"Just a short flight of stairs, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, floating ahead of the glow of Rainbow's pendant. She phased through a low-hanging ceiling and a series of metallic pipes. "There's a long corridor waiting here."
"Watch your stepsies!" Pinkie Pie insisted.
"I got it. I got it," Rainbow droned, shuffling down the steps and leaping down onto the floor of the stone hallway. "I'm not entirely blind, you know."
"Hmmmf!" Rarity upturned her nose. "I swear—by the time we're all done with this journey—you'll sorely miss having us to guide you around so magically!"
"I'm rather fond of the give-and-take," Rainbow muttered. "I mean... I love ya girls but it would be nice to go to bed and use the bathroom by myself for a change."
"I've never looked!" Pinkie said in a chipper tone.
The other ghostly mares looked at her.
"Honestly!" Pinkie grinned. "I haven't!"
"We... never would have suggested that you did," Fluttershy murmured.
"Good!" Pinkie grinned, twitching. "Because I super totally haven't!"
"Mrmmmfff..." Applejack clenched her jaw muscles. "Just how far are ya fixin' to go, Rainbow? I ain't too fond of you leavin' the rest of our company."
To that, Rainbow lifted her head and shouted over her shoulder. "Yo! Flynn! Wildcard! You still there?!"
A pause.
A male voice echoed back.
"We're here, Rainbow Dash! I think I've just about got these light fixtures adjusted!"
"I think that was Flynn just now," Pinkie said.
Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Cool! I'm just going to search this corridor!" Rainbow hollered back. "There are a lot of doorways! Maybe one of them leads to the central power source?!"
"Awesome! But—so you know—once I get one of these crystals to work, there'll be a slight mana-feedback!"
"Is that a bad thing in this case?!"
"Shouldn't be! This is very old tech! But it's sturdy! Alicorn stuff! Worst case scenario is the best case! You should see a flicker of light running down the leyline conduits! If my prediction is true, it'll lead you straight to the room where they house the central power unit!"
"Cool! I'll keep an eye out!"
"Don't wander too far! Wildcard's feathers are molting with concern!"
"Just chillax! I'll stay within yelling distance!" Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and shuffled forward along the corridor. "Whew... y'know..." She smirked to herself while chatting with the girls. "I've given my vocal chords quite the work out these past few years."
Twilight nodded. "I bet you have."
"But it's all good. I've had many reasons to yell during that timespan."
"Well..." Rarity smiled pleasantly. "Now that we're all back, you can practice being polite and soft-spoken again." She looked aside. "Isn't that right, Fluttershy?"
"Hmmm? What?" Fluttershy blinked. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."
"You look pooped, Flutters!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Fluttershy stifled a yawn. "I... I'm so sorry, girls..." Her ears folded. "I guess I didn't get as much rest as I wanted to."
"Well, technically speaking, none of us did," Twilight said. "Especially considering that... that... well..."
Rainbow gulped, gazing aside at the lingering doorframes. "I'm sorry, girls..."
"Don't be sorry, darling!" Rarity said.
"But I am. You guys need your rest, and... and for all I know..." Rainbow shuddered. "...I could just be making a mountain of a mole hill."
"No you ain't." Applejack squinted her eyes at her. "I know you, Rainbow Dash. You wouldn't just make up any ol' hogwash concernin' Discord."
Rainbow smiled pathetically. "You're talking to the mare who once painted an entire field of your apples with polkadots."
"Yes! Yes we did!" Pinkie giggled and toppled over in midair.
"That ain't the same mare who's trottin' through a scary, dark corridor in front of us right now." Applejack smiled. "You've changed... more for the better than you like to think, I bet."
A sigh escaped Rainbow's lips. "Yeah... maybe..."
"And the way we've figured it... he won't be showin' up so long as we're around to keep Rainbow protected all harmonic-like." Applejack looked at Twilight. "Ain't that right, Twilight?"
"Well, in theory, yes." Twilight nodded. "We are the Elements of Harmony, after all. And there are way more of us than him."
"Sooooooo... what's stoppin' us from takin' turns already?" Applejack smiled at Fluttershy. "You go ahead and mosey on into the Vanilla Zone, sugarcube. Get some shuteye while we watch over Rainbow."
"Thank you, Applejack... Twilight..." Fluttershy rubbed her eye but nevertheless smiled. "But—if it's all the same to you—I would much rather wait until the Herald have fully settled here in Darkreach."
Applejack shrugged. "Suit yerself, darling."
"Awwwwwwwww... that's too bad..." A voice rasped from the shadows.
"...!!" Rainbow Dash jolted in place and looked around.
"...I think I would have greatly enjoyed watching her sleep."
At last, Rainbow shone her pendant's light into a small room.
Light glinted off a series of steel bars and reflective metal slabs. Rainbow saw the hint of reflected goat fur vanishing as soon as her light hit it.
"Like yellow slush with the voice of a foppish librarian. Heheheh..."
