"I didn't want to talk about it until we started moving again," Rainbow Dash murmured in mid-trot. "Because I didn't want to waste any time standing in one place... also all that crap that we just went through..." She shivered slightly.
Marching and sweating, Logan looked aside at the team's leader. "Got something on your mind? Take a load off." He stared ahead at the rolling landscape. "Goddess knows I wish I could..."
"I was visited in my dreams again," Rainbow said.
"Whoah, really?!" Ariel looked over, blinking wide. She kept in pace with Kepler stumbling behind her. "Was it the Bloodwings?"
"It was one of them," Rainbow clarified. "I... believe it was the same pony who visited my dreams the previous few occasions."
Wildcard freed up his talons so he could gesture: "Did they attempt to frighten you again?"
"That's just the thing. Quite the opposite, actually," Rainbow Dash said. "This time they tried appealing to... uhhhh..." Her ears burned red at the tips. "...my softer side."
"You've got a soft side?" Flynn droned.
"Anywho..." Rainbow rounded a boulder and continued along the rocky terrain towards Curveside. "I saw right through it. Their illusion broke, and... I actually had a heart-to-heart."
Logan and Flynn exchanged glances.
"I trust..." Seraphimus walked a bit closer. "...you didn't share too much of your heart." Her headcrest drooped. "Or your mind."
"I kept it close to the chest. I promise." Rainbow's tail flicked. "The... er... dream chest."
"This is pretty friggin' dangerous, Rainbow," Flynn said. "You're essentially playing pen pals with bad guys."
"Did they find out where you are located?" Seraphimus asked.
"No. At least..." Rainbow's jaw clenched and unclenched. "I didn't give them anything. Celestia knows they tried to get information out of me."
"Do your friends know about this?" Ariel asked. "Twilight and the others?"
Rainbow looked aside.
Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and the rest gazed at her with shocked expressions.
"Whoops." Rainbow faced forward, smiling goofily. "Guess this some sort of mutual revelation thingy."
"You were visited in your sleep again?!" Twilight Sparkle exhaled. "Why didn't you tell us from the beginning?!"
"Uhhhhhhh... why don't you pick a moment, Twilight?" Pinkie remarked. "Before Dashie was flying for her life from falling boulders or just before the meanie wyrm thingy ate a Dihmer pony whole?! CRUNNNCH!!!"
Twilight Sparkle winced... then rolled her eyes. "Okay... so things have been a bit hectic over the past few hours..."
"Land's sakes..." Applejack fanned herself with her ghost hat. "I dunno how we even find the time to say each other's names with all this nonsense!"
"I wouldn't want somepony peeking in on me in my dreams!" Rarity shivered. "Ugh! Just dreadful!"
"Rainbow seems just fine to me, though," Fluttershy said. "I think she's got the situation handled."
Rainbow nodded with a smile.
"How are they taking it?" Ariel asked.
"Just as ghostily as ever," Rainbow yawned.
"Hey!" Pinkie frowned.
"So... yeah..." Rainbow gazed at the Heraldites plus Seraphimus. "Some... representative of a Dream Council or whatnot appealed to me. I think they're getting desperate. I even got a name."
"Is that so?" Logan remarked.
Rainbow nodded. "'Nat'rdo,'" she proclaimed.
Flynn's muzzle scrunched.
"Well..." Kepler remarked, blindly following Ariel. "We can expect nothing frrom the darrk side except forr that which is exotic! Ha-Hah!
"And... just what kind of an appeal was this Nader Duke trying to make?" Logan asked.
"She and her fellow... uhhhh... Dream Council ponies wanted to know what the deal was with Princess Luna's enchantment."
"So they do sense Princess Luna's influence on you!" Ariel remarked.
Rainbow nodded. "That's right." She weathered a nervous breath. "And just like Xarchellus' flock back at Bleak's Plummet, they have a pretty friggin' messed up view of Equestrian history... if not way worse."
