“Ledo’s Pride to Mountain Fall Tower!” a frazzled stallion shouted into a soundstone while the bulkheads of a zeppelin gondola rattled all around him. “Ledo’s Price to Mountain Fall Tower! We’re losing altitude rapidly!”
A console toward the starboard compartment caught flame. Another pony shrieked, flinching away as flames leapt at his coat. A tremor ran through the ship, finally causing the port side windows to buckle. They exploded with a shower of glass, raining shards all across the cockpit and filling the interior with the blistering rush of frigid winds.
“Ledo’s Pride to Mountain Fall Tower! Please, respond! We’re coming in too fast! You need to clear the loading docks right away! Do you copy?!” The soundstone in the stallion’s grip went dim. He grimaced and flung a sweaty look behind his shoulder. “There’s no response!”
A mare coughed from the billowing smoke inside. She leaned against a bulkhead while clutching her bloodied shoulder. “The communications array must be fried! Whatever caused that explosion, it crippled us!”
The stallion with the soundstone gazed down the smoke-filled corridor beyond the cockpit. As the entire gondola leaned more and more precariously towards starboard, entire clusters of equine passengers clambered over a series of sealed doors. Stallions grunted and strained with their hooves against the tight handles while mares watched on, holding their foals while shivering in abject terror.
“Can we get the lateral doors to the manacraft to open?!” he asked.
“Not with the central manacore of the ship offline!” the mare sputtered to respond. “All of the conduits have been dead since that first explosion rocked us!”
“Any idea how to get the doors open?”
“I’m sorry!” The mare grimaced as the ship buckled again. High altitude winds pelted her face as she shouted into the bedlam, “Red Bolt was the engineer, and we lost her in the blast!”
“How many other ponies are dead?!”
“I-I haven’t had a chance to keep count!”
The stallion gritted his teeth and shouted across the compartment. “Does anypony still alive have any engineering skills whatsoever?!”
Several citizens shivered in fright. Two ponies tending to a wounded mare merely glanced up. At last, a zebra galloped into view, panting frantically.
“I know a thing or two!” he shouted, then gulped. “This is my sixth month serving on board Ledo’s Pride!”
“What’s your name?!” the stallion asked.
“Pilate.”
“Aren’t you in charge of Navigations?”
Another window shattered, causing several ponies to flinch and a few more to shriek. Pilate gritted his teeth, leaning against a bulkhead while his blue eyes glared across the compartment. “You couldn’t have picked a less fortuitous time to push the issue! I’ve witnessed many a pony at work in more zeppelins than you can count! So tell me what you need me to do!”
“We’re descending fast!” the stallion exclaimed. Behind him, the windows showed nothing but mountains and forest canopies. “There are entire families on board this ship, and the doors to the escape manacraft are jammed shut! If you can restore energy to the manaconduits, we might be able to get most of the ponies out of here!”
Pilate braced himself as another tremor rattled through the gondola. “If what caused the explosion is what I think it is, then there’ll be barely enough mana left in the core to allow access to one of the ships!”
“Good enough!”
“But I can’t promise there’ll be any energy left to even us out! Even if I recalibrated it from the start!”
“I know,” the stallion said.
Pilate blinked. He clenched his jaw, and after a deep breath uttered, “I’m going to need help!”
“I’m with you!” the stallion said, shoving the sound stone into the mare’s grasp. “Keep trying to contact the Tower at Mountain Fall! If we can get through to them, they might just be able to spare a manaship in time to save us!”
“Right…”
“When those doors open, make sure as many ponies get off this zeppelin as possible!” The stallion followed Pilate as they both rushed towards a series of vertical crawl spaces leading down to the lower decks. “Wait for the doors, not for us, do you hear me?!”
“Loud and clear!”
The panicked voices of the ponies up above dwindled, devoured by the noise of hissing steam and rattling bulkheads as the two stallions rapidly descended into the heart of the ship. Pilate was several ladder rungs below the other equine, moving at a brisk pace. He was a deck away from his destination when the entire ship shook. The ladder bent down its middle, and both ponies felt their bodies swaying as the zeppelin’s center of gravity shifted.
“Nnngh!” The stallion above grimaced, his hooves slipping. “Whoah-Aaaaugh!” He plummeted towards a mesh of metal pipes below.
A strong hoof clasped over his. Pilate dangled from one forelimb as he shot his other out, saving the stallion at the last second. The two swung like pendulums from a single ladder rung. Pilate sweated, glancing out the corner of his eye as sweat ran down his muzzle. Through a tiny porthole, he could see the horizon pivoting about forty-five degrees. The faint blur of buildings and mountains spun in and out of view.
“Just swing me! I can latch on--”
Pilate was way ahead of him. “Hnnnngh!” With tight muscles, the zebra tossed the stallion’s weight towards the lower ladder. The pony caught on, took a deep breath, and shimmied down the last length. “I owe you one!”
“Nopony owes me anything yet…” Pilate hopped down beside him. Steambolts popped loose from a console beside him and the air in the chamber heated up. “Move! Move!”
Both stallions galloped down a crooked passageway while backup steam tanks buckled behind them. Once they made it past a compartment door, they brushed aside the half-burnt corpse of a crew member and both worked together to slam a thick metal door shut. They succeeded in sealing it on their end before the tanks on the other side ruptured, filling the chamber with scalding hot steam.
“We can’t have much time,” the stallion said. “We could be hitting the ground at any moment.”
“Fortunately I know where to go.”
“Good, because I’m lost down here.”
“Follow me.” Pilate galloped down the cramped passageway.
After a few paces, it opened up into a wide chamber lit with hazy blue light. Pilate immediately galloped up to a wall lined with five translucent compartments. He squinted, staring into the multiple furnaces. “This isn’t good.”
“Lay it on me.”
“Only two of the compartments contain manaflame. We’ve loss too much energy. I’m not sure we have enough to reignite the manaconduits to the upper gondola’s doors.”
“Can you think of something?” the stallion stammered. “Anything?!”
Pilate rubbed his chin, his blue eyes darting left and right in thought. He stood calmly while the ship groaned metallically around him. At last, the zebra gritted his teeth and muttered, “It would require opening the lateral vents to the combustible particulates…”
“Come again?”
Pilate pointed to black tanks located on either side of the five furnaces. “Each Class Three Ledomaritan Engine is equipped with pressurized supplies of arcane powder that is used to ignite the core for acceleration. Typically, the material is channeled into the furnace in tiny bursts. But, with the manaflame in such short supply, we could dump all of the particulates into the remaining lit cores and ignite a spark large enough to--”
“You don’t have to go all encyclopedia on me!” the stallion shouted. “Will it work?”
