"You should have killed me when you had the opportunity," Seraphimus proceeded to growl.
Rainbow was still rubbing her muzzle. "Has anypony ever told you that you have the lame habit of repeating yourself?"
"I meant what I said," Seraphimus hissed. "I have nothing left. Not in this world or the one next."
"I know you think that nowā"
"I know that!" Seraphimus snarled, making Wildcard stir cautiously above. "Why did you bring me to this place of desolation? So that I would somehow feel at home?"
"Did you listen to any of the crap I just said?" Rainbow frowned. "We lived on a curved plane, and this is the Dark Sideā"
"Lies and Blightā"
"This is the Dark Side!" Rainbow Dash pointed straight up. "Have you not seen the friggin' horizon bending up into the stars?!"
"She can't at the moment, darling!" Rarity insisted. "We're at the bottom of a valley!"
"The... the crossing!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. "In the Alicorn's Gondola! What do you even think that lift was for? It brought us all the way over toā"
"She was unconscious for half of the ride," Twilight said, wincing. "Aaaaafter she spent all her waking moments inside the thing trying to kill us."
"D'uhm... uhmmm... Axan!" Rainbow Dash spread her blue wings wide. "Biggggggg frickin' dragon! Dropped her equine shell and grew all big and draconian and gave her life to bring us over to theā"
"We left Axan's corpse back miles ago, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.
"Yeah!" Pinkie nodded. "And Psycho-Polly here just woke upā!"
"Rrrrgh!" Rainbow Dash growled aside. "For crying out loud, girls! Are you on my side or aren't you?"
"You're not exactly giving us much to work with," Rarity said. "Or Seraphimus for that matter."
"Wowsers..." Pinkie blinked into the twilight. "...come to think of it, it's a bit of a stretch for the griffin to swallow anything Dashie's got to explain!"
"Girls... come on," Rainbow Dash muttered in a hoarse voice. She frowned. "If she keeps her eyes and ears open long enough, she's got to eventually realize where we are and what this Dark Side is all about."
"If y'all dun end up stranglin' each other before ya get to Darkreach," Applejack said.
"AJ... come on..."
"Who... ... ...?"
The ghostly mares winced. Rainbow Dash turned around to find out why.
Seraphimus' anger was momentarily replaced with pure confusion. "...wh-who in Verlaxion's name are you talking to?"
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof... hesitated... the muttered out the side of her muzzle. "Yeah. No. I'm not touching that."
"Rainbow..." Twilight droned.
"Are you still so deluded by the Blight's touch...?" Seraphimus looked like she was going to vomit. She tilted her head up as far as her restraints could let her and gawked at Wildcard. "Jordan...? You've betrayed me only to put your faith and trust in a veritable mad-mare?"
Wildcard merely sighed.
"Look..." Rainbow Dash pivoted to face Seraphimus directly. "I could go off on all the nitty gritty details but you're not exactly in the position to believe any of itā"
"Oh, yes, creature..." Seraphimus spat. "By all meansādo spare me!"
"All your life you've lived under a bubble of ignorance thanks to your Queen!" Rainbow snarled. "Believe it or not, the Sun does not revolve around Rohbredden!"
"Oh, but it revolves around your home country?"
Rainbow smiled with rosy cheeks. "Actually, it does!"
"Augh!" Applejack face-hoofed.
"Unnggh!" Twilight cringed.
"Seriously, darlingā" Rarity started.
"I pity the ponies who live in your realm..." The feathers on the back of Seraphimus' neck rose on end. "...that they must make themselves complete by invading other lands and tainting them with their perverse ideologies!"
"Dudeāthe only 'perverse ideology' I brought to your frosted shores was how to kick butt and rock a killer rice hat!" Rainbow frowned. "Every time I ran into you or the rest of the Talon it was just me trying to get the frick away from you guys and go on with my journeyā"
"E-except for when you launched the torpedo attack on her and the Frostknifers at the World's End!" Fluttershy nervously stammered.
