rely on it as a constant of every day, I mean. But of course, when the times got hard for me, it was at the start of Urohringr, where everybody was brooding and being depressed in ways that hit way too close to home. I just couldn't do it anymore, and I still can't get into reading it every day again.
It does of course have the opposite effect if you can't read it - every single day you'll come home knowing The Noble Jury is flying on without you. That's a real nasty feeling, especially after becoming invested enough to know that spark of life, that veritable geyser that would fill me with rapture at the sight of new East Horse words. Makes me all wistful reading that my fellow Jury members feel that too.
Now stop posting nice things, damnit.
What is it, prince, saw a diamond in the mud?
And yes, unless the narrator itself just tried to purposfully fool us, Eine is definitely not Chrysalis.
5309921 You're one of the greatest we have on the boat. And I do believe this your comment was one of the few occasions where He would rue His silence.
I sensed that Eine suspected the good Dutchess of being more that she claims...
Grasshopper-drunken exposition rants, my favorite.
aw nuuuu
Here we go. Time for the meeting. And now Eine knows what's happening and he knows to be careful. Thank goodness for coincidences. :applejackphewhere:
-Spirit
5309921
Aside from Markiplier on YouTube, this story has been the one thing that no matter how long I go without reading it due to every manner of distraction, I always return to it. And now, I've made it farther than I've ever made it, meaning I will soon be joining you guys in the future. The very near future.
To the East Horse, everyone.
Good job, Kera. This is working out perfectly. But I can't wait until she figures out that she had been talking to the soon-to-be king this entire time.