Wildcard's headcrest rose and fell with apprehension. He cocked his head to the left... then to the right. Finally—as he perched on a dormant metal vehicle—he looked at the other two members of his "group" and hand-signed.
"It's just your imagination, Double-Yoo," Logan replied, staring across a suspended platform between buildings of the timeless city. "Unless this place is secretly harboring an immortal string section, I seriously doubt you're hearing any music."
Wildcard clenched his beak shut. Mulling.
"It isn't wise to ignore Jordan's intuition," Seraphimus stated, leaning against a metal structure a few paces away. "No matter how seemingly inane."
"You've ignored your former colleagues' advice pretty damn hard," Logan countered. "To have gotten this far..."
Seraphimus sighed. "Are we not supposed to be 'scouring the city' for more clues concerning the past?"
"Hell no!" Logan spat. He leaned on the hilt of his axe. "You think my fat ass can move from one level to another that quickly?"
"Then..." Seraphimus raised an eyecrest. "...what is our 'group' pretending to do right now?"
"What, are you retarded? The others are doing the 'searching.' Us? We're guarding your grimdark sorry-ass!"
Wildcard smirked ever so slightly.
Seraphimus blinked at them. "... ... ...this has got to be a joke."
"I'm staring at the only joke on the entire Dark Side right now," Logan droned. "Why go to the trouble to pack your things and leave—only to suddenly dig your heels in and linger like a Goddess-forsaken vagrant?"
"Honestly, make up your mind," Seraphimus grunted. "Do you air-breathing cretins wish for me to stay or to turn to ashes?"
"I'm here to ask you what you want, Princess Cockatiel."
Wildcard watched intently.
Seraphimus' gaze danced between the two.
"Well...?" Logan frowned. "You might be able to evade Rainbow Dash and her giggly gaggle of go-alongs, but not us, baby." His grip of the axe tightened noticeably. "Let's have it out. Right here. Right now. What are you wanting to do, exactly?"
The former Talon Commander breathed firmly. Hotly. "Is it really such a conundrum?" Her headfeathers tightened. "I want justice for Verlaxion..."
"And...?"
"Justice for my family," she spat.
"Then why aren't you smoking our asses?" Logan grunted. "You had your chance when we battled the death wyrm."
"... ... ..."
Wildcard gestured: "Maybe not all justice is paid for in blood."
Seraphimus' gaze flickered to him. "Is it not? Just what did your beloved friend pay back at the world's edge?"
Wildcard's metal knuckles tightened.
"Lady, we all want the same thing."
Seraphimus looked at Logan. "And just what is that?"
"Answers," Logan said. "Meaning. Something to legitimize the fact that we all threw our asses over the Edge to protect a voice-cracking pipsqueak with a fruity mane. Something to prove that Mortuana, Axan, and Bard didn't give their lives in vain."
"A catharsis over abandoning your only daughter?"
Wildcard winced.
Logan breathed calmly. "Sure. That too. But I'm not the only desperate soul here." His dark brown eyes narrowed. "You couldn't avenge your Goddess and family in blood. So... that only leaves understanding."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Do I?" Logan bore a bittersweet smirk. "Don't I know that we've butted heads for so long that we all realize it's a load of bullshit? Don't I know that you've had your tailfeathers royally owned by the Austraeoh so often and so religiously that slaying her just won't make existence all nice and shiny in your eyes?"
Wildcard grinned.
Seraphimus saw his expression. She sighed. "I realized—long ago—that she was beyond my faculty to combat her blighted strengths..."
"Yeah! Back when she smoked your Talon crew before joining us at Wyvern Point!" Logan said. "And what did you do then?"
Seraphimus stared at them blankly.
Wildcard suddenly interjected with swift hand-motions: "You went seeking answers. It brought you to Chandler."
A surly growl escaped Seraphimus' beak. "That turned out to be a wild goose chase."
"No..." Logan shook his head. "Verlax stuck her ugly mug in and sabotaged all the work you and Keris had accomplished to unveil the putrid conspiracy leeching off the Council at Frostknife."
Seraphimus went silent.
"She knew that you were just one or two trials away from rocking her world... from shattering the narrative that she had set in icy stone centuries ago," Logan firmly said. "So she pulled off a 'miracle.' With one pre-programmed conversation from one of her stupid frost golems, she set back your progress by hundreds of miles." He gestured. "She got the Council to elect an inept strawman into executive office... and suddenly the top brass of Rohbredden returned to its boneheaded dogmatism... willing to chase a pegasus to the ends of the earth when its own ponies were being attacked by windigoes."