“It will work more than it will not work!” Pilate said, wincing.
“Good enough! Tell me what to do!”
“You see that lever over there? Beneath the black tank?”
“Yes…”
“Go and grab it in both hooves! Don’t pull until I tell you to!”
The stallion odded and ran to his position.
In the meantime, Pilate rushed forward, turned three dials, spun a pair of valves, and then galloped over to a lever at the black tank on the other side. He gripped it and looked to where his colleague was standing. “We pull at the same time. Keep an eye on the furnaces. If this works, the flame in the two chambers will spread to all five. Once they’re uniformly lit up, we have to push the two levers in the middle, and it’ll send a brief but functional mana burst throughout the ship’s manaconduits. You got that?”
“Yeah! Sure thing!”
“Okay!” Pilate nodded. “With me!” He took a deep breath. “Three… two… one… pull!”
Both ponies pulled the levers as one. A low hiss emanated from the engine, and then--no less than twenty seconds later--all five furnaces lit up with bright blue light.
“Whoah!” The stallion jolted, then smirk. “Hey! Just like you said!” He panted and glanced over with a sweaty smile. “Fine work!”
Pilate could barely make out his words from a loud groaning sound filling the room. The zebra’s ears twitched, and he turned left to see a massive dent rupturing across the bulkheads of the room. He shouted, “Grab onto something--”
CRACK! The portside wall tore completely off from the rest of the hull. Bright sunlight flooded the compartment, and a gust of cold wind fountained through the exposed interior. The ship reeled from the decompression, tilting hard to port. Pilate was already grasping a metal bar. The other stallion…
“Nnngh--Guh!” He somersaulted, toppled, and slid across the floor towards the gaping hole. His limbs fumbled vainly for a hoofhold. Only when his body flew backwards did he begin to shriek, but even that was cut savagely short when his skull made contact with a dangling bulkhead. There was a spray of red mist, and then his body darted away, disappearing into the yawning countryside below.
Pilate hissed in strain, clutching desperately to the metal bar. He wrenched his eyes away from the sight of the Ledomaritan landscape below.
All five furnaces were churning brightly with vibrant blue energy.
He felt the ship tearing apart above and around him. As the wind pelted his face and mane, he saw the countryside looming closer and closer beyond the ruptured hull. With a determined breath, he swung his body back, planted his lower legs against the nearest wall, and bucked with all his might.
“Hnnngh!”
Pilate slid across the careening floor. His body shifted towards the gaping hole along the portside, but his forelimbs flew forward just in time to grasp the twin levers beneath the centermost mana furnace. Dangling loosely, he swung his lower body forward, braced himself against the engine wall, and pulled his lower body down.
Both levers swung with him. Not long after, the lights of the damaged engine room flickered briefly to life.
Pilate tilted his head up, mouth agape as he listened to the hum of mana being distributed throughout the whole zeppelin.
Just then, there was another shake. A console somewhere a deck above must have exploded. Flames erupted just outside the hole, and the ship was thrown so that it tilted the opposite way and towards starboard.
“Haaaugh!” Pilate felt himself thrown against a wall of sparking instruments. He winced, sprawling about as he struggled to find balance. Dazedly, he looked up.
Blue sky loomed beyond the gaping hole. After two streams of black smoke wafted by, he saw the glint of light off a manaship’s hull as it unclamped from the zeppelin’s gondola. The escape craft evened out, and Pilate’s quivering eyes could see no less than two dozen pony shapes seated safely on the outer deck.
A breath escaped him, and the zebra smiled. “Blessed Spark,” he murmured with quivering lips.
There was a groaning sound in front of him.
Pilate turned to see.
The five furnaces were burning brighter than the sun. Their glass encasements had begun to fracture.
The zebra’s ears folded atop his head. He flinched--as if to turn away.
Kapow! The centermost furnace exploded, and vaporous streams of manaflame flew across the chamber. All at once, he saw a spectacular flash of blue.
And then he saw nothing.
”Aaaaaugh!” Pilate curled up against wet grass in the drizzle of cold rain. Her clamped a pair of hooves over his eyes as he shivered, hyperventilated. “Nnnngh… mmmm… Bellesmith… beloved…?” He lowered his hooves and peered across the darkness. “Bellesmith… where are you?”
There was a hushed roar in the distance, like thunder. It was rushing towards him quickly.
“Beloved?” He tried standing up, but his legs felt weak… numb. Nervously, he furrowed his metal brow and fired a pulse of mana into O.A.S.I.S. The sphere around his neck did a scan of his immediate area.
Hard vertical lines coalesced, showing waving grass and the streaking facsimile of rain drops. In the center of the ebony void, a soft muzzle formed, along with flowing, velvety soft bangs and a stubby horn.
Pilate gulped. “Belle… what’s going on? Is everything alright?”
Line by line, her face faded into blackness. So, in desperation, Pilate activated O.A.S.I.S. again. Her face drifted back into existence, only it was different now. The lines were jagged, portraying a haggard face, a single surviving eye, and a long horn broken down the middle. The thunder had arrived in all its clarity now, full of screams and the anguished death rattles of ponies. The streaking rain gave way to the monochromatic tongues of flame as a savage hoof reached across the blackness and strangled Pilate’s throat.
“Snkkkkt--Grkkk!”
”You may not be able to see what she does, zebra,” he sneered, smelling of blood and ashes. ”But I’ll make sure you hear the child’s every scream.” There was a metallic scraping sound, punctuated by Kera’s shrill shrieks.
Pilate sat straight up, drenched in cold sweat.
Darkness.
He gritted his teeth and felt all around. The Noble Jury’s infirmary bed was a mess of tangled sheets and loose bandages. A bitter chill hung in the air of the room, and the bulkheads of the place hummed with the grace of puttering engines.
Darkness.
It took a full five minutes for Pilate’s heartbeat to slow to a steady pace. He sat on the edge of his bed, feeling as the blood rushed back to his limbs. Nervously, he twitched his about. The silence was nauseating.
“H-hello…?”
Nothing.
“Hello?!”
No reply.
Taking a deep breath, he reached forward, feeling around with bruised forelimbs. His weight shifted forward, and he landed on the floor. The stallion winced in pain, but he swiftly pushed himself up into a standing position. This was no easy task; he had been bedridden for as long as he could remember. Days… weeks… months--he wasn’t sure any longer. Feeling his way across the miniscule compartment, he reveled in the sensory information: rivets and bolts brushing across his hooves.
He could at least assume he was no longer dreaming. It was at least cold enough to be reality.
“Hello?” This time, his voice echoed, for he had shuffled out into the long slender hallway of the ship’s middle floor. He tilted his head to the left, facing what he knew to be the direction that the mess hall was in. “Ebon?”