"Well, that is to be expected," Kepler remarked.
"In fact... I-I don't even know if they remember Equestria exists," Rainbow said. "I got an inkling of their world-view of Penumbra. It's a nasty, solar-bleached place constantly being burned by Daybreaker."
"Daybreaker?" Flynn repeated.
"Their name for Princess Celestia." Rainbow smirked slightly. "Gotta admit... it sounds kinda cool."
"There is nothing 'cool' about this," Seraphimus droned. "You've confirmed that somepony in the upper echelon of the Bloodwings has a predetermined bias against the Light Side and those who hail from it."
"Not unless I can somehow... shatter that bias."
Seraphimus' charcoal brown eyes narrowed as she marched along. "What are you proposing?"
"Nat'rdo kept pressing me for information," Rainbow Dash said. "I told her that I wouldn't spill any information unless it happened by my terms." She trotted tall and proud. "And the moment I started digging my fetlocks into the ground, I... got the impression that Nat'rdo and her friends were willing to mull it over."
"I'm certain they would allow you to think whatever it is you desired," Seraphimus commented. "Provided it gave them a deceitful edge."
"I'm not stupid, Sera," Rainbow said. "Even if I do stupid things to get by."
"Mrmmmfff... if you insist..."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Look... I told them that nopony's gonna play ball unless Lexxic pulls off his hunt and lets us be."
"Oh yeah?" Flynn's good eye blinked. "And how did that go over?"
Rainbow sighed. "The dumb tatzlwyrm attacked and jostled me out of the vision. I never got to witness the Dream Council making a decision. For all I know, they're still debating the matter now."
Serpahimus gazed thoughtfully into the twilight.
"Soooo..." Ariel shrugged in mid-trot. "We're right back to where we started."
"Not quite," Kepler said. "If you ask me, Rrainbow has made prrogrress in grreat leaps and bounds! We now know that someone in the higherr rranks of the Darrk Vigil is awarre of herr possession of Prrincess Luna's blessing! That makes herr morre of a rresourrce than a thrreat!"
Wildcard nodded.
"Resources exist solely to be fought over," Seraphimus said. "If you ask me, this puts us in even greater danger than we would have been in if the Bloodwings only perceived Rainbow Dash as a nuisance."
Wildcard... nodded again.
"There's... one more thing," Rainbow Dash remarked.
"Do tell us, Rainbow," Twilight said.
Rainbow continued: "I... got the impression that... that the Dream Council ponies aren't entirely in control of Lexxic."
"Huh?" Ariel blinked.
"What gave you that idea?" Logan asked.
"I straight up asked them to rein Lexxic in, should he happen to try and hunt us down," Rainbow said. "The way Nat'rdo and her cohorts reacted to that... made me think that such isn't an easy task. They'd have to take it to the top Matriarchs... or something."
"Bureacracy exist even among mass murderers," Flynn said.
Logan squinted at him. "This surprises you... how?"
Flynn nodded, exhaling. "Fair enough."
"I thought... like..." Pinkie Pie fidgeted. "...the Lunar Rebellion was all about mares calling the shots!"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "You're not wrong, Pinkie Pie." She looked at the Herald. "As Equestrian history proves, it's always been mares who have held authority among the Lunar Rebellion. Xarchellus and the elders at Bleak's Plummet only served to prove that's a thing."
"It would have stayed the same here, though, right?" Ariel remarked. "I figured these Dark Vigil sarosians would be super into keeping tradition and honoring Nightmare Moon. Seems only fitting they'd have the same hierarchal structure."
"I would think so as well," Rainbow Dash said. "But... then..." Her eyes narrowed. "...how would that explain someone like Lexxic—a stallion—who's gotten to such a place of power?"
"Maybe he's not," Logan said. "Maybe the bastard's just some lucky stud who won the mares' favor... but still has to lick their horseshoes."
