It was with a puttering shudder that Zetta glided her manacraft to a stop. She pulled back at the controls, hovering the vessel in place as her jaw progressively dropped. Basso trotted to the front of the craft, gawking through the translucent wind guard.
“Spark on a biscuit…”
Other Ledomaritans craned their necks and stammered in mixed horror as they gazed upon the scene just north of the jutting mountain range.
”By Ledo’s mane…”
“Is that Seclorum’s camp?!”
“Is there anything actually left?!”
“It’s like the whole earth is burning!”
“Spark, spare them all…”
Kera glanced up from where she was nestled in the middle of the open vessel right beside Roarke. She stood straight, the Odrsjot ring glimmering around her petite horn. She hopped in place, trying her best to see.
Zaid quietly did her a favor by hoisting the little filly up onto his shoulders. As soon as Kera could see the mess, she immediately wished she hadn’t. She hugged the book of glowing lavender tomes to her tattooed chest, grimacing as she took in all of the grisly details: smoldering columns of black soot, two battered battleships collapsed against a mountainside, a virtual cyclone of serpentine beasts laying siege to a defenseless encampment, and endless bloodshed saturating the trenches to the east.
“So…” Zaid’s eyes twitched. “You think we missed the battle, or…?”
Slowly, Basso’s and Zetta’s skulls swiveled to stare incredulously at him.
Kera sighed, rolled her eyes, and slapped her hooves over the top of Zaid’s head. (”Ow! Sonuva…”) She clenched her teeth and squeaked towards the others. “Rainbow must be out there in all of that mess!”
“You really think she got here before us?” Basso asked.
Zetta grunted at him, “Do you even realize what you’re saying?”
“Uhm… some of the times?”
“Guys!” Kera hopped up and down again, slapping Zaid’s skull once more. “She’s totally out there and we gotta help her!”
“She can help herself,” Nightshade droned from the back of the ship. “What’s most important is getting that book--” she pointed at Kera “--into the machine world!”
Kera turned and frowned at her. “But--”
“We need her help, not the other way around.”
“You don’t know Rainbow Dash…” Roarke wheezed.
“And I suppose you do, Searonese gearhead?”
Roarked leaned up, wincing past her pain to hiss, “She gives and she takes. She’s not like any other pony I’ve ever met.”
“That much is certain,” Nightshade said in a dull tone.
“If she’s nowhere to be seen, it’s because she’s too busy saving those who n-need help the most!” Roarke coughed, wheezed, and growled, “Stop acting as if she’s only a piece of your plan and your plan alone. She’s trying to stop--”
“Stop what?! Utter carnage and chaos?!” Nightshade pointed towards the madness consuming the valley before them. “All of this would have been prevented if she and her companions hadn’t interfered with Nightshade Industries weeks ago!”
“Look, we’re here--and odds are Rainbow Dash is out there as well!” Zetta exclaimed, her voice loud and commanding. “Kera, you’ve got the book. Ms. Roarke, you have the communicator to Rainbow’s friends! Let’s coordinate a way for us all to meet with Rainbow’s allies and try and fix this before it’s too late!”
Zaid was suddenly squinting. “Or maybe we don’t have to move a single inch after all…” A petite set of hooves whalloped him again from above. “Ow! Goddess dammit!” He sneered and gripped Kera in front of him like a small cat. “I mean it! Friggin’ look, will ya?! Two o’clock, down low!”
Kera gasped, her body dangling in the stallion’s grasp. “Rainbow Dash! I… I see her!”
Roarke twitched, her muzzle going limp. “You… see her?”
Zetta and Basso leaned up against the console. “Where?!”
“Straight ahead! Besides a group of bodies!” Kera pointed excitedly as her horn flickered. “And… is that a managlider?” She squinted.
“I… I see her!” Zetta chimed. “But… she’s still so far away!”
“She’s totally expecting us to join the party, right?” Zaid asked.
“Maybe we should send her a signal,” a Ledomaritan soldier remarked.
Roarke droned. “I vote that we set Nightshade’s mane on fire.”
The Madame did a double-take. “I beg your pardon…?!”
Basso kicked a box open, startling Zetta. He reached in, fumbled around, and produced a pair of Xonan-issued flare guns. Popping the safety off with his teeth, he aimed towards the sky and fired a screaming volley of burning projectiles.
“Ooooh…” Zetta cooed. “Nice thinking there, big guy.”
“Lucky is more like it,” Zaid said with a crooked grin. “They’re Xonan tech. Praise the stars that they didn’t--like--shoot out ghostly glowing gila monsters or some crap.”
“Shhhh!” Roarke propped herself into a sitting position, wincing. “Does… does she see us?!”