Silence.
Seraphimus slumped further against the structure, gazing blankly down the suspended platform.
"Verlax used you, lady," Logan muttered. "As far as she was concerned, you lived out the end of your bargain. What's more, she expected you to honor it to the bitter end. She wanted you to die at the World's End. But—thanks to Rainbow Dash—you didn't. So... here you are now..." Logan pointed. "...in a forsaken world of blight and shadows. And—you know what? You're seeking answers yet again. Just like you did back when you nearly took down the Consortium. Only now...?" He shook his head. "Now there is no Verlax to throw a wrench in your path to understanding... unless, of course, you choose to listen to the Verlax living inside of you."
Seraphimus ran a talon over her crest feathers. Her next breath was a shuddering one. "I h-had all the answers I needed until my Goddess was slain."
Wildcard gestured: "The answers you needed?" He allowed a pause to sink in. "Or the answers you wanted?"
Seraphimus said nothing.
Logan looked at her, then at Wildcard. He sighed. "Come on, Double-Yoo..." He stood up and trotted off, hauling his axe. "Let's go check on the wagon. The only thing that can sort her out is herself."
With a gaze lingering on the former Commander, Wildcard nevertheless followed the other Heraldite.
Seraphimus sat alone, surrounded by fossils and debris, encased in the shadows of agelessness.
When she finally looked up, it wasn't with an expression of clarity... but rather that of sudden curiosity. Her beak hung open slightly as her headcrest raised in contemplation.
"I... do hear music..." Her charcoal brown eyes darted left... then right. The air danced with the ghostly hint of violin strings. "... ... ...what in Goddess' name...?"
i.giphy.com/media/TNk5NDanFOmv6/giphy.gif
Slowly, but surely, she's beginning to understand. It probably gonna take the entire book, but she'll come around eventually.
...But seriously though, dafuq is that music coming from? So far it's only Rainbow, Pinkie, Sera, and Jordan that have heard it. Unless I've forgotten someone...
I hope Sera/Seraphimus/Crazy Cat-Bird/Death Chicken/Princess Cockatiel stays with them.
_______
At this rate I can see Sera dropping the “-ion” from ex-chilly lizard goddess’ name within the next 300 chapters!
Sera might finally be understanding what Verlax did to her and her country. And yet more music, can't wait to see what this is about.
Sing my song and become nothing Sing my song and become nothing Sing my song and become nothing
This is driving me crazy I wanna know what and where the music is coming from. But at the same time it’s probably not a good thing.
Finally someone told her what she deep down knew but did not want to face, that her life was used by her 'goddess' without so much as a 'thanks dumbass' for malicious purposes. Now what is she going to do with that, double down on a goddess who has no care for her, or become something more than a pawn in Verlax's sick games?
As for the music, maybe if is Siren song of some kind? Whatever it is it is definitely shaping up to be a big part of the next story arc.
Looks like Celanos couz might no longer be as much a parrot, but finally giving her old boss the bird. Is the music a will o whisp. If so, to their doom in the quicksands, or along the twisty dark and hidden path to what they actually need to do here, if not seek?
After over 160 chapters, after 239,000 words, her defenses are finally down. Worth every second.
If it turns out that music is coming from a millennia old advertisement for toothpaste or something, I swear I'm gonna lose it.
I bet that violin's body is made from a skyscraper, the strings made of spider silk, and is being played by a giant spider. inb4 Spindlers
She is cracking. It's bloody undeniable at this point. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if in, maybe, 15-25 chapters she broke and just accepted the facts
Oh, and now she's hearing the music too. That has to be doing something to her psyche...
As the owner of a cockatiel, I find this hilarious.
and once again, there's that fucking violin.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
The Seragan is blossoming forth, bearing much fruit.
8567418
We are a giahnt spadar
8567525
(having just watched The Mist...)
No spoder pls
8567412
It's the X-Files theme song. I bet freckles it is.
8567572
Actually the Spindlers probably not aggressive. This is from the second chapter.
After thinking about it I believe the "strange sun" refers to Austraeoh. I think the Spindlers recorded the the Austraeoh prophecy before anyone else, and thus be crypticly helpful with RD and crew.