"He's gotten pretty up there for a mere horseshoe-licker," Flynn said. "His military accomplishments have produced results. Even the Spindlers are afraid of this motherbucker." He shivered. "And you know how creepy the Spindlers can be."
"No, but you do, Baldy."
"Meh."
Wildcard breathed thoughtfully. He gestured: "What are the chances that these mares will communicate with you again?"
"I'd say pretty high," Rainbow remarked. "Although... I honestly don't know how it's going to go."
"I would suggest you do not let it happen at all," Seraphimus said.
Rainbow sighed. "Dare I ask why?"
"Is it not obvious?" Seraphimus arched an eyecrest. "The Bloodwings monitor this piece of the plane. That means they exercise control over both the physical and the metaphysical. The fact that they have pierced your mindscape via dreams only means that they wish to consume this unclaimed piece of real estate—along with the equine soul it's attached to."
"And if they actually... seriously want to negotiate over the sharing of information?" Rainbow Dash looked back at the griffin. "If there's an inkling of hope that I can share with them the truth and win their favor against the other two factions?" Her eyes narrowed. "What then? Should I just throw such an opportunity away?"
"After all that you've been through in the Seven Seas and Rohbredden, can you truly pretend to be that naive?"
"Sera, you and I have both been tricked savagely by the likes of Verlax," Rainbow said. "I think I'm wise enough at this point to discern what is sincere and what isn't. And my tried and true instinct is telling me that these moon-gals want to talk and learn more."
Seraphimus gave her a deadpan look. "I would think that our mutual experience with Verlaxion would have taught us both to disregard any and all words from such a faction as this from the get-go."
"... ... ..." Rainbow gazed ahead.
Twilight and Rainbow's other friends glanced at one another anxiously.
"Whelp..." Logan broke the silence with an audible sigh. "This is going to be a longer trek than I thought ten minutes ago."
"Then we must find a way to bide the time!" Kepler remarked jubilantly. "Who is forr a song?!?"
Dull, dead silence.
"Ach..." He deflated in mid-march. "That is what I thought."
NO SINGING! This is going to be quite the ongoing debate between the two. They both bring up really good points.
(I got here before Geb?! Nice!!!)
But yeah, it's nice to have Sera on board, as a counter-balance to Rainbow's words, which the Herald just follows.
That said, I really don't see the spirit in the Herald of "if Rainbow thinks it can be done, we trust her!".
I'm not talking about blind cult following, but it would be nice to see a bit of loyalty while Sera is rejecting everything she says.
Ponk, probably.
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AND NO SINGING
While Seraphimus has a point in denying a potential enemy information, even setting aside that Rainbow and her small group is going to need to win the three factions over to get the shards of Endrax at SOME point, I think she overlooked one small detail. The Bloodwings are talking to her, and getting information from her, in her sleep. How does she propose Rainbow avoid sleeping without reducing herself to a... an interesting state of mind?
Yes, but she doesn't show it to just anypony. And not unless there's a hammock, anyway.
They could end up forcing a civil war between Lexxic and the Dream Council or matriarchs. I don't think the Herald is making it through the dark side without at least temporarily allying with one side of the trinity war. There are just too many enemies and obstacles to bypass without an actual fighting force.
Everybody happy, everybody sing.
Minus one bottle of rum on the wall, minus one bottle of Rum,
Take it down and pass it around, minus one bottle of rum on the wall.
Poor Luna.
No song? Am sad
WHERE IS GEB!
Wouldn't it be ironic if they encountered Sirens next? Music would definitely have a certain... danger to it (but what if Kepler beats them in a singing contest?)
Here before RoboRed AND Geb?! Hell yes!
Lexxic seems to be the overlord here. With all that military power he has, he probably does something else with it other than curbstomping the rest of the factions Napoleon-style
I want more bat pone, now that we've established some of them can hold a conversation. Dang it why doesn't Dash have a Dark Side hammock yet that she can just plop into for a quick nap and chat? Napchat? I think I still prefer Dreamskype.
