There was no time to even panic.
Rainbow Dash hoisted the Slices out of the bag. Doing that caused three of them to burst into ashen dust within seconds. The pegasus hissed under her breath, cradling the dissolving foodstuffs in the crook of her hooves. She gnashed her teeth, fidgeting in place. At last, holding her breath, she dragged a hoof over her pendant.
The lightning bolt glowed with brilliant crimson.
Rainbow lifted the Heaven Slices up to the pendant, exposing them to the ruby light. She clenched her teeth, brow furrowed as she kept her eyes trained on the breaded bits.
Slowly, with more or less grace, the pieces of enchanted food stopped falling apart, stopped crumbling, stopped spitting mist into the air. They soon lay dormant in her grasp, their enchantments preserved by the sudden application of Harmonic energy.
Rainbow Dash breathed easier. Her whole body slumped and her wings drooped. Nevertheless, minutes later, she swallowed a lump down her throat and attempted to assess the damage.
Ten slices had easily bitten the dust. She was down to eight pieces, and at least half of them were moldy and decrepit at best. There was no telling just how much nourishment they could provide her now, if any.
The pegasus bit her lip. With a slight shudder, she wrapped the edible substance back up and sat there for a prolonged time, staring into the desert vistas.
Hours—and miles—later...
Rainbow Dash sat at the crest of a jagged stone hill. She raised one of the cylinders to her muzzle, twisted the knob, and inhaled some Nebulum.
The mare blinked, then examined the item from the side.
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the substance didn't feel all too refreshing that time. She wondered if her supply of Nebulum was starting to get depleted. She was almost certain she had been frugal with her use of it.
Then it occurred to her that perhaps the enchantment was starting to fade on the source of liquid as well. If that was the case, then the Heaven Slices would be the least of her worries. If Rainbow Dash couldn't stay hydrated...
Rainbow Dash shook the sensation off. Sliding the cylinders back into her backpacks, she took several steps forward and spread her wings in order to resume flying.
But, suddenly, she didn't move.
She stood dead in place, eyes glazed and mane disheveled.
For minutes, she remained there, unmoving and unflinching.
Then, with a nervous twitch, she turned around.
She faced west.
A hazy cloud hung over the dim horizon. Craggy bits of stone rose up and down across the sundered valley. The vanishing line loomed with a cool layer of shadowed blues and grays. It looked terribly calm and welcoming.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She took one step... then two... the a dozen. Her trot turned into a gallop and her gallop into a spring. Then, just as she reached the crest of the hill she had last scaled, she flexed her muscles in preparation of a massive leap, wings spread.
But then... her legs went stiff, as did her wings. Instead of taking off for the west, she skidded to a stop, dragging tiny lines in the dusty earth.
She slumped back on her flanks, panting, sweating. Her pained eyes fogged over as she slowly, gradually recoiled from the west. Then, fighting deep quivers, she slid her goggles back on, turned around, and faced Yaerfaerda.
Rainbow Dash held her breath. She trotted slowly, gradually building up speed. When she finally lifted off, it was like a loose leaf falling in reverse. She ascended skyward in jagged motions, eventually climbing altitude just to scale the mountains—but nothing more.
Rainbow Dash flew east.
There was no joy in the action. No rhyme or reason. Only movement.
And she moved east, scaling dead landscape after dead landscape.
Her dead eyes gazed down at the serrated hilltops and summits slicing the atmosphere. She occasionally bobbed and weaved around tall peaks, but otherwise invested no flare into her flight.
As the sun set behind her, Yaerfaerda appeared to grow brighter in contrast. Rainbow Dash had no choice but to stare at it. She was looking at the beacon, and yet she wasn't. It didn't matter; her body was being propelled in the lavender shine's direction whether she desired it or not. There was no simple way to explain it, and she had nopony to explain it to.
As the lights above the world went out, the world blurred on beneath her. She knew it without looking at it. She saw it in her dreams: brown and arid lengths of stone rolling and undulating and shifting. Maybe she was moving several dozen miles per hour, or maybe the Plane was just shifting below. It mattered little. Nothing mattered—nothing but the movement.
Eyes open, eyes closed, in her waking sighs, in her sleeping shudders—Yaerfaerda persisted. Yaerfaerda loomed. Yaerfaerda would never go away.
That night, Rainbow Dash suffered another dizzy spell.
She had retired on a hillside to eat another Heaven's Slice when the shivers overwhelmed her.
