"So he didn't always know?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
Rainbow looked past her at Wildcard. "When did you first figure me out?"
Wildcard's flesh and metal talons sliced through the high mountain air of the balcony.
Flynn surprised Rainbow by translating instead of Bard. "'It was when the Princess of the Moon spoke to us through your pendant. By then, all of the puzzle pieces were starting to come together.'"
"That explains why he was so protective at the Quade," Rarity murmured. "He... he knew at that point."
"Or at least he had an inclination," Twilight said.
"All this time..." Fluttershy murmured. "...he had this knowledge weighing on him. No wonder the Desperadoes came around."
"Even after Dashie sent them away," Pinkie said.
Rainbow and the other ghostly mares winced.
"Well..." Pinkie shrugged. "...I'm just saying."
"What... uhm..." Rainbow shifted her weight from one set of hooves to the other. "...what convinced you to come back for me?"
"You mean come wrangle us from our exciting, adventurous lives for a suicide run?!" Logan boomed.
"Hey..." Bard frowned from the shadows. "Big Show." He pointed. "She's talkin' to my partner. Let Dubya answer, ya cow plopper!"
"Eughhh..." Logan rolled his dark brown eyes. He waved a meaty hoof towards the Heraldite in goggles. "By all means. Crow away, rooster."
With a shuddering breath, Wildcard swung and twirled his talons in the air.
It was Ariel's turn to interpret: "'I needed to do some fact checking. So I sent a message here, inviting Kepler to rendezvous with Bard and I.'"
"Ah!" The wyvern adjusted his bifocals. "I do believe that this is wherre I can pick up the dazzling tale!" He nodded his head in Wildcard's direction. "If I may have yourr perrmission, old frriend."
Wildcard nodded back with a soft smile.
Kepler cleared his throat, pacing before Rainbow like a college professor. "Togetherr, we pourred over volumes and volumes of text: prriceless scrrolls immaculately trranslated frrom ancient rrunes. I speak, of courrse, of the timeless worrds given us by the prrogenitorrs of old! They might seem like prrophecy to some, and undoubtedly my brrotherrs and I have prreserrved theirr magnificence thrroughout the yearrs with no less zeal! Ha Hah! Verrily, we rrefrreshed our somewhat ill-temperred memorries with frresh bounties of inforrmation and—"
"Basically..." Bard interrupted, facing Rainbow. "They found a whole heapin' load of connections between them ancient texts and the crud we witnessed while escortin' ya from Rust to Luminar." He glanced at Kepler. "My apologies, Kep, but we can't be here forever."
"Heheheh... nothing to be sorrry for, music maestrro." Kepler leaned back, his tail curling. "Gods know I do have the tendency to prrattle on like a vorracious frrost wyrrm with its pedipalms chock full of—"
"The matching patterns were far too numerous to deny," Remna said, trotting slowly through the assembled group. "The tenuous balance between balance and chaos. The mortal dependency on a harmonic vessel." Her green eyes sliced their way towards Rainbow. "... ... ...the less-than-fortuitous origins of your journey."
Rainbow Dash gulped. "Yeah. I'd be... awfully curious about all of that too."
Wildcard gestured some more.
Logan cleared his throat and spoke: "'But the real kicker was when you turned out to be resurrecting the harmonic energies of your ill-fated companions.'"
"Hold the sound stone." Rainbow Dash leaned forward, lips pursed. "You... you mean that these... ancient prophecies actually predict the Austraeoh 'foaling yesterday?'"
Six sets of eyes—plus Bard's—glanced curiously at one another.
Rainbow stared at them.
Twilight leaned in, whispering: "'Yaerfaerda.'"
"Yaerfaerda!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"Ah!" Kepler exhaled, nodding. "But of course!"
"For the Austraeoh to complete her journey, she needs more than just the wind to supply endurance to her wings," Flynn said, his mechanical eye adjusting between each syllable. "She needs the power that sustained her in the past to be restored. For it shall give her the strength and energy she needs to complete her journey."