Silence.
He gulped and tilted his head to the right, facing down the corridor where the six sleeping quarters lay across from one another. “Eagle Eye? Miss Props?” He hesitated slightly. “Belle?”
More silence. The hum of the ship had a haunting quality to it.
Pilate bit his lip. He stood straight up, wincing from the ache of his stiff muscles. He brought a hoof up to the metal plate along his forehead--now a dull plank of useless runes. Stifling a sigh, he nonetheless trotted forward, towards what he judged to be the bow of the ship. As he shuffled along, his hooves felt the seams in the floor which denoted the three sets of parallel doors lying across from one another. He lingered at the second set of doorframes, tilting his head towards the ship’s port side.
He heard nothing--certainly not the chipper voice of a young filly.
In a melancholic gait, he shuffled along. At last, he came upon the vertical crawlspace located towards the front of the ship. He was instantly pelted with a rush of cold air. Tilting his head up, he winced against the bitter chill and murmured, “Mr. Floydien? Rainbow Dash? Is… is anypony there?”
Silence.
With a daunting breath, he stretched his hooves out, feeling around the portside. He finally made contact with the rung of a metal ladder. With relief, he slumped towards it… and his lower body gave way.
“Gaah!” Pilate clung to the ladder, dangling suddenly. He had misjudged how close the gap in the floor was. Now, an entire lower deck loomed below him. Regaining his balance, he gripped the ladder rungs with all four limbs and began a slow climb. His body shivered the more he ascended. Once he reached the cockpit at the very top, he understood why.
It was cold. It was beyond cold. The air hissed with a bone-chilling wind, as if it was flurrying in from all directions. With chattering teeth, Pilate pulled himself onto the floor and rolled aside. Once his flank bumped into an instrument panel, he realized that the cockpit was empty.
“Mr. Floydien…?” He gasped. “But… where… where could…?”
At last, he heard something--voices from the top deck. He turned towards them with twitching ears.
“...been out for too long. We should go search for her.”
“How? None of us have wings. Maybe Roarke could have cooked up something with jet fuel but… well… we all know how that ended up.”
“Uhhh… actually, no we don’t.”
“Well, most of us, Ebon.”
“You and Floydien saw what went down, EE. Didn’t you?”
“All I know is what Rainbow Dash told us.”
“Heh… like that’s really been much to stand by lately.”
“Ebon…”
“I mean it! Ever since we crossed the frozen waters, she’s been a regular Rainbow Dull!”
“Does the sailboat boomer ever known when to shut his teeth sheathe? Floydien’s trying to keep an eye out!”
“And I’m telling you, she’s been gone for too long! Something’s not right!”
“Just let her do her thing. You heard what Props said the other day. This is the only way we can restore the ship’s dormant heating system without sacrificing a chunk of skystone!”
“Well, I’d be down for that. Wouldn’t mind cooking you guys up something warm for a change. It’ll keep Josho off my flank, that’s for sure.”
“Fat boomer was never on board the sailboat to begin with.”
“Oh, go ride a bike, you oversized space elk. It was just a figure of speech. Shouldn’t be an alien concept to the likes of you.”
“Can we all just hush up and keep scanning the horizon, please?”
“What’s going on?” Pilate asked, shivering against the wind. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
Hooves shuffled against the top deck.
“Whoah! Look at those stripes! They’re practically blue!”
“Pilate! For Spark’s sake, pal…” A soft set of hooves scampered over. Eagle Eye rubbed the zebra’s shoulders. Pilate could feel long, woolie sleeves dangling around the ends of the young stallion’s fetlocks. “You totally shouldn’t be up here! Not until I’ve stitched you something too!”
“But… but…”
“I’m getting to you, I promise! It’s just that… well… Rainbow’s took a heck of a lot longer. After all, she’s flying right into the elements for what Props asked for and--”
“EE! For the love of apricots! He’s in no condition to be up here!”
“Sailboater is right. Lavender, make with the whisk-whisk. Striped boomer has no business being blue boomer, yes yes?”
“But…” Pilate stammered, “Is everything alright? At least tell me why we’re stalled like this.”
Eagle Eye was already ushering Pilate back into the cockpit. “You can tell that we’re stalled?”
Pilate sighed. “There’s nopony piloting the ship, Eagle Eye. And unless Mr. Floydien’s Nancy Jane has acquired sentience--” He suddenly gasped, levitating.
Eagle Eye grunted a bit with the effort of floating the zebra down the crawlspace as he climbed the ladder after him. “It’s… nngh… simple. Rainbow Dash is trying to get something for Props to use in heating the ship back up. After all, it’s been super cold, and it’s only going to get colder as we cross the Frozen Sea!”
“Eagle Eye…”
“And Spark knows how far the thermometer is going to drop once we get to that nasty Strip of Flurries place.” Eagle Eye and Pilate touched down upon the middle deck again. “Erm… can you call the ‘Strip of Flurries’ a place, really?”
“Eagle Eye, I’ve been in extreme situations before. I don’t need--where are you taking me?”
“Some of your bandages fell off. But no matter.” Eagle Eye led the weak zebra back to the infirmary. Gently, he pushed the stallion back onto the bed and started reapplying strips of gauze to Pilate’s exposed limbs. “You’ll be better in no time. Well, mostly better.”
“I can’t stay in here forever, Eagle Eye.”
“Pffft. Well of course not, silly zebra. But we want you to get healed, y’know? You’ve still got a lot of nasty bruises and--”
“At least let me go back to the navigation room below. Rainbow Dash shouldn’t feel like she doesn’t have a guide.”
Silence. And then: “Until Belle whips up a second O.A.S.I.S., Pilate, I really don’t th-think you should be straining yourself.”
The zebra bit his lip.
“It’s all gonna be okay. R-really! Rainbow will be back soon and Ebon will make us all a congratulatory meal! Even th-though he’s having to ration things… pr-pretty paper thin.” A gulping sound. “And I’m at least certain Rainbow Dash will make it back… pr-probably…”
Pilate winced. “What… what is it that’s gotten her in so much peril?”
“Hey, your guess is as good as mine.” Shuffling hooves. Eagle’s voice drew away. “With half the stuff Props has been cracking up lately, I’m scared to ask. But… hey! She’s Rainbow! And… we c-can totally count on her, right?”
Silence.
“Right. Uhm… I gotta go. They need my eyes. Erm… not that… my eyes are all that spectacular. I mean… they’re just eyes... and… uhmm… ennnnghhh… yeah. See ya later… or hear ya later…”
“Eagle Eye, it’s not that I’m worried, it’s just…” Pilate stopped in mid speech.
The silence in the room was permeating. He was alone.