Rainbow Dash grimaced. Her eyes darted around.
Twilight Sparkle hovered closer. "Is something wrong, Rainbow Dash?"
Their anchor didn't say anything, but she was noticeably paler than a few seconds ago.
Twilight's brow furrowed. "He's here, isn't he?"
Rainbow gulped. "Yes..." She gulped again. "And n-no..."
"Huh?" Pinkie blinked.
"It's... it's like he's here and yet... he isn't here..." Rainbow shivered slightly. "Like... I heard his voice and everything. But when I shine the light around..." She fidgeted in place. Shrunken pupils twitching, she turned to look at the girls. "You guys seriously don't hear him?"
They mutually shook their head.
"Wish we could say we did, darling." Rarity gulped. "Despite how detestable the thought of him is—we would greatly desire to subdue him for you."
"But, long and short of it, he can't touch you, Rainbow!" Applejack said. "And he can't hurt us."
"Not again." Twilight shook her head. "We're here to stay. Not him."
"Then..." Rainbow stared down the dark corridor once again. "...why can't I seem to get rid of him?"
The girls had no response to that.
BZZZZT!
Rainbow Dash hopped clear off the floor with a gasp.
Over her head, a series of metal cables lit up with bright blue brilliance. A beam of mana-powered energy buzzed its way down the corridor, hooked a right, and descended another stairwell.
"Whoops!" Flynn's voice could be heard echoing down the hallway from above. "Feedback was a bit bigger than I expected! Eheh! Are you following it, Rainbow?"
Rainbow's teeth chattered.
"... ... ...Rainbow?"
"Yes! Right! Totally!" Rainbow scampered towards the far end of the dark chamber. "Following!"
Oh shoot he can just show up anyways even when they're around. Well there goes Dashie's everything.
Totally not creepy as balls at all! Nope! Not in the slightest!
And Discord is gonna start shit again, isn't he?
8291898 Or maybe Discord's going to help them because restoring the elements will also restore him as a side effect?
I wonder if this is just Discord's version of foreplay? I kind of get the feeling he can manifest whenever he wants, he's just choosing not to so he can mess with Dash.
Wonder how easy it is to get lost in this place? Its all well and good to say you'll stay in shouting distance, but the way voices can echo, a few turns down random corridors and suddenly you're nowhere near as close to your party as you think you are.
I'm still reading Discord's lines in the voice of someone who sounds more vicious than nasally.
I'll lay it bare, I think most of my issues with Discord stem from his voice, and how ill fitting it is for his character design.
Sure, it fits his personality, but it does not fit his appearance, and I think that's something very important when it comes to characters in animation or games.
At least in my opinion anyway.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Of course he's just fucking around. Doesn't need to wait at all! Messing with Dashie is just some good ol' fun!
Of course taking shifts wouldn't work, that is too logical, and you can't counter true chaos with logic.
Welp he can show up whenever he wants. And he's completely messing with her.
Wait does that mean he can enter the Vanilla Zone?
a few chapters ago, a lot of people seemed to be all 'oh yay, Discord'. I'm firmly in the 'oh shit, get outta here' camp.
In any case though, I can't wait to figure out how ghost Discord works. He can see the ghost5 but they can't see him, he can appear(sorta) and disappear at will, and, as usual, is a total pain in the ass.
Good job, Flynn. You managed to say one sentence that didn't end in an exclamation point. [I think, but I'm not sure.] For this entire chapter. Good job.
I have a few ideas about Discord. First, I don't think the girls can see him or hear him. I think that the ghostly five act as the side of Dashie that's the side of pure harmony. If I remember it right, she used the power of all the elements to turn him to stone. So now that self-same power is being carried with her. I think that's why the girls are part of her now. Their Elements were part of them, and now that those are a part of Rainbow Dash, so are they.
Second, I think that Discord is a part of Dash in the same way. I think that he is the other side of the coin, being the side of pure chaos. If thee girls are out, his side of the coin is in shadows. If he is there, they are trapped on the other side. As for the reason that Rainbow Dash can still see shadows and whispers of him could be attributed to the fact that they are on the dark side. She didn't start seeing and hearing him until they crossed over.
This reminds me a lot of the Jak games. The main hero has a terrible darkness inside them, that is balanced by a brilliant light, metaphorically as well as literally. Remember, Dash can be ruthless too. She has brought death and destruction before, and she will bring it again. She also reminds me of the Dragon reborn from the wheel of time books. She is not pure good, or true evil. Those are for children's stories. She is a bringer of change, and a restorer of balance. Creation and destruction, chaos and cosmos. She has to be a meeting point for them all.
I have to admit I'm curious given what we know about Discord in the show and the fact that he isn't actually all that evil (and never really was honestly) how much of that is going to show in his appearances here?
Or Is IC gonna go for truly evil Discord like most of the fandom thought he was back when he first showed up? I mean we don't know really anything at all about this version of Discord he's truthfully only just got here in the story.