“I gotta go check it out…” Rainbow Dash said, facing due northwest towards the collapsed airships still smoldering from their epic collision. “Last I heard, Shell had my friend Belle as a prisoner! And if she was still on board the Steel Wing…” A grimace ripped across her face. Her wings flapped harder. “You guys will be okay on your own. I gotta find out if she’s okay!”
“Wait! Wait!” A Ledomaritan nurse hopped in place, stopping her. “What about Josho?! Your stallion friend?!”
“What about him?! Look, he’s been in more wars than a dog has soiled a fire hydrant! Besides, from the sound of it, he’s locked in some sort of super crazy awesome death battle with his arch nemesis. Who am I to steal the guy’s thunder?!” Rainbow frowned. “Belle needs me! I’m gone like acorns in a squirrel stampede!”
“But… but if Seclorum defeats him--”
“Look! I know how dire this all is!” Rainbow growled, waving her forelimbs. “I’m here to save the day! But that doesn’t mean I can save every friggin’ hour!”
Just then, a loud howling noise echoed from the mountains looming above them to the south. Several Ledomaritans and Xonans alike spun to gasp at the noise. Rainbow Dash looked up, squinting.
“The hay was that?! Did a bunch of castrated cats join the battle?”
“No, look!” a soldier shouted. “It’s a signal of some sort!”
“A… flare?”
“Xon…” A warrior stammered. “Jaatso siulen Xon maseen…”
Rainbow glared. “Could you repeat that? I don’t understand tattooese.”
Another stallion spoke up in a thick accent. “It is of the design of Xon! One that belongs to it, as we belong to it!”
“The signal’s Xonan?! What’s a ship doing out of your guys’ formation this far south--?!” She frozed in mid-sentence, her pupils shrinking. Rainbow cracked an ecstatic grin while clopping her skull with a hoof. “Friggin’ duh!” Swoosh! She instantly elevated four dozen feet in the air and waved her forelimbs wildly. “Guys! Hey, guys! Welcome to the party! Boy, I sure hope you brought that smexy glowing book and more of Roarke’s catch phrases!”
“Yes!” Kera’s voice cracked as she hopped up and down in front of Zaid. “You see her?! I think she’s spotted us!”
“What in Ledo’s name is she saying?” Basso stammered.
“Uhm…” Zetta’s ears twitched. “Something about… books and catch phrases?”
Zaid sneered at her. “There is no dayum way you heard that and yet somehow ignored all of my pleas for grilled cheese sandwiches earlier.”
Basso frowned over his shoulder. “Will you let it rest, fella?! For the last time, we didn’t have any sort of provisions--”
“Yeah, well, it was a long-flank trip!”
“Gaaaaaugh!” Zetta doubled over, wailing in pain as she clutched her forehead.
“What?” Zaid shrugged. “Pffft… not like you’ve never complained over being hungry.”
“It’s not that, you stupid horse!” Basso held Zetta close, shaking her shoulders. “Something’s getting to her head!”
“Like what?” Nightshade asked.
“Guhhhh… so loud…” Zetta’s face streamed with tears. “Louder than ever before!” She looked up with a gasp, eyes quivering. “Oh blessed Spark… I knew something was wrong when I didn’t hear her when we first arrived…”
“Who?” Zaid stammered. “Hear who…?” Just then, the entire ship vibrated from the warbling decibels of an incoming roar. He winced viciously. “Ohhhhhh gunk grapes…”
Roarke was already sitting up, breathing steadily, her copper lenses reflecting an aquamarine glow from the south.
Kera’s body lines went pale. The lavender tome flickered brighter in her grasp.
“Everypony!” Nightshade shouted, shoving Kera, Zaid, and a few others to the floor. “Get down--”
Rainbow Dash stopped waving, her body going limp in mid-air. As her jaw dropped, her ruby eyes danced with fires burning brightly over the southern mountains. The ponies beneath her shrieked as--with a burst of molten earth--Nevlamas smashed through the granite peaks and glided her way down the craggy slopes. Her wings were leaking chaotic essence with each flap, and bright blue-and-green flames spilled out of every crack in her snout. She stained the edge of the valley with vile blood, and her putrid dragonflight carried her low over the Xonan hovercraft where several familiar ponies lay nestled and helpless.
”Hraaaaaaaaaauchkkkkt!” The Dark Divine hissed into the air, piercing the thunder of battle with her demon song. ”Raise your voicessss, my children.” Her slitted eyes streamed with lightning and plasma. “Herald the death of harmonyyyy…”
The air filled with a chorus of screams. Nevlamas’ shadow fell over Kera’s party, as did the Divine’s flames.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t hear her own shrieks.