They weren't quite so violent this time, but they did manage to incapacitate her. Rainbow seethed, rolling onto her side as she battled a world spinning wildly around her.
Something howled in the distance, like a coyote or a falcon. Rainbow knew better: it was simply her squealing voice echoing off the edges of the valley. Refusing to register the haunting noise, she clamped her hooves over her muzzle and surrendered to the waves of nausea overwhelming her figure.
Eventually, the shivers faded, but Rainbow Dash wished they hadn't. No longer dizzy or afflicted, Rainbow Dash was cognizant enough to dwell on where she was... and where she wasn't.
She didn't even fight the tears this time. They overcame her, ripping straight through her gut and coming out through her limbs with massive trembles. She sobbed. She wailed. She bawled harder than she ever did as a little foal.
And no amount of clenching her eyes shut or hugging herself could chase the tears away. So, she didn't bother. When morning came, she lay limp, exhausted by her own sobs, but tortuously incapable of sleep.
5699679
Don't do that.
But, well, I just hope that something happens in this story before the week is out. I am so ready for the dark side.
Man this is getting really depressing that's for sure. I hope she can find somepony to talk to soon or Rainbow might just go a bit crazy out here.
I doubt the amulet trick will keep working. Pretty soon the food is gonna rot faster than RD can preserve it.
rip
The bubble of magic resistance surounding Dash is steadily eroding. First her magical food and water, then her weather ability and top speed, then it will start to wear on her endurance as she has to work like a bird for every wingbeat or hope for stronger than usual thermals for her lift. Then her cold, wet, lightning resistance.
An still she flies.
Estimates so far for such a desert and canyone system, A thousand miles at least?
Hurray! The pancakes are saved! I knew she wouldn't panic! *Ignore my comment in the previous chapter*
This is depresses me greatly.
I swear to god if the end of this story goes the way of Background Pony I'll be 2000% mad.
RIP lack of airships.
Let it out, RD. It's better to cry than to bottle it in.
I'm glad the rest of the Jury didn't follow. Not that they really could have, but I couldn't stand to see them all suffering, especially the magic-users of the group.
There, there Rainbow.
I'm at least glad to see that she can still fly without magic, albeit more difficultly. Celestia knows that'd be impossible in the real world.
5701181 5701153
Rest in fucking pieces.
We'll need to get a flag for the next of kin- since she never married Roarke, would that be her dad?
5701173
I don't think she's really capable of panicking anymore. She no longer cares.
Gotta wonder, was it just Dash's subconscious that moved her back west... or something a bit more sinister? Perhaps something not wanting her to get any further, that just now has the ability to touch her...
Thirty-five situps, ):(. Knock 'em out!
5701194 The panicking bit was actually a reference to my previous comment, but I get what you mean.
Looks like this will be jsut as brutal and depressing as we all expected it to be.
Twenty seven chapters to go.
Shit's looking pretty bleak now. I predict this story ending with Rainbow's demise or miraculously reaching the ocean, but either way, her story's far from over.
5701380
~Abraham Lincoln
I think the madness is starting to set in. The desperation to go back west, and the force restraining her... RD's food isn't the only thing crumbling.
Too bad that the seemingly anti magic atmosphere doesn't seem to negate the chaos magic within Rainbow.
5701378 Ugh, stars, don't fucking remind me
Settle your emotions and come to terms, Dash, or you will never reach the far side. Remember the good times, but do not mourn them. Be happy that they were. You ill have plenty of opportunity for more but you must press forward.
5701805
I don't get it, what about the S5 premiere is going to have to do with tumblrinas and their made-up words?
5701380
Yep, just 27 chapters 'till Dashie dies. (C'mon, I know you're all thinking it).
5701938 she's died before. There are also 27 days till April 1st. We are still on track for the halfway point of this series to be on April Fools day. I'm convinced this will happen, and if I'm wrong, it means we at least get a double post one day.
5701963
i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z460/Skull0298/MotherOfGod.gif
...holy shite, you're right.
We are all about to be trolled to the moon.
...WAS THIS PLANNED. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. IT SEEMS TO BE FAR TOO PERFECT TO TRUST.
Something tells me the the magic dead zone isn't actually a dead zone but an area where chaotic energy is so overwhelmingly high that it causes normal magic to not work. I'm just grasping at straws but the fact that the Element Rainbow Dash has around her neck stopped the rest of her foods from disintegrating seems like proof to me. Or it could be that all of her provisions got damaged from her fall.