Forget the Vanilla Zone, welcome to the
durandal.dnsalias.net/imgur/ogz.jpg
8292155
Rainbow Dash's entire contention with Discord is that, so far as she could tell at the time, he was responsible for her friend's deaths. Only much later did she discover any of the mystery of the ring world and how it may have, by way of the Elements of Harmony, acted to spur Dash on her journey to fix the world.
This universe diverged from The Return of Harmony when, instead of the Elements simply fizzling when the others tried to use them on Discord, they backfired catostrophically. For all we know, that wasn't Discord's doing at all.
So, as far as we know, Discord is the same as he was then: Freshly freed from a thousand and more years of petrification and eager to sow chaos once again... except he took a hit along with the rest of the Mane Six and wound up in Big White Blank cryosleep for two years or so while Rainbow Dash flew across the plane. It is also possible that he has had some form of awareness of things ever since the Sixth Seed, and so he might have caught some details of the situation prior to reaching the Dark Side, and only now has he attained the ability to communicate.
Since he hasn't had all the time with the girls as he has had in the show, it's within reason, I think, that he might try to work with them, because he can't affect the "outside" world except through influencing Rainbow Dash, and he may see that as his only option.
8292058
Rainbow Dash is an impetus, a catalyst.
8290348
A bit late for the April Fools chapter but we can hope
Into the spoopy basement with Discord. This'll be fun.
8291952
Seems like it... and that is terrifying to think about, since the girls can make contact with each other...
So he's apparently not restriced to the appearance of a certain level f harmony. I wonder what causes it then? My guess is that Discord is not connected to Rainbow Dash herself, but to the Dark side. This seems the only apparent trigger to the sudden appearance of him
Apparently Discord can mess with Rainbow even when her five friends are active and they cannot even sense him. That's bad news.
And not what I expected from a chapter with this title.
8291929
Foreplay? Do you imply a Rainbow Dash x Discord (crack)ship?
8292459
Imply? He's already been inside her.
Actually I'd rather see Fluttercord happen here as well, but I'm not expecting much shipping on the Discord front. Doesn’t mean he won't get in cheap shots to mess with the girls though, which is good enough for me.
8292468
1) I think that's called "intimate relationship".
2) Might be interesting to see what will happen to Discord at the end. I think I agree with the opinion that Discord could be restored together with the Mane 6, so they might be able to reform him along the way. Sounds unlikely, but everything is still possible here.
Flyn:you might feel a little feedback, Dash.
Logan:And you might feel a little prick, Flyn.
If they can't see Discord, maybe he actually can't see them?
So Rainbow is basically perceiving not two but three separate layers of existence is what you're telling us? Boy, there's going to be some translating to be done in our future if that's true.
8291928
Maybe, but right now he isn't helping a lot is he?
Discord's just playing with them, it makes total sense too.
Don't think he has any actual power, but I fully expect the torment to just get ever juicier. Maybe even with literal juice.
Quick, Dash! Follow that energy pulse! RUN!!
I'm getting the feeling that the mane 6 are either gonna have either their abilities or their presence snubbed at times when RD most needs it, and it will result in tragedy. Like Fluttershy not sensing something she should have caught in time.
I wonder if anything different happens if the element is removed from Rainbow now that they are on the dark side. My gut tells me that nothing different will happen differently, but my gut is known to be wrong on occasion.
Caught up.
Started just after new year's and have been plodding along ever since.
I both love and hate this series on separate levels.
But as IC has developed it's gotten better.
I look forward to contentions between blue fruity and her cat now with added chaos ghost.
8293307
Welcome and enjoy the ride.
Oh so Discord can ignore the Mane five's presence anyway, wonderful.
Also this. I wondered if that would ever be mentioned or not since the girls are tied to her so closely. Though by now you'd think Rainbow would be used to it since she's had at least one ghostly friend for a very long time now.
I wanna beat Discord with his own antler.
8292224
A Spark?
Dashie must have seen a cucumber.
Seems like he can only be indirectly there when the ghostly quintet are around. He also can't be in the ray from the element. I chalk it up to the element casting a harmonic beam in a world of chaos.
If he ever does talk, it'll either be off-screened, we'll never be able to prove it, or it'll be like Longshot right before he died in Avatar.
8293307
Welcome aboard.
Discord hasn't changed a bit since he died. That's something that will play havoc with Rainbow for a while until they have a somewhat civil conversation.
8293307
Welcome, comrade!
I have said this numerous times before, but it is nice to have those actually in the story acknowledge the growth that this journey has forced her to undergo.
10/12/2017
20:19 UTC
That 'I've never looked' exchange was hilarious.
Go fudge yourself, Discord.
I do not like this twist and turn...
OK that's way too freaking creepazoid.
SHE DIDN'T LIE TO EVERYONE. SOUND THE CHURCH BELLS, SHE LEARNED A LESSON!!!