He bit his lip. With a sigh, he deflated like a flower and curled up into the bedsheets. “I j-just want to be useful…” He took a deep breath. In the deep vestiges of darkness, he thought he could make out waving lines… like dancing flames. There was nothing to close his eyes to, so he instead concentrated on steady breaths, stroking the mattress beneath him with a hoof, imagining it was a warm cheek instead.
A bright white sun glistened off wave after bitter cold wave. The Frozen Sea stretched towards every horizon without blemish, save for one spot. A large chunk of ice floated by its lonesome in the middle of the bobbing waters. The miniature iceberg was a long, slender thing, about seven feet across and over ninety feet in length. It resembled a great frozen coffin, in a way, and the falling flakes of snow had formed a thin carpet of powdery frost across its otherwise translucent surfaces.
There was a brief flurry of wind, and some of the downy snow blew away, revealing a dull form lying darkly beneath the surface of the frozen slab. The shard rocked a bit, its sides bobbing in the water. Not long after, a forelimb reached down across the powdery snow. A blue hoof slid free from a length sleeve of dark brown leather, then proceeded to brush the snow off the ice in sweeping motions. The exposed surface of the shard reflected a hooded figure with twitching ears.
With a deep breath, Rainbow Dash narrowed her goggled eyes, then swept more of the powder loose with her hoof. The dark form exposed beneath the slab's exterior spread out underneath her, occupying the bulk of the floating block of ice. Rainbow Dash backtrotted, clad in a tanned leather coat that fitted her form tightly, with a pair of holes allowing her blue wings to stick through.
Shuffling and shuffling, Rainbow Dash brushed more of the snow off the slab's surface, utilizing her spectral tail hairs. At last, she stumbled upon something of interest. A few feet within the slab, she saw a gigantic row of teeth, frozen in an immortal snarl. Not that far from this was a slender snout, at the end of which was attached a slender probiscus, coiled in a tight spiral from years of freezing temperatures and rigor mortis. At the end of this fleshy attachment was a dark, bulbous structure... and it was glowing red, albeit dimly.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. At last, she lowered her hood, exposing her ears and billowing prismatic mane to the Frozen Sea's bitter winds. Adjusting the lenses of her goggles, she reached back to a pair of tan leather saddlebags built into the material of her coat. Opening one flap, she pulled out a metal tool of Props' design. There was a hoof-shaped knob at one end, a glowing crystal in the center, and a sharp golden needle at the opposite point.
Rainbow stood squarely over the dark figure beneath the ice. With careful hooves, she tweaked and turned the knob of the instrument before flipping a tiny switch on its side. The crystal started flickering as a high pitched whine filled the air. Rainbow next unbuttoned a leather flap just beneath the collar of her coat. Her ruby pendant was exposed from around her neck. This, she rubbed with gentle motions of her hoof, summoning a ruby glow from within. The unworldly light of her element illuminated the depths of the translucent ice block beneath her. She zeroed her sights in on the spot where the frozen, fleshy probiscus attached to the dimly glowing gland beneath her, and she aimed her instrument's golden needle point at the stretch of ice directly above it.
Bracing herself with her lower legs, Rainbow squatted low and turned the knob of her instrument, activating it.
Vhrrrrrr! The golden tip sparkled brightly, rivaling the sun's glow. Tinting her goggles, Rainbow Dash leaned down and sliced deep into the ice. Steam rose up around her in rapid grand columns, turning to frost downwind behind her. Scrkkkk! With practiced precision, Rainbow Dash cut a deep square in the ice, large enough to frame the target that awaited her underneath.
She was two-thirds of the way through her task when she heard a sudden splash of water.
Instantly, Rainbow Dash cut the instrument off and looked up. With a blurred hoof, she reached up and untinted her goggles.
Waves and waves surrounded her in the Frozen Sea. There wasn't a single object to be found—not a solitary darting shape. She did sense the slab weaving slightly, but even that came to a standstill—just like everything.
Squinting, Rainbow Dash retinted her goggles and resumed her task. It wasn't long before she had cut an entire square with the heated tool. Once that was complete, she pulled the item back, reached into her opposite saddlebag, and produced what looked like a hollow cylinder lined with metal rods. This she stood up in the center of the cut block and hammered it with a metal mallet until it was embedded deep into the slab. A hole resided at the exposed end of the cylinder, and she stuck the golden tip of her heat tool into it. Flipping another tiny switch, she spun the knob all the way. The device hummed, its crystal core flashing brightly.
Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash galloped away—careful not to slip on the aged ice. Once she was at a twenty foot distance, she shielded her face with her wingfeathers and looked towards the far horizon.
Wriiiiiiiii—Pow! The instrument sent a single pullse into the cylinder. There was a pulse of golden light, and less than two seconds later the sliced block had melted entirely. A gust of hot steam flew skyward while the instrument and its glowing hot cylinder rattled to a stop in a sudden niche within the surface of the ice.
Rainbow Dash trotted back over. She slid on her knees and adjusted her goggles to examine the exposed chunk of ice. Slimy scales with netrotic veins glistened in the sunlight, exposed for the first time in an unknowable amount of decades. A fleshy snout coiled tightly, connecting to a bulbous gland of red flesh—like a giant cherry—that glowed with natural luminescence. One or two jagged teeth from a monster's petrified jaws loomed below, with two-foot-long teeth glistening with slick condensation.
The pegasus spent no time sight-seeing. She slid the instrument and pocket away into separate saddlebags and reached into another pocket for her hatchet. Just as she slid it out with a metallic chiiing, she heard another splash of water echoing her movements. She froze, gazing up with inquisitive goggles.
This time, she definitely caught sight of a stream of water rippling past the floating ice slab. It sped up, slowed down, and then vanished completely. Five seconds later, a deep pulse of red light rippled out from the depths just beneath the ice slab.
Rainbow Dash hissed into gritting teeth. Clutching the hatchet in the crook of her hoof, she stuck her upper body down into the evaporated gap and began slicing and chiseling away at the fleshy probiscus attached to the glowing gland.
This went on for an agonizing two minutes, during which the waves picked up, forcing the slab to sway left and right dramatically. The red glow around the ice chunk itensified, strobing in alternate pulses than the dimness emanating from the gland tjat Rainbow was attempting to retrieve.
Frustrated, Rainbow Dash resorted to biting her teeth onto the hatchet's handle and throwing her head down in jerky motions. Grunting, she slashed and chopped away at the fleshy material attached to the petrified gland. The scales split apart. Ice water mixed with a pool of black blood and jaundice. At last, she caused the large red thing to snap loose. Immediately pocketing the hatchet, she reached two hooves down into the gross excavation and yanked loose the fleshy crimson sphere. It was the size of four watermelons clumped together, and it was a tricky feat for the pegasus to even hold it. Nevertheless, she gripped it in a pair of strong forelimbs.