"In yourr particularr case, that would appearr to be these... mysterrious 'Elements of Harrmony' that Wildcarrd has spoken so poetically about." Kepler grinned through his tusks. "A most intrriguing way to manifest the Austrraeoh, if you ask me! I would love to learrn more along the trrip ahead!"
"Yeah, I... figured that the spirits of my friends played a part in getting me to my destination." Rainbow blinked. "...eventually."
"I'm a little bit confused here," Ariel said, squinting down from where she hovered above the group. "From the way you reacted to us just now, it seems as though you've run into representatives of the Herald before."
Rainbow nodded. "And I did."
Ariel cocked her head to the side. "Then... how is it that you haven't learned all of these details about Yaerfaerda until just recently?"
Remna glanced calmly from Ariel to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow gulped. "The... Herald and I... d-didn't exactly get along well when we first met..."
"In what way?" Flynn asked.
"Their leader... Khao?" Rainbow cleared her throat, brushing a hoof over her shaved head. "She... kinda sorta foalnapped one of my friends... attacked our airship... then attempted to abduct me..."
Bard raised an eyebrow.
The group stared on in silence.
"Holy shit!" Logan eventually blurted.
"Rnnngh!" Flynn swatted his fat hide. "Big Show!"
"For reals, though!" Logan pointed with a thick hoof. "That's messed up! And to do those things to the Austraeoh and her Eljunbyro! I mean... she's gone through that already, right? Or do we gotta do the whole 'Eljunbyro' schtick as well? Cuz if that doesn't involve cracking skulls, then I might not be the hot wind that this chick needs."
"Goddess, dude..." Flynn rolled his good eye. "How long did you spend rolling around in that brothel, anyways?"
"Oh, lay off!"
"Quick, someone go fetch this tub of lard an Austraeoh fact checker!"
Kepler raised his claw, smiling. "I vorraciously volunteerr!"
Logan grumbled, "I know you do ya... mangy cat vampire..."
"Am I the only one super p'd off by this?" Ariel grimaced at the others. "I mean, what kind of whacked-out ponies would call themselves the 'Herald' and then try to make the Austraeoh's life miserable?"
"They... th-they turned around in the end!" Rainbow insisted. "Especially their leader! Khao! She..." She shuddered. "...she sacrificed her life and the lives of her crew in order to fend off Nevlamas, the Dark Divine."
"Too little, too late." Remna grumbled.
Rainbow turned to frown at her. "It was a very noble act of heroism. If it wasn't for her, I'd be toast... and an entire continent might still be embroiled in bloody war to this day."
"And yet the most important thing suffered: your quest." Remna's nostrils flared. "This... Khao... this so-called 'Lead Wing of the Herald of Angels' was obviously a misguided misanthrope, poisoned with her own egotistical presumptions of a dirtied truth."
"She... must have been a surviving descendant of one of the migrating sects," Flynn remarked. He glanced at the others. "You know... the two ancient cabals that ventured west beyond the Blight in order to set up sentries for the advent of the Harbinger?"
"There's three of you guys?!" Rainbow's voice cackled.
"Well, if you take the centurries into account," Kepler said, "They could verry easily have brranched into dozens of stalwarrt grroups at this point, taking station at varrious locations all acrross the light side!"
"Wowsies, Dashie!" Pinkie turned towards her anchor, smiling. "Ponies were celebrating your birthday eons in advance!"
"My goodness..." Rarity cooed.
"That..." Rainbow winced as her ears folded back. "...is freaky."
"And a poorly planned venture at best," Remna said. "It was a long time ago, a dark time... an ignorant time. Khao obviously suffered from lacking the Mountain Matron's insight, and the Austraeoh suffered for it." The violet bounty hunter turned towards the others in the group. "Let this be a living reminder for the importance in maintaining the Stalwart Seven."
"Aye." Logan nodded. "I can get behind that."
"Dude..." Flynn leaned in. "Your behind is that."
Ariel laughed.
"I... I don't get it..." Rainbow Dash looked at the group. "Is... there something so important about there only being seven of you?"
