"Sooooo..." Flynn leaned in, using his horn to illuminate the slab in Kepler's grasp. "Does it match what you've sketched so far?"
Kepler held his parchment next to the relic. Aside from the edge of the world and a whole lot of nothing, there was very little to reference.
Wildcard waved his good talon awkwardly from side to side.
"Well..." Kepler tapped his fuzzy chin. "If Arriel and Rrainbow found a metal towerr apprroximately half a kilometerr forrwarrd frrom ourr position..." He ran his pen up along the parchment, then compared the equivalent distance from the bottom edge of the slab. He found a tiny-tiny circle etched into the old metal. "Ha-Hah! A lookout point, no doubt."
"Then..." Logan leaned his burly shoulder in and pointed at yet another circle. "...this must be another lookout?"
"Aye." Kepler nodded. "With perrhaps anotherr towerr."
"So... like..." Ariel pointed towards the dark horizon far past Wildcard and the sled Seraphimus was on. "Way off in that direction?"
"Too farr forr ourr norrmal eyes to see, I suspect," Kepler said.
"That's south of us, right?" Flynn remarked.
"Eugh..." Logan rolled his eyes. "Will you give it a rest already?"
"Let's assume for the moment that it is another lookout point," Rainbow Dash said. "Why would it be there and—more importantly—where could Darkreach be in relation?"
"The location of Darkrreach seems obvious to me," Kepler said, adjusting his spectacles. He drew his pen along the length of the metal slab. "Just beyond this currved line..." The pen passed over a half-circle and ended at a rectangular etching. "...is what appearrs to be the rreprresentation of a strructurre. A rremarrkably larrge one if I do say so myself."
Ariel whistled. "The Emeraldinians must have been busy."
"That rremains to be seen, my dearr," Kepler hummed. "Judging from the equadistant points wherre the lookouts arre separrated by the latitudinal line passing thrrough the rrectangle towarrds ourr side, I suspect they werre meant as guidepoints forr drrawing successive expeditions frrom the edge to wherre Onyxxus' subjects werre meant to colonize."
"Hey..." Rainbow blinked, then looked at Ariel. "That probably explains the remnants of manacrystals and torches that we found at the rusted tower."
Ariel nodded back. "Unicorns must have been posted at the towers; their job was to light the path for reinforcements from the Gondola."
"To us—this dimly-lit trrek frrom the edge must feel terrribly daunting, but I do suspect that it was akin to a merre strroll acrross the strreet forr the denizens of Darrkrreach." Kepler looked up at the rest of the Herald. "We can't be farr now, my frriends."
"Sweet." Logan leaned back. "So we keep going forward, right?"
"With slight adjustment," Flynn said. "If the tower the girls discovered is more or less in front of us, and the other lookout post is out of sight..."
Kepler spoke: "We will need to adjust ourr movement by about thirrty degrrees." He adjusted. "Towarrds the south as Flynn so loves to call it."
Flynn pouted. "Because it is the South."
"Bleh!" Logan re-shouldered the straps to his sled. "Why can't we just call it 'Left' from now on?"
"That's the utter definition of stupid."
"Why?"
"Because we gotta keep 'left' and 'right' reserved for more practical purposes!"
"So what? We gotta invent new cardinal directions?"
"If we have to, yes!"
"Ughhhhhh baldy! You are the worst!"
"I'm serious!"
"How about 'Bork' and 'Crouth?' Those aren't easy to say."
"Says you. They sound like your belches."
"Blarrrrrrgh..."
As Logan pulled the sled, Kepler was dragged along with him. Rainbow kept up with the wyvern a brisk trot. "Sooooooooooo... you think you could maybe update the map as we go along?"
"I can do you one betterr, Rrainbow One!" Beaming through his tusks, the Heraldite began rubbing his pen over the parchment with the etched slab directly underneath. "I shall copy what was so unwittingly prrovided by the Emerraldinians and then make adjustments as we go!"
"Hey. Neato."
"Why make a map when you can steal it? Ha-Hah!" His spectacles glinted in the twilight. "I swearr... my laziness has gotten crriminal with each mile placed between me and Wyverrn Point."
"Don't sweat it, Kepler," Rainbow said with a slight smirk. "If it's simple and it works... go for it."
"Indeed." Kepler spoke over his shoulder to Flynn and Logan. "Make surre to adjust ourr heading by about thirrty degrrees, brrotherrs! It would be most forrtuitous if we arrrived prrecisely on Darrkrreach's doorrstep!"
"Sure thing, Daddy Kepler!"
"Chill, Big Show. And begin strafing. We gotta head south a bit."
"Don't you mean 'Crouth?'"
"UGH!"
Rainbow slowed her trot slightly. She watched at a distance as Wildcard hitched himself to his sled and began pulling at a brisk pace to catch up with Logan and Kepler. Flynn trotted between them, and the penumbra of his glowing horn caught the silver glint of Seraphimus' feathers as she rode along, unconscious.
A cold sigh escaped Rainbow's nostrils.
Just then, the pretty face of Ariel blocked her line of view. "Is everything okay, Rainbow?"
"Hmmm? Oh. Sure. Just..." Rainbow waved a hoof from side to side. "...pretty dang convenient that we found that slab where we did." She smiled lightly. "And I'm still jazzed to find out if we can make any use of Axan's dragonstone."
Ariel nodded. "I'm sure something will become obvious to us in time."
"That's the one thing I can never shake about my travels..." Rainbow shuffled ahead at a lazy pace. Her petite hooves splashed in tiny puddles over cold stone. "I've been stalked by dragons... chased by airships... attacked by psychopaths... and yet..." She cracked the joints in her neck and exhaled. "...a lot of really lucky Mad Griffins tend to fall right into my awesome lap when they're most needed." A beat. She rolled her eyes and looked towards the space to her right. "Alright, fine, Twilight. 'Macguffins.' There. I said it. You happy?"
"Is everything okay?" Ariel suddenly asked.
Rainbow did a double-take. She looked at her. "Uhhh... yeah. Sure." She arched an eyebrow. "Why?"
"You seemed a bit distracted earlier when we were out scouting."
Rainbow merely squinted. "I was?"
"I couldn't help but notice." Ariel giggled. "I notice you a lot."
"Yeah. I noticed—dang it!"
"Heeheehee..."
"We've been through a lot, Ariel. And this whole place is friggin' weird and I'm under a lot of pressure to find the colony of Darkreach so we can have some sort of Celestia-forsaken foundation to this entire crazy trek and—"
Ariel raised her hoof. "Say no more. But if it's of any consolation, we're here for you."
"Well, I know you are."
"Serious. I mean it." Ariel's brow furrowed. "You're the single most important thing about this journey, Rainbow. Between you, the powers of Austraeoh, and your old friends..." She smiled. "...you can sense an awful lot. But even still—none of that is a mirror."
"Meaning...?"
"The Herald and I—we can't help but say something when we feel like something is up. I hope you... you understand it when we do so."
"Oh. Totally."
"So..." Ariel took a deep breath. "...you sure you're okay?"
"I'm... tired, I guess."
"You can take Kepler's place on Logan's sled and catch some z's," Ariel said. "I'm sure Logan wouldn't mind. Plus, I really really doubt you way more than our favorite wyvern—"
"Oh come on. Kep's a pipsqueak."
"I still stand by itttttttttttt," Ariel said, sticking her tongue out.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and flapped her wings. She flew after the rest of the Herald. "We gotta make some headway first. So far, this has been nothing but a rambling rip through the dark. I wanna find something before we can make camp."
Ariel nodded and glided gently after her. "Whatever you say, bud."
"Stop being weird."
"No promises."