A victorious smile crossed her lips...
Hressssshaaaa! A mammoth pair of jaws burst up out of the Frozen Sea, smashing loose a chunk of the frozen slab to Rainbow's left.
"Gaaaugh!" She fell back, slamming onto her spine with a flap of her coat's leathery hood.
The red pulsing gland slipped out of her grasp, careening towards the far end of the slab.
Panting, Rainbow Dash rolled onto her chest, gripping onto the violently bobbing ice platform for dear life. Her goggles glinted with red light, and she tilted her head up to see the elongated snout of an Ice Wyrm looming directly above, its nose fitted with a long cartiligenous cord, at the end of which dangled a naturally glowing lantern. Fluids inside the bulbous sphere rotated until it faced Rainbow's sprawled figure. Otherwise blind, the sea monster let loose a hideous roar and plunged its neck and jaws towards her.
Squeaking, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and slid forward on her chest like a penguin. The monster's jaws came down behind her, forcibly smashing the slab in half and tilting her end of it down. She grabbed her hatchet and slammed it into the ice, anchoring herself in place as her body suddenly dangled over the lurching jaws of the beast beneath her.
Something with a dull glow was sliding towards her face. Breathless, she looked up, and her goggles' lenses reflected the gland rushing back towards her across the snowy, upended surface of the slab. In a single grunt, she bit her teeth over the hatchet's handle, bucked off the slab with her lower legs, backflipped, and flapped her wings. She flew tup owards the gland, grabbed it in two forelimbs, and flapped her wings again—faster this time.
Hresssssh! The monster lunged again, its teeth undulating outward in three rows surrounding a gummy maw.
"Nnngh!" Rainbow Dash spun around with the fleshy sphere in her grasp. As the dead monster's twin lunged at her, she hovered in place, waited, and spun around with the hatchet gripped in her teeth. With daredevilish timing, she was able to lacerate the monster's glowing lantern just as it swung at her.
Black blood spilled through the snowy air. The monster let loose a shriek, reared back, and cannonballed back into the icy currents. It thrashed painfully about in the depths, its two-pronged tail sending sprays of ice water flying hundreds of feet into the air.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash flew safely away. Adjusting her grip of the gland, she spat the hatchet out and spun so that it landed safely in one of her coat's pockets.
"Sorry, sister," she muttered over her shoulder as her fuzzy ears twitched from the wyrm's painful shrieks. "This early bird's not interested in you." Blue feathers spread, she climbed altitude and soared towards a gray speck along the southwest horizon, hovering alone above the endless cold waves.
"Hey, grease monkette," Josho grumbled from where he sat on the corner of the Noble Jury's top deck, polishing a mana rifle. "I've got news for you. It's warmer outside than it is inside."
"Like I told everypony two days ago—I'm working on it, Fatty Cathy!" Props stuck her tongue out as she trudged from the stern's stairwell towards the cockpit on the other side. "Besides, we all know we're waiting for Rainbow Dash to deliver the—whoahwhoahwhoah!" She slid across the deck, only to be caught in Zaid's warm embrace. She looked up, tilted her lopsided goggles out from across her eyes, and murmured, "Hiya, cheese grater."
"Hi yourself, blondie," Zaid returned with a smirk. He was clad in a woolie cloat and an even woolier hood. "Is Mount Rushmoron here giving you a hard time?" he asked, nodding his head in Josho's direction.
"We were supposed to have the heat back on by now," Josho droned, his lips curling as he pretended to be concentrated on the rifle in his grasp. "As much as I've gotten used to our burgundy chef's soggy noddle hay soup, I'd rather heat myself up with something that doesn't give me the runs."
"Ever thought of sitting on a rod of hot coals and melting all that greased fat out your ears?" Zaid smirked. "Now there's a way to keep warm."
"Hardy har har. You know, for a cultist, your humor ain't that heavenly."
"The only paradise around here is standing upwind around you." Zaid winked. "How about giving blondie some slack? She's only doing everything but walking outside the ship and pushing."
"I swear..." Josho grumbled as he trotted off with his gun. "If I have to light a bonfire just to take a piss..."
"Grrrr..." Props pouted with red cheeks as she brushed past Zaid and approached the cockpit. "You stallions are all alike—all bragging and yellow snow. Hey handsome!"
"Make it quick before boomer's spit freezes!" Floydien snarled, fumbling with the loose wires of a partially dismantled intercom console inside the ship's cockpit. "Did blonde boomer find the overloaded manaconduit?"
"It wasn't on my end!" Props exclaimed, then waved a charred black needle. "Though I did find this outdated arcano-copper leyline expander!" She squinted at the elk. "What was it doing in the aft engine compartment?"
"Balls if Floydien knows." The elk's cloven hooves dug deeper and deeper into the technical intestines. "Everything's been inside out before Floydien allowed boomers to co-boom Nancy Jane!"
"But it wasn't supposed to be in that compartment to begin with, you silly robot goose!" Props stamped her hoof. "If this is how you dress up your beloved's womb, then maybe it explains why the intercom system and the air conditioning went down!"
"Nonsense! It's the weather, Floydien tells boomer!" His red eyes narrowed between sparkling antlers. "Nancy Jane's a summer creature. She was born to be wet with glory sparkles."
"How did you build her so flank-backwards anyways?!"
"It was simple! With lots of spit, affection, and anti stabby-stab!" Floydien fidgeted. "Also glimmer squirrel..."
"Dag to the nabbit!" Props shook in place. "I should be testing out our newly refined skystone array now! Not dealing with all of this... nnngh... icky doo doo mush! Why, I feel so angry I could say... I could just say..."
"S'all good, Propsy." Zaid waved from afar, smirking. "Let it out, girlllllllll."
"Nnnnnnnnnnnnnngh!" Props raised her hoof, raised it higher, then lightly kicked a lonely spot along the ship's railing. "...peaches!" She blinked, then gasped, falling down on her knees and nuzzling the part of the ship she had just kicked. "I'm so sorry! Oh, Nancy! I am soooooo... sooooooo sorry..." She bit her lip, sniffled, and glanced Floydien's way with sparkly blue eyes. "I'll polish her up! I'll make it better! I'm so sorry for getting mean and nasty!"
At that moment, Eagle Eye climbed up from the vertical crawlspace below, levitating his sword and shield behind him. "Okay, that does it." He pulled a leather hood over his lavender face and muttered firmly, "It's been over eight hours. I'm going after her."
"After who?" Props squeaked, blinking her eyes wide. "Rainbow Dash?"