"Ah! But of courrse!" Kepler remarked. "And a verry interesting tale to it there is—"
"All of which the Mountain Matron can explain to the Austraeoh personally," Remna said. Her brow furrowed. "And I do believe it is high time she paid our leader a visit."
Wildcard nodded in agreement.
Rainbow turned to look at Bard. Her eyes fell on his crossed forelimbs.
"He..." Fluttershy spoke the obvious. "He doesn't have Odrsjot on him."
"Yeah..." Rainbow exhaled. "Say, uh, Bard?"
"Y'all heard Dubya-Cee's dreadlocked mentor," Bard hummed. He stood up straight and motioned his hat for the upmost tier of the palace. "It's time the ladies had their chat."
"Indeed so!" Kepler said. "Wildcarrd, old frriend? Carre to lead the way?"
"But... but..." Rarity squeaked. "There are so many questions that need being answered!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie pouted. "Like why the earth pony is called 'Big Show!'"
Rarity glared at her. "Seriously, darling?"
Wildcard stepped up to Rainbow Dash. His smile persisted calmly beneath his beak. With a metal talon, he gestured towards the wooden heart of the sanctuary.
"Your friend seems so content, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said. "Like he's at peace."
"He wasn't always that way, Fluttershy," Twilight remarked. "At a glance, I would have once described him as... 'intimidating.'"
Rainbow nodded. "Guess you're home right now, eh, Wildcard?"
Wildcard shrugged, then nodded.
Rainbow glanced to the side at Bard. "Home is a nice place to be." She looked back at the griffon. "I'm honored to be here. Shall we?"
The two turned and walked side by side while the rest of the group followed, with Remna and Bard lingering at the rear and Ariel zipping about in a gray blur.
Interesting... But the mystery only deepens further...
I shouldn't be surprised by now, but it really still is mind-boggling how connected everything is in this world.
Speaking about stuff that needs answers, what about that story with Whitemane waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay at the beginning of this book? I hope that gets revisited soon.
Zero views and one comment? Seems legit.
Ha! Time for Fact Checking!
I wonder if the the first chapter will have relevance anytime soon.
Speaking of prophecies, does anyone ever take it well?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the Mountain Matron is probably someone from the first chapter of Utaan. Not only would it explain her advanced age and status, but it would also explain why said chapter needed to be included in this particular installment. I'm really, really curious to see what comes of that.
Also, I wonder about the old Heraldic expeditions beyond the Blight. What are the chances that the pegasus remains back in Ledomare (the one in the cave with the book, and the ones that Nightshade got ahold of) connect to them somehow? Or maybe even the group that staggered into Val Roa and died. I guess we'll see (maybe).
7012819 <-- All of that.
I wonder if Bard is jealous. He's not one of the magnificent 7 (god I know I'll be playing that song in the background at some point) and if Remna picked WC over Bard for the super exclusive club it might be where some of the bad blood is coming from.
Exposition time.
It feels like Khao was so long ago. While this chapter provides some interesting exposition I'm still brimming with curiosity. I suppose a bit of backtracking in the story fits the going west instead of east theme nicely.
And a long time coming congrats to the AFC for the name drop.
I can already tell I'm going to enjoy this group.
Bard seems to be distancing himself from the group.
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
All this talk of the seven makes me think of the Seven Thunders from Legend of the Five Rings. I'm now imagining the dark side of the world to be like the Shadowlands. Dash better stock up on jade.
Y'know, you really gotta appreciate how this whole Herald thing was a plot twist that was set up about four and a half books ago.
I must say I'm a tiny bit disappointed to not get a callout from the super mathy pony, but we shall see yet :D
I don't think I can overstate how much Dash has matured to be able to say that about Khao. Sure, she was grateful in the immediate aftermath, but unless AFC says otherwise (nice namedrop, btw), I think this is the first time Rainbow actually defended Khao's actions.
Oh, and with all this talk about the Magnificent Seven, my soundtrack-loving self couldn't help but post this...