8567447
I don't think this counts, that counter goes up until she either dies, or decides to accompany the herald. she is both quite alive, and undecided.
If we don't get a Young Frankenstein reference for one of the next few chapters... I will be mildly disappointed.
(audio only, unfortunately, but overlaps with next one at 0:45)
Later...
8567751
Exactly my thoughts as well...
So is it an actual string instrument or is it just something that sounds like a violin? Maybe the next ungodly horror is at the bottom of this pit we're in, screaming its face off. Considering the way sound propagates from its source, and how Wildcard heard it faintly in the cave and then struggled to hear it here, too, it must be quite a distance away, and quite loud.
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I still got it on VHS somewhere.... Dear god so many of my movies have become relics and/or collectables.
"Werewolf?"
"There wolf. There castle."
"Why are you talking like that?"
and the ever classic scenes at the castle doors... So many good lines and jokes at those doors.
G-g-g-ghosts!?
8567798
"Walk this way..."
Just to confirm, sera can read wildcard's signing right? She was learning alongside rainbow dash yeah?
Oh no they hear violin music, soon everyone who hears it will meet up at one place, realizing that they were clyons from the ... wait..
8567752
The ancient and unharvestable soul part along with the technology level of that town could hint towards artificial beings, maybe some kind of organic looking maintenance or other purpose androids.
Logan delivers the best punchlines.
8568030
I think it was alluded to that the Talon learnt wyvern sign language and what they call windspeak, which is 'speaking' with their wings mid flight.
I'd imagine non verbal comms would be pretty indispensable to a special forces unit.
If they had TV screens and the internet, who's to say that the violins isn't just someone's mobile phone system playing a ringtone for all the messages that still haven't been checked.
I have to admit I also supposed the ancient pegasi were just that. The sequencing from those skeletons Nightshade had revealed so much of the world that one would expect those of the old herald to be a continuous line from the precursors. And those skeletons looked like regular ponies, as far as I remember.
By their very nature, all humanoid minds are scared of change. It entails disorder.
It's time to face the music, Sera.
Doot doot doo doot doo doot doot doo
Dash and sera need a sit down. I think it's time for her time hear about rainbow and her journey from day 1.
Hey, Skirts? I know you might not think it's a big deal, but… could you please not use the r-slur? Being autistic, it makes me super uncomfortable to see it being used like this, especially here of all places.
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At this point its more likely than Dash ever being in a relationship in any Skirts story ever seriously right when i start shipping RainBoarke
8567751
Aliens when?
8572105
When is it not?
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Next two books from Utaan's perspective, so this one and Ilrifa.
Ominous ancient pegasus elevator music is ominous.
I have finished annotating the side view of an Ancient Pegasus. Now working on the top view.
I think we all know where that music is coming from...
8567752
thank you for bringing that up, i should go back and reread the earilier chapters for research.
A few more chapters to catch up on, but got my usual contentious two bits to add.
First off, never seen that there's any justice to be paid in blood, at any time. At best, at the very best case scenario of morality that way I see it, you might achieve a net gain by preventing more blood spilled later with the blood you spill now, but that's a dice game even the best gamblers are still tossing in the dark on so I prefer to lay my own bets elsewhere.
Its always going to bug me on some level that as much as I like where things are going with Seraphimus, its a stark and seemingly contradictory contrast of theme that we'll spend this much time soul searching with her and bringing her about to a point of possible redemption, constantly going over how important life is and giving people second chances to find their path in darkness, but nowhere near this much effort, time, or depth was given to Chandler who was arguably manipulated just as much by Verlax as Seraphimus was. But I just don't see the narrative ever acknowledging the idea that he was just in as much need of saving as Seraphimus was.
But that's fine. I can seek my own understanding and "justice" on that matter in my own way, even if this story never goes there.
On the subject of Seraphimus, it seems her solo quest may be coming to an end soon. I still have a couple of chapters to catch up on, but the count continues until her official joining of the party. Because some quests are solo because one is alone internally, rather than externally.
Serpahimus Solo Quest Count: 11
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There were always aliens, where you keep your glasses
01/03/2018
22:58 UTC
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Have you seen the gif of her raising and lowering her headcrest like a cockatiel, impressing Twilight?
8569672
I understand the sentiment, but it’s Logan saying it, so we can infer he isn’t good when it comes to not insulting mentally challenged people.
Instant denial!