"Well, if I wanted to go after Crimson at this point, I'd have a heck of a swim ahead of me." Eagle Eye approached the edge of the ship.
"Forgive me for being the proverbial idiot on the floating crystal ship here..." Zaid raised his hoof. "But are you trying to put me out of a job?"
"Huh?"
"How do you plan to go after Rainbow Dash, dude-gal-bro?" Zaid's eyebrow lifted. "You know how she goes on these trips as of late. She's likely miles away... in the air. How do you plan to go after her? Did Franzington teach Propulsive Flatulence 101?"
"After sailboat boomer's bean soup, what boomer can say?"
"Hey, knock it off!" Eagle frowned aside. "I happen to like Ebon's beans... soup. Bean soup." His violet eyes crossed, and he shook his snout. "Anyways, I was going to use this..." He raised his shield.
"Isn't it the wrong kind of weather for boogey boarding? Besides, there isn't much of a surf."
"It's simple!" Eagle Eye said. "I'll use my telekinesis to push myself along. With a good coat of frost against the shield's surface, I can cover a lot of ground!"
"You're really funny when you're serious."
"For real! I did this sort of stuff back in my training days! Me and Phoenix and Zenith would race each other across the crystal lake by the barracks!"
"Yeah? And how much distance did you cover?"
Eagle Eye fidgeted. "A hundred meters."
"You know what? I stand corrected." Zaid stepped aside and gestured towards the wide, glittering ocean. "Take a dip, gurl."
"Well, I don't see any of you ponies coming up with bright ideas!"
"I take offense to that, sir," Zaid frowned. "My village was raided by a marauding gang of bright ideas when I was just a colt!"
"All of this floating around isn't doing any good! If Roarke was here, we'd have figured out a way to send another flier out there along with Rainbow Dash!"
"Yes, well, since she spontaneously decided to leave us, we've had to make do with a lot less sexiness!" Zaid turned and waved at Props. "No offense."
"It's okay. Besides, that's Floydien's job."
A loud electrical buzz sparked from the cockpit, and the elk grunted, "Deep puss! Grnngh! Biscuit eating estrus fridge!"
Props sighed dreamily, fanning herself. "Nothing short of poetry..."
"Well, we've gotta do something!" Eagle Eye cackled. "Turn the ship about! Follow her last known coordinates!"
"Staying here is the smartest thing," Props said, blinking at both stallions. "And we all know it."
"I dunno about you, but I'm running out of patience." Eagle Eye folded his forelimbs. "Rainbow had better have a sweet excuse for why she's been gone for so long!"
"I dunno about sweet—but how's 'juicy' for a twist?"
Phwomp! A large, wet sack of flesh landed on the deck in front of Eagle Eye. He and Props jumped back, gasping. The large gland bled into a shallow pool, its organic core pulsating with dull crimson light.
"Play ball!" Zaid quipped.
Rainbow landed a few feet away, shaking like a feline as she tossed all the loose flecks of snow from her leather coat. "Nnnngh... Can't believe I carried that thing for over an hour. Ever wondered what it's like to share a stagecoach with a skunk that's eaten twenty whole onions?" She shivered. "Luna poop, I don't even wanna finish that analogy..."
"I can't believe you found another one!" Props squealed, practically hugging the large fleshy sack. "And it's so well-preserved, too!" She glanced over, blinking. "Did you chop it off a live one, this time?"
"Heck, no. You think I wanna become dinner before my time?" Rainbow Dash lowered her hood and shook her mane loose. "If I die that way, then I want ogres sipping my blood for an energy drink. Trust me, I've brushed paths with way too many subterannean worms, eels, and tentacled... tentacles to ever wanna end up the lunch of one."
"I do believe there is enough flame mucus inside this to make a new core for the Jury's mana-powered heat synthesizer!"
"You sure there's enough?" Rainbow Dash made a face. "The thing's pretty darn dim."
"To steal something that Ebony's been saying lately..." Props gripped the slimy gland in one hoof and strained as she dragged it towards the rear stairwell. "Nnnngh... 'I'll take what I can get.'"
"Propsy, you can have it." With a shiver, Eagle turned, faced Rainbow, and smiled. "I knew you'd come back in one piece!"
"Anypony ever tell you that your horn grows when you lie?"
"Huh?" The stallion blinked, then felt his forehead.
"Nnnngh... Celestia, that's creepy." Rainbow Dash turned towards the cockpit. "It used to work on the bookworm too."
"Hey, Rainbow, now that you're here, think you might pay a visit to the infirmary?" Zaid remarked, waving.
"What for?" Rainbow asked without looking. "Is Pilate sick?"
"Well, no..." Zaid's eyes narrowed. "But he could certainly use some company that isn't me and... well... me. I hear too much of me can lead to gallstones."
Rainbow Dash lingered above the crawlspace besides where Floydien was angrily fiddling with the intercom console. At last, she took a deep breath and said, "Pilate needs his rest. He doesn't need me disturbing him—or any other pony for that matter."
"For real?" Zaid blinked. "We've been hovering over this ocean of lameness for nearly a week. It's breaking our brain balls hard enough as it is—I fear for the zebra's pair."
"Cute. But he's been through crud and back. Just let him and Belle be at peace while nothing's trying to kill us. Same goes for Kera."
"Yeah, but Rainbow—"
"Zaid, they're my friends," Rainbow said with a glare as she started to climb down. "I think I know a bit more about them than you do."
"Uhm..." Eagle Eye darted forward. "H-how about I clean that coat for you?"
"No thanks..."
"Or at least hang it up! I... er... I-I know how much you hate the sight of leather, Rainbow. While you're back on board, might as well get comfortable—"
"I'm fine, EE." Rainbow disappeared beyond view. "Besides, I doubt Props has all she needs to warm us up with. I'll likely be going back out within an hour."
"Yeah, okay. Just don't..." Eagle tried to wave, but she was gone. "Overdo it..."
Silence.
Zaid leaned in. "You know, for being named after a rainbow, she's been a bit dull lately."
"Hrmmph..." Eagle Eye briefly frowned. With a sigh, he ultimately spun around and trotted towards the distant stairwell. "I'm starting to think that if she just put some copper lenses over her eyes, she'd be right at home where she's at lately."
Like a bronze and red cloud, the Noble Jury coasted over the glittery waves of the Frozen Sea. Its reflection danced like a waving flag across the waters below. Dull gray clouds hung over the east, shadowing the skystone vessel as it proceeded through the drifting curtains of frost.
Far ahead, Rainbow Dash flew point, her leather coat hugging her body warmly. Her goggled eyes scanned the east horizon as midday approached.