This actually lends even more credence to my theory that Wildcard saw Verlax's avatar confronting Rainbow at the Quade. If he knew about how important Rainbow was there was no way he would have let Rainbow out of sight, especially not to such a flimsy excuse as one she gave to get him to leave.
Critically sick...check.
coughing mucus from my lungs...gross, but check.
Utaan update? check
course of action... obvious.
read first, then sleep.
Holy fuck, not only was Chrysalis set up in advance 4 books before she actually was even revealed, you also had another plot twist for the Herald from over 4 books or so ago. Damn, man. What other plot points are there that you've set up that seemed practically redundant back in the first few books that are actually going to turn out to be extremely important in the future? Now we are all going to need to re-read the entire series to see if you mentioned anything interesting... or we could just ask Austraeoh Fact Checker.
I feel so pretty.
Eeeee- there's so many revelations and more within reach! I'm so hyped up!
Congrats to AFC for getting a well-deserved call out.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see who else joins the 7 plus Rainbow, to form the Lunar Ninth. Keris perhaps?
Also, since the moment is coming up where I think we will finally see the Utaan symbol, I'd like to ask if we've confirmed what it means? I know back in the start we figured Utan translates as beyond or externally. So I'm betting it means beyond as in "the other side" like 'beyond the horizon'.
7012979 meh...I don't think she was defending khao as much as she just wants to disagree with renma, it's still our same ol dashie.
7013027
I'm betting on a story arc involving caves.
7013209 boop
1.bp.blogspot.com/-hIiixR2lJ5U/TfszfH2_OjI/AAAAAAAAGDM/Vpu7VosbxDI/s1600/1307809802.tomclowder_pony-parts.png
Oh and...
Thank you IC, clearing that up.
I had to check Yaerfaerda to make sure the ponies entombed at Val Roa were not the other cabal.
..wait...
Dozens... Something to tell Luna to pass onto Cadence and Shiny.
They may have unexpected help/opposition in helping Dash return.
Also, while we're on the subject of Khao and her own kool-aid brand of the Herald, and since I wasn't caught up with the story to comment on it back then, was I the only one who felt kind of... bad for that group?
I mean, I get that they were pushy, nutty, religious crazy ponies. I get that they kidnapped Kera and that was supposed to make us all go "Grrrr! How dare you foalnap a poor helpless filly you villains!" However I felt pretty bad for them because, well, for 'bad guys' they used a lot of non-lethal force with their sleeping darts, and never actually showed any intent to kill or even overtly harm any members of the Jury. Yet they got slaughtered by the truckload during that fight, while still sticking to mostly their non-lethal sleep darts. I think Josho straight up blew one of their brains out with his manarifle, even though his own life wasn't really in any danger.
I don't know, probably just the first time I remember not really being on the Jury's side, morally speaking. Makes me wonder if the Dash of the current story, who insisted Keris use non-lethal force the same as she was while fighting the ponies of Red Barge, woudl've been as okay with how many ponies of the Herald got killed as she seemed to be back then?
Then again, this seems a recurring theme with her journey, now with Remna poking at Dash about her morality, so it's interesting to reflect back somewhat and consider how Dash has changed during this flight eastward, and how much she might still change. I hope she can keep a hold of her desire to avoid killing as much as possible, as really in stories like this that can get so dark, its hard to find protagonists that stick to their guns on that point.
I wonder... was WC attempting to initiate Bard into the Herald as part of the Seven, before the Quade happened, causing Bard to lose faith in the Austraeoh. Probably not, but just speculating.
Man, that scene when Khao said her last words as Rainbow did a sonic rainboom at the dawn of the next day. Despite Khao's buck ups, I was glad she at least saw Dash like that and died with with a smile. It was surprisingly bittersweet for a character I didn't like until she did something noble.
This I still get feels reading this.
Holy cow! this story is nearly already at 420k words!
Seems like yesterday that utaan just started...