5701870
M.A. Larson is a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut
One of Kurt Vonnegut's most common themes, and one of his most famous stories is that of "Harrison Bergeron".
Harrison Bergeron is set in a Dystopian future, where everyone is forced to be 100% equal to everyone else. They accomplish this by putting handicaps on people to surpress their special talents.
A government official is the antagonist in the story, as it is her job to make sure that the population stays surpressed and equal.
The premiere is going to likely teach people that special talents are to be celebrated, not surpressed.
Some have theorised that Harrison Bergeron is warning about the dangers of Tumblr-Logic where people are shamed for having the gifts they're born with.
5701938
Hush, you.
My money is on Chaos!Dash.
5701990
Oh, that makes some sense. but how is it related to MLP? Do you think something like that scenario will be written into the show?
Pfft as if Dash would die in such a lame way...although the theory that this is all some "sucker punch" style mental breakdown over the death of her friends is scary as hell.
5701997
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Maybe.
5702013
I'm guessing that, somehow, I missed that.
Ew, nasty.
5702021
Yeah, from the trailer I saw it seems to be taking the Syndrome philosophy("When everyone's super, no one is") to heart. Nice to see that it'll be talking about the dangers of that kind of thinking to heart, though I question what I've seen a bit- it looks like it'll be deviating from slice-of-life to adventure, from what I've seen.
5702057
T-that does seem to be our future.
5702069
And this, too, shall pass away.
5702079
I hope so, I really do.
I want my show about cute, brightly coloured ponies to be about ponies doing cute, happy stuff.
I mean... I'm not against adventurey storylines, but that's not why I got in the show.
5702092
Hey, well, I don't know. It all depends on how well it transitions, I think. I have great faith in their writers and I know that they have the potential to do it well, but I agree, it's not really in the spirit of the show.
5702107
I guess we'll find out one way or another....
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We're here until 2017 at the very least~
5702151
lagzero.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mr_bones_wild_ride.jpg
plot twist... what if the trinary war is actually...
THE SKELETON WAR?
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Support your troops!
5701199
Occam's Razor.
She doesn't want to be there in that desolate place where she can't be as awesome as she was in Val Roa. She feels she has already passed the point of no return or that she can't go back without doing what she came East to do... She'd rather die trying than give up. All those that gave up their lives, all those she saved; she feels would be meaningless if she turned back now. She doesn't even know if she will make because she can't even fight if she does.
Terrible place to be. She no longer wants to continue, but feels compelled so. She's developed a martyr complex while she believes to be alone. That messes up one's head more than could be imagined.
Damn, we knew the way through this thing was gonna be fucking hard.
But this is going beyond all my expectations. Everything is omnious and extremely depressing, it's starting to become almost painful to read.
5701199
I'm sort of equally terrified by whatever made her go back east. It's like she doesn't even have her own will anymore. Rainbow Dash is pretty much temporarily dead at the moment.
5701963
...dang.
But in reverse (ie the sound gets deeper instead of higher).
5702013 Oh I really hope that you're right about the Season 5 premier. If how suppressing talents to be equal is the lesson it's going teach that'll be so amazing. If it does happen, then I'll explain why it's so important, on here, afterwards.
That was rough.
is it worth it?
to be so loyal to this idea
that you must break from those who are loyal to you?
is it worth it?
when this idea will do naught for you at all?
in the end, it's not.
the flame will fade again, without another to charge it
this peice of the whole will fade and fall, with or without you
so why do you keep going?
5701990
Oh, it went far beyond suppressing "special talents." To quote Wikipedia:
5702057
The season premiere is usually an adventure type story. Doesn't mean there won't be plenty of slice-of-lifes. Granted, the whole "castle sending the Mane Six somewhere where the magic of friendship is desperately needed" theme does imply more adventure than before.
5702478
Do you think Starlight Glimmer is going to make everyone break into song the moment they deviate from their standard of normalcy?
This is heartbreaking.
Also, I suspect that 5701979 is right; that it's chaos energy that disperses magic in the Choke. We know that the world-plane is surrounded by a chaotic miasma, and I'm guessing that this chaos gets closer at the edges of the plane, sort of like how solar winds from the sun can funnel down around our planet's poles to cause auroras.
5702513 If this episode really is a ponified version of Harrison Bergeron, I'll be very impressed. M. A. Larson wrote it? Did not know that. That raises my expectations.