There were no birds, no errant shapes along the horizon. It had been several days since any member of the crew had seen another zeppelin. The air of this place felt stagnant, thin, untouched. It was a sensation Rainbow Dash hadn't felt in a long time. She had to glance over her shoulder every now and then to remind herself she wasn't alone. The mare sighed often.
At some point, something caught Rainbow Dash's peripheral vision. She glanced down, and she could have sworn she saw a dark mass swimming eastward beneath the currents, situated somewhere between herself and the Noble Jury. Squinting, Rainbow Dash adjusted her goggles lenses. She thought for a moment that she spotted a flicker of red light.
She exhaled, and for the millionth time cold vapors emanated from her muzzle. Glancing towards her left, she took a few minutes to squint at the northern horizon. A thin dark layer of clouds constantly hovered just beyond the vanishing point of her vision. She saw tiny flashes of light—even in the daytime. There was no doubt that they were within screaming distance of vast skystone deposits. And beyond that... an unapproachable convergence of atmosphere, energy, and firmaments.
Rainbow's lungs quivered. She looked straight ahead, clenching the jaws of her muzzle beneath her hood.
There were times when she wished that some edges of the world were just as easy to scale as others.
She flew ahead with a strong tail-wind, leading the Jury across the shifting, frozen wastes.
Hours later, the group skirted what appeared to be a breakaway chunk of an ice cap. A sudden armada of icebergs surged suddenly beneath the Jury. Rainbow Dash ascended towards the clouds, and Floydien's ship slowly followed suit. Rainbow was careful not to lead the ship to too high of an altitude; it was freezing enough as it was at this spot along the plane.
After about two hours of passing over the shattered arctic shelf, Rainbow Dash signaled to the Jury and dipped down to inspect the icebergs closer. The ship maintained its altitude while she descended, flying adjacent now to the sharp peaks of the bobbing islands.
Her goggled eyes examined each chunk of petrified ice as she passed by. Their surfaces looked like polished sapphires, with thin bridges that the orange glow of the setting sun could pierce through. Occasionally, she would dip beneath a promontory or two, even going so far as to thread her way through a hole in one massive iceberg.
At one point, she passed over a significantly large platform. She couldn't help but slow her eastward movement a bit, admiring the hundreds of feet of rock-hard ice that had been floating in the same current for centuries. If she squinted hard enough, she could make out pockets of translucent blue residing deep within the heart of the shelf. A part of her wondered if she would able to bore her way into the iceberg and breathe the same air that the alicorns did.
The ice bergs thinned a bit, denoting a current of warmer water drifting up from the south. The air grew windier, and the snow was starting to pelt Rainbow's wing feathers. Undaunted, she pulled her jacket's hood tighter and ascended, putting her tail once again to the setting sun.
Night fell, though it was hard to tell. For the second evening in a row, a neon green lightshow played overhead, cascading north where it melted into chaotic red streamers against the converging firmaments. It felt like a Hearth's Warming pageant against the cosmos, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but breathe warmer for a space in time.
It didn't last long.
Her wings were starting to grow stiff. Rainbow wasn't certain if she could blame the cold or her reliance on the Noble Jury as of late. Regardless, the mare kenw better than to push herself beyond her limits. She flew back, gave Floydien a nod through the cockpit's dashboard, and touched down on the top deck.
Standing there, she lowered her hood and tossed her mane loose. Breathing evenly, she coiled her wings by her side and stood there for a while. Her gaze tilted north, once again watching in mute wonder as the aurora of green bands ribboned out into red geysers, then disappeared into a pinpoint black void.
For a moment there, it looked as if her lips were going to curve upwards.
Suddenly, a pale glow overcame her. She actually gasped, flinching slightly. She glanced down at her pendant. The Element of Loyalty was resonating with sparkling energy. The pegasus was confused at first, until she glanced up to see a full moon piercing the emerald light show.
The pegasus' ears twitched... twitched again... then gradually folded over her heads. Her lips quivered, and she clenched her eyes shut, taking a long and labored breath. She trembled a bit; she only wished it was because of the snow.
Eagle Eye yawned. With softly padding steps, he scaled the Noble Jury's stern stairwell, tightening the bands of his felt hoodie. Coming out onto the top deck for a breather, he caught sight of Rainbow Dash—what's more, he caught sight of her in the spotlight of the lunar glow.
Blinking, he tilted his violet eyes up. As soon as he saw full moon, he gasped for joy. Beaming, he galloped out onto the middle of the deck and froze in place, grinning at the pale glow illuminating Rainbow Dash. Fidgeting, he swallowed hard and inhaled deeply to pronounce her name...
But instead he lingered, blinking awkwardly.
Rainbow Dash had just thrown her coat's hood back over her head. As soon as the moon's glow was cut off from her pendant, the pale aura faded away, along with all the twinkling traces of enchanted light. With sagging shoulders, Rainbow Dash marched coldly—limply—into the cockpit, where she slinked her quiet way down the passageway and into the dull heart of the airship.
Eagle Eye's mouth hung open. With sad, drooping ears, he glanced back up at the full moon, then at the space of the deck where Rainbow's body had previously occupied. In a cold shudder, he plopped back on his haunches, numb to the core.
"And all I'm saying is would it kill you to try seasoning something for once?" Josho asked.
"Seasoning isn't the issue!" Ebon Mane grumbled from where he stirred a pot on the far side of the kitchen. "I'm trying to ration all of our solid foods! That's why I've cooked so much soup over the past few days! We've got plenty of that to go around!"
"Right. And sprinkling a little bit of hay garlic over it would kill... who, exactly?"
"You're not going to want seasoning unless you're able to eat a full plate of pasta or oats again, trust me!" Ebon grumbled. "You know, at least the other members of the crew understand the situation we're in, but you're the one who keeps going at my jugular."
"But seriously, do you ever taste your own stuff, buddy?"
"Yes! As a matter of fact, all I do is taste!" Ebon rattled a ladle against the edge of the soup pot he was stirring in. "I don't even get to nibble much these days! I dunno—maybe it's a little thing called 'selflessness!' I'd much rather you guys eat since I'm so darn worried about everypony starving!"
"Easy for you to say. I don't think I've ever seen you have a bite of your own stuff—like—ever."
"Grrrghhh... You know what? Since you're such an expert on the whole matter..." Ebon turned, frowned, and shoved the ladle into Josho's chest. "You make the soup, ya big talking sofa cushion!"
"Oh come on, don't get all rotten princess on me. That's Eagle's job."
"And you pretend to be the expert on that too! Well I've got news for you!" Ebon stomped his hoof and shouted, "You're not!"
"There isn't exactly a line for job applicants there, pal."
"Nnnngh!" Ebon tossed his hooves and stomped towards the stairwell. "I'm going out!"