And with all the hype IC is putting on the mountain matron, wouldnt surprise me if he had rainbow enter the room, realize who she's meeting, and then end the book. Takeing a week off to
torturemake the hype grow further.Wonder just who or what the Mountain Matron is though. Might be another Alicorn. I do remember the first chapter having this prophecy kind of thing with ages ago Aiicorn's, so it seems most likely. Might even be Whitemane's sister
Cue Theanim/Keris chapter. Or Chandler chapter. We obviously cannot meet the Matron just yet.
I mentiones this elsewhere, but with the Stalwart Seven and the apparently probable return of the rest of the mane 6, it would appear IC is getting ready to make the Noble Jury 2. It'd be at just the right number of characters too.
Someones setting us up the bomb?
Matron is simply Divine, so missing?
I feel like Kepler looks and talks like some version of Hank McCoy with added wings and RRs. Also, when Big Show was introduced, the Origins version of Blob came to my mind.
Oh look at all of them! They're all so close with eachother. Flashing me back to those moments with the Jury, even more so with talk of Khao.
7013033
So normal day for you then?
7013352
Nah, IC won't do that. Each book is 200 chapters, and we are just about to meet the Mountain Matron. However, I think he will end the book right before the assault on Verlaxion's throne/Applejack's pedestal. We still have Keris and Theanim to think about as well.
Lots and lots of call backs this chapter, really loving that. I also see Bard trying very hard to prove himself to accompany WC on this journey they are about to take. With a whole lot of "hes not one of us" stick going around, likely with Rainbow Dash having to vouch for keeping him around. These chapters are also going to make any type of re-read of this series (if anyone is going to do that) far more interesting.
Though really I wouldn't jump on the whole he planed this 4 or so books ago bandwagon really. I mean its totally possible that happened but I think its far more likely he realized how he could just use things he had already established to make this group important. Rather than it being a long planed plot twist.
The question of who's number seven really is interesting. It being the Matron would exclude Echo; at the same time, Kepler has declared them all united already.
7013027 Cold Canter was actually Discord all along.
The mountain matron is Applejack and she's actually a 5 century old level 140 skeletal wyvern, twist of the century.
And, in a severe plot twist, the Mountain Matron is actually Axan!
I almost suspect that the mountain matron is Verlax or one of her brood, some kind of remnant from before she ventured to the dark side and became the mystic, unreadable, crazy test lady.
7012862
And chapters 80 through 84.
Yay we got callouts, Josho 2 Electric Scootaloo, some answers and plot!
7012819 7012891 7013116
Even if it's unintentional, AFC has another pseudo-namedrop. Ariel Flynn
C**kBig Show...Interesting. Guys, let Bard in the club!
Hey Austraeoh fact checker, how many times has austraeoh fact checker been mentioned?
Rainbow is worshipped as both a warlord and a saint? Makes her scary.
7013868
What do you mean?
I wonder how far they plan on taking her? Considering their mention of leaving the continent, it seems they're committed to the long haul.
7013868 that line is referencing Khao, not Rainbow.
7013216 helpful, certainly saving it
but my problem was less how a ponpon works and more how the comedic "laugh and thump" action works with ponpon anatomy
are they slapping their front knee? (which is odd) or are they slightly upright and hitting their back knee? (also odd) though the best way i can imagine is if they were sittting and hit their knee, but even that is somewhat awkward with their bodies
Its interesting to think about Skirts' Critical Mass.
When he has a few characters, around Main character+3, his writing is fine. Examples would be the early books and the start of the Seeds arc.
Then his characters amount hits a certain number (Seems to be around MC+5) and plot reaches critical mass, imploding over itself and producing obnoxious accents (No, duplicating all the R's isn't a real accent, just annoying), fart puns, pseudo-deep oh-so-mysterious characters with the depth of mud, fart puns, and generally a murking in quality. One of the best measures for this is how many "..." per chapter there are: if there are over five, I don't expect anything for the next one and die a bit in the inside in anticipation, to save time.
Decent chapter
7014337 hmmm, it makes sense, though if someone could point me to the episode it was done in it would doubtless help