Rainbow forced her eyes shut. "Okay." Her teeth clenched. "Everything except for after Frostknife... because that was a necessary showā"
"You ruined my entire nation," Seraphimus said in a firm, angry tone. "You tore the foundation of the Six Tribes down from underneath them and threatened thousands upon millions of innocent lives!" She howled, "And now you're trying to avoid the responsibilityfor your actions!"
"No! Seraphimus!" Rainbow winced as she stammered, "That's just the thing! I am totally taking responsibility for all of it! It's just thatā"
"Then own the sins you have committed and put an end to my shameful existence!"
"I am not going to do that!" Rainbow Dash lunged forward until she was staring Seraphimus down in the beak. Wildcard moved to pull her away, but Rainbow was already barking: "Too much crud has fallen from the tree of lameness and I am not about to have your innocent death on my conscience too! You deserve a second chance at being awesome, Seraphimus! Yes! That's right! You deserve this!"
Seraphimus didn't bite Rainbow's jugular. Even within spitting distance, she didn't try to peck her eyes out. She simply glared at the pegasus with her cold charcoal eyes and calmly said: "You've taken everything from me. You've robbed me of my station, my dignity, my purpose, and my family. But nothing... nothing that you could ever possibly say or do would be more insulting..." Her eyes narrowed. "...than to insist that you cowardly spared my life for me."
Rainbow Dash stared at her. She breathed raggedly.
The ghostly mares glanced at one another anxiously.
Wildcard watched in silence.
Rainbow quietly stood up. She swiveled aboutāhooves scufflingāand silently walked away from the scene.
Before she left earshot, however, she paused. "If you feel insulted, Seraphimus. That's fine. Be insulted. It's okay if you hate me." She then looked over her shoulder. "But someone's done far more insulting and arrogant things to you in the past... and through lies and deceit she won your trust. It was Verlax's decision to set up her own death... to die and release the wendigoes... and her hold on your family." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "She gave up on you long before you were even born, Seraphimus. But now that I have you in my 'Blighted clutches...?'" She shook her head. "I'm not giving up. Not now... not ever."
Seraphimus said nothing.
"Now eat your dang leaves." Rainbow marched off with a frown. "I guarantee they're tastier than anything else Rohbredden's been shuffling around all your life."
....Well crud, so much for that. *sigh*...It's just gonna have to take some time.
Hmm...for some reason I'm sensing a Seraphimus/Jordan conversation coming up soon.
Hmm. For all of her not listening, Seraphimus seems to be understanding at least something. Even if that something is that nothing is quite as she thought it was. It's definitely gonna take a lot of time, but this chapter does give me the hope that she could turn herself around, no matter how small that hope is right now.
Just wait until she sees the armory
...well, that could have gone better
That sad thing is, that probably went about as well as could be expected at this point. Still say it'd be easy enough to get Ariel and Wildcard's help to pick up Seraphimus and just airlift her high enough to see the whole of the Dark Side, but even that bit of evidence doesn't really deal with all the massive craptons of underlying issues that are at play here.
Seraphimus is determined to die, and Dash is determined not to kill her, and both are doing it to try to preserve their fraying ideologies in the face of Verlax's manipulations, which are ongoing even beyond the damn grave.
Holy shit, Dash, maybe try keeping your friggin' cool.
Probably the smartest thing you've done in the past two chapters.
Such a shame Luna's enchantment burned out. Perhaps some Alicorn intervention would have been handy in swaying Seraph.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
That actually could have went a whole lot worse.
I mean, maybe now she'll only rant and rave for half of the travel time?
About time someone told her outright, and I suspect that Seraphimus already knew this. Now if Verlax's soul was one of those dragged down to the dark side then Seraphimus can ask her in person.