"Out where? There isn't much 'out' to be had," Josho said.
"Yeah, cuz you keep filling up the darn airship with your fat!"
"Good one there, slick."
"Oh hush!"
Once Ebon was gone, Josho sighed, rolled his eyes, and hesitantly approached the steaming pot of soup. "Congratulations, old stallion," he muttered aloud. "Tomorrow's breakfast holocaust is in your hooves now..."
Ebon marched up the stairwell. Near the entrance to the cold upper deck, he sat in place, shivering. A burning frown ripped across his face, and with a snarl he bucked the doorframe several times. "Nnngh! Grghhh! Hnnngh!"
Slumping against the frame, he panted and panted, then gripped his skull with quivering hooves.
"Help me, mother. I'm going insane. At this rate, I'm going to... going to..."
"...I stitched her this really snazzy coat, Your Highness. She really likes it. Well... I can only assume she likes it, because she's used it constantly and hardly takes it off..."
Ebon's ears twitched. He turned, gazing down the open deck under moonlight.
Flakes of snow fluttered past Eagle Eye's figure as he stood along the port side railing, staring up at the pale night sky. A calm smile graced his lavender face, and he had his hoodie pulled down around his silken mane.
"It's made out of leather and canvas seams. Don't worry, your highness. The leather didn't come from anything that... uh... speaks." Eagle Eye gulped. "I mean, I've kind of gathered from Rainbow Dash how Equestrians feel about that sort of thing. I really didn't mean any offense, and as a matter of fact I was kind of frightened she wouldn't want the jacket, but it fits her wonderfully and she's used it to warm herself while scouting the Frozen Sea ahead of us. So... seems to be win-win in the end. I'm... kind of proud of the stitching job I did on it too, but I digress."
Eyebrow raised, Ebon slowly trotted out of the stairwell and towards the stallion. He weathered the chill of the high winds, instead focusing on the words coming from Eagle's muzzle as his breath vapors twinkled in the moonlight.
"Rainbow Dash does so much to protect us and to see that we make it over this passage safely. She's selfless that way. But I think she's a little too selfless at times. The poor mare has... so much weighing on her. I mean, sure, she always has. But a lot of really bad stuff has happened lately, and I think she feels super guilty for it. This might be why she's distanced herself from her closest friends, including me... and n-now you. Please, Your Highness, don't take it the wrong way. She still loves you and everypony back in Equestria. I'm certain of it."
"Uhm..." Ebon shuffled to a stop and politely cleared his throat. "I.. I-I apologize for interrupting, but..."
Eagle Eye turned and looked over his shoulder. He smiled gently. "Heya, Ebon. Chilly night, isn't it?"
"Oh, sure. Makes you wonder why a stallion's standing out here on his lonesome... talking to the snow." He squinted. "Just... who are you talking to, anyways?"
"Oh... uhm..." Eagle Eye bit his lip and fidgeted where he stood. "Princess Luna."
"Really?"
"Well... kind of, sort of."
"Cuz I thought... well..." Ebon glanced towards the crawlspace at the open cockpit. "Don't you need the pendant around Rainbow's neck to open communication?"
"I just figured that maybe there's enough enchantment in the moonlight itself for her to hear me, you know?" Eagle Eye smiled softly. "It's the first full moon in a month, after all."
"Rainbow didn't let you get a word in when it was her turn to talk?"
Eagle winced openly.
With a blink, Ebon grimaced. "She... she did talk with Luna, didn't she?"
"I... I don't think so, Ebon."
"But... but th-that's crazy!" Ebon stammered, pretending to glare daggers through the top deck of the Jury. "Doesn't she have tons of ponies waiting at home to hear what happens to her?! They'll think that she's dead or something!"
"Would that be any further from the truth?"
Ebon opened his mouth, lingered, then sighed. "Eagle Eye..."
"I can't undo the decisions that Rainbow Dash makes—even the stupid ones." Eagle Eye gazed back at the lunar glow in the sky. "That's why I'm hoping there's a chance Luna can hear me enough as it is."
Ebon shuffled towards him. "That's... uh... that's kind of a stretch, don't you think?"
"Mmmm... not really." Eagle gazed at Ebon with a warm smile. "Haven't you ever wanted to reach someone you care about so much that you'll say anything to them, even if you know they may never receive your words?"
Ebon instantly paled. His ears folded back as he hung his head.
"Hey..." Eagle placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Don't look sad. We've all been there."
Ebon gulped, murmuring with a wilted voice, "Really...?"
"Sure. I'm willing to bet even Luna's been there too. That's why I'm trying to get my words to her. Who knows—maybe Rainbow's pendant being so close by will let her at least hear us, even if we can't hear her. I'd rest better knowing she wasn't so worried about Rainbow's situation."
"If she found out, wouldn't she have a reason to be?"
"Not everything is horrible, Ebon," Eagle Eye said with a soft smile. "You're here, aren't you?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Princess Luna, I want you to meet Ebon." Eagle pulled Ebon closer with a side hug, smiling up at the moon. "You've met him before, but not like this. Ebon's my bestest best friend on the whole Jury—and in the whole world, for that matter!"
Ebon blinked, his muzzle hanging open. "Best... fr-friend?" His burgundy cheeks reddened slightly. "But I thought Josho—"
"So now I have a stallion who's like a father to me, a mare who's like a mother to me, a mare who's like a sister..." Eagle Eye winked aside. "And a darn good cook who makes me smile and feel full."
"Heh... eheheh..." Ebon Mane nodded with an awkward smile. "Yeah, I guess I do do that, don't I?"
"Pssst..." Eagle leaned in, whispering. "Don't tell me, tell her!"
"Oh? OH! Ahem..." Ebon shivered a bit. Blaming it on the cold, he nevertheless leaned in and tilted his muzzle towards the moon. "Uhhh... hello, Princess Looney."
"Luna."
"Right. Luna. Uhm... it's nice to speak with you again. I dunno if you can really hear us like EE's saying, but the truth is he's totally right about Rainbow. She could use some help. I mean, we're her friends n'all, but I don't think she's going to listen to us much. What she needs to hear from is you. You're a piece of her home, and the thing that gives her the courage to keep flying."
Eagle looked at Ebon.
Ebon was shuddering. He murmured, "We all feel lost from time to time, and it's easy to hide within ourselves. But it's so much better being in the light, so long as we have the ability to seize it. And you seem to harbor so much light, Your Highness. Please... shine on Rainbow Dash. She really needs to believe again. Believe in what? Well, everything, I guess. Goddess knows she's given us so much to believe in. Now it's her turn... you think?"
Eagle Eye smiled and gazed up at the moon. "My friend Ebon likes to write letters a lot, so forgive his wordiness."
Ebon