Seraphimus x Logan Ship Confirmation Chapter Counter: 43
I have a feeling that it won't be as simple as with Xarchelus. I fear that if she tell them that she purified Luna of Nightmare Moon, they will think she killed their goddess or something like that and will hunt her down more than in her dreams.
Sera points to Verlax as the reason the Herald shouldn't contact these Moonie Mares, but she only knows about the hell the departed dragon divine caused. RD has successfully met with and gotten along with foreign ponies before earlier in her travels. These ones are a bit more intimidating, but she managed to get along with other less than savory groups, at least not all of them were jerks.
Late.
Dash should probably keep quiet about Nightmare's purification. Perhaps she can... put a bit of a spin on recent history.
Tell the dark vigil that Nightmare and Celestia fought to a stalemate and agreed to a truce, with Nightmare controlling both the sun and moon as a show of goodwill to her penumbran subjects.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Is it bad that I saw the title for the split second to click on it and thought it said "Wet Dreams May Come"?
I'm sure the Bloodwings will spare Rainbow, because of her connection with "Nightmare Moon."
I'm not so sure if they will want to spare the rest of the herald.
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Beat me to it... Oh well.
Rainbow Dash really need to have those Paragon points maxed out if she is going to try and talk down the Bloodwings
And what a surprise.
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It's talking about Rainbow Dash, not Ariel.
Opting for diplomacy over a more violent course of action is something that should be attempted before being dismissed outright; if all they want is information, maybe a deal can be brokered? Though I agree with Campo on the fact the Vigil may decide that RD is off-limits, but not the Herald. Then again, maybe RD can use that to her advantage...
See, usually I’d just assume that Rainbow is right and that the matriarchs do in fact want to talk, but with how crazy everything’s been on the Dark Side so far... I really wouldn’t be that surprised if Sera’s right here and this is mostly deceit. It would be a good way to give credibility to her character — to establish her as more than just a naysayer.
I wonder if they have some control over the metaphysical, would they(or others) be able to see Dash's ghostly companions?
Usually Dash uses "crud" instead of "crap". She's slowly seeping into the abyss.
Whelp, Duke Zaap Nator hasn't been a significant part of the story for about five and a half years. Huh.
Communication should definitely be attempted. Dash and Co. need as many friends as they can get. Besides, they have to get that shard eventually. May as well do it sooner rather than later.
I mean but she did let slide that she knew about the Shards of Endrax. So.
So like the planet Mercury, even the atmosphere boiled away. Although if it was that bad Rainbow would be heading to the dark side for refuge, and likely approach the Bloodwings as allies, not to bring back the Harmonic Prism.
05/11/2018
16:45 UTC
To trust or not to trust. The eternal question on this journey.
Tha name "Nat'rdo" brings some interesting connotations, as I keep reading it as "Natvrdo", a Czech word that could either mean "dense" (as in of mental capacity - doesn't seem like that, though) or hard-boiled (as in egg - we shall see on that one).
Please no.
Thank you.
I'm on the dark side, and I'm singiiing.
I'm on the dark side and I'm singiiing.
I'm on the dark side...AND IM SIIIIIIINGIIIIING~~~
Sorry Keps, I doubt they are in the mood, and it is likely to give away your position.
11/19/2019
03:53 UTC
It’s pretty damn cool
66.media.tumblr.com/e7f7938030db0b7a1c04af8ca6e615d7/tumblr_pwvg9qLD4b1th6wq7o1_500.png
You called?
I’m guessing it’s sort of similar to Long Feng and the Dai Li...only the Matriarch has more power.
Maybe he is just that good at what he does.
Aw. I would've liked to hear some traditional wyvern music.
I mean....it's pretty metal.
Sometimes they're the cause of it too, so that's unsurprising.
Yeah no, I'm kinda with Sera on this. It's just too suspicious that both sets of bat ponies act the same exact way. Maybe if we still had the connection to Luna going and she could talk to them, then yeah. But as is? This is some risky shit.