Since I do so love to nitpick the details of plans that went horribly awry, I have to wonder why the torpedo plan was even necessary when Dash can pull of Sonic Rainbooms? I mean, she can fly faster than any underwater torpedo, and if she'd flown straight at the lead ship Seraphimus was on, and timed a Sonic Rainboom right in front of it, she'd likely have achieved the same affect of getting all of the Central Gaurd's attention, still thrown everyone on that lead ship on their asses, stunned and dazed, and been able to kick things off in the same manner, just with zero casualties. And don't even try to tell me they could've shot her out of the sky, with how fast Dash flies. Seraphimus was the only flier even close to Dash's level of speed, and she'd be too busy eating rainbow shockwaves to actually catch up after a Sonic Rainboom to catch up.
Then again I have to remind myself that Dash doesn't actually do well in terms of planning things under pressure, either.
Still can't figure why or how Fluttershy or Rarity didn't see that third ship to begin with. They sensed the two ships that were further away than the third one, so how'd they miss it?
Bah, I need to stop thinking about this kind of stuff. Gives me gas.
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I'm not sure about Verlax. But what if the rest of the whole Seraphimus family's did? Cause then she'd have something to live for? I dunno just a weird thought.
It's actually been quite a while since we've seen Dash do a Sonic Rainboom I think... Anyone remember when the last one was?
I suppose that does address the comments in previous chapters that suggest that it's strange Seraphimus doesn't recognize her surroundings are a lot different than they should be.
Looks like there's hope for Seraphimus yet. She gets the perfect chance for some vengeance and passes it up for some dialogue.
Is she calling Seraphimus innocent here? Because I can't really fathom how Dash is getting that logic to fly.
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Wonder how that would go
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She was manipulated by verlax and dash herself into doing what she did. She's got dash's confession to being the embodiment of pure evil as a major sticking point of her rage, after all. Though it may be "innocent" in the sense of "can't fight back".
No one said it was gonna be quick or easy.
So that was the Renegade dialog option?
You have upgraded your relationship with Seraphimus from Mortal Enemies to Bitter Hatred! Next stop, Extreme Dislike, and beyond to Begrudging Distaste. (And hopefully they'll reach Arguably Neutral by the end of the month.)
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If you tell someone a fact that you know to be true, that you believe to be accurate, and at the time have seen no evidence that that which you have told them is incorrect, but later it is revealed by previously unseen evidence to be falsehood, does that make you a liar? No. It means you provided the information to the best of your ability based on what you knew at the time.
Same principle here. Rainbow Dash sees Seraphimus as fundamentally innocent because her entire faith, her entire viewpoint, her entire career, her entire life, up to this point have been based on a fabrication millenia in the making.
Seraphimus's house is built upon sand. The tide is washing it away, bit by bit. Rainbow is trying to pull Seraphimus in before she is completely lost.
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Arguably Neutral or Neutrally Argumentative?
Both?
Verlax was literally operating a death cult, holding hostages in an undying purgatory. Plus she's a badass soldier. No wonder she has death wish. She's starting to get an idea of why they're keeping her alive and like hell she's going go along with any plan they have. She won't ever be so much as complicit in their journey, so there has to be a neutral third party for her to nest in. Who on the dark side needs sweaters?
This is going to be a long journey to get her to understand things. If at this point she will ever even care too. Hopefully something is getting through to her somewhat
I hate to say this, but Seraphimus is right to a certain degree. Rainbow looks like the boogeymare here, both in actions and consequences. Talking to ghosts and bringing forth statements she cannot prove does not help either. However, her conclusions are somewhat hilarious. Depicting Equestria as a nation of warmongers takes the cake in all regards.
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But is it enough to go that far and call Seraphimus innocent? Yes, she was indoctrinated. yes, her ideology is almost a complete deception. And yet she still committed cold-blooded murder in her zeal (with an impressive kill count), never truly thinking about it, never truly reflecting on her actions even once. It was all "righteous". When something went wrong, she blamed it either on her own imperfection or the evil blight. It's an utter black-white portrayal. Of course, it would be equally unrealistic to go the other way and make her responsible for everything that happened, but I would not call her innocent. It's a bit too much of a stretch.
Birdbeak the Screecher has as of yet no reason to believe Rrainbow One.
This could be a problem.
This will probably be just a first step in a long road towards Seraphimus' Redemption. Rainbow Dash has laid out the facts, now it's her problem whether or not she chooses to believe them in the coming future. I'm sure some things she will believe, and some things she will not.
I think we've come to a lose-lose situation. You can't execute a captive for the obvious reasons and even though I wouldn't go so far as to say Sera's unsalvagable, any kind of rehabilitation should realistically take months or even years. Which is time Rainbow just doesn't have.
The one small kernel of hope I have for this situation is Sera's passion she's shown for protecting the helpless. I'm sure that's something sorely needed on the dark side and I hope she rediscovers that facet of her personality before all is said and done.
Haha suck iiiiiiiit.
Yay im caugh yon again!
Well, the Fairly Odd Couple seem to be settling in nicely. No eggs yet but Im sure its only a matter of time.
Well not much progress but Dash hasn't lost any ground either. Call it a win.
Eh, I'd call it progress.
I dunno, I think trying to tell her about how she lost her 'family' to a monster could give them some common ground to work off of. Not sure she'd believe the 'they're ghosts helping me out' thing, but it'd be a start.
This is going smoothly. Soon Seraphimus will consider giving Dash a painless death, and maybe not profaning her body.
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Last one I know of is one she did at Frostknife to totally blow away the council and punctuate her evil villain speech
Oh yes, give the death parrot more reason to think you're insane.
Nothing new in the west, really. Most especially not the fact that Rainbow is clinically insane by every definition in the book.
"Don't worry, I'm not crazy. The voices in my head are just criticizing me."
And now the key for ending insanity: snapping people out of it.
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You make a good point. Innocent, no. Irredeemable? Also no.
Think of it this way: Nobody wanted to see Shell live, and we all expected him to die, whether by Rainbow's doing or not.
I would bet that many readers want to see Seraphimus live. I do, certainly. It's a credit to Skirts's ability to write a character that that seems like a possibility at all.
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I'll be honest here: I didn't really like Seraphimus at all as a character during Utaan, partly because of her fanatic religious death ideology. She was very good as an antagonist, but back then it would have been easy to kill her like Shell (at least for me). Now it seems that IC/Rainbow has chosen the hard way by giving her the possibility of redemption. I agree, Seraphimus is not a hopeless case, but right now she still remains a major threat and that is unlikely to change soon.
I give the whole thing the benefit of the doubt right now. It's a good story with dynamic characters and I'm sure that IC can pull it off to turn her into a more likeable character over time.
Heh. For all that they're literally on the dark side of the world right now, Rainbow sure has a hard time finding convincing evidence for her story.
I knew that this was going to be a very emotional, possibly futile conversation, and I was not disappointed. I don't think that Sera will come around until she witnesses something spectacular or horrible. Hopefully it isn't horrible because we don't need any more tragedy, but since we're on the dark side, it's also more likely than not that Rainbow will be able to do something awesome.
The true question is what will Sera need to see in order for her to no longer want the swift death of Rainbow Dash?
*mic drop*
Put this quote in the Austraeoh Book of Quotes.
This is going to take a while, Rainbow. Be patient.
I didn't expect Seraphimus to convert after a single conversation, but I think Rainbow is making progress
11/13/2019
03:07 UTC
Soooo... That went well.
Wow, she's capable of other emotions at this point? Holy shit.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/faf74620-060c-4d09-9e0d-a67472598d88/d4mbib9-8bb45f52-17fb-431d-adb0-b48930aff5a5.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ZhZjc0NjIwLTA2MGMtNGQwOS05ZTBkLWE2NzQ3MjU5OGQ4OFwvZDRtYmliOS04YmI0NWY1Mi0xN2ZiLTQzMWQtYWRiMC1iNDg5MzBhZmY1YTUuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.4pPz6N3ATM3C_ugVyZzq1W2psCUMg1iMHHawlXKP_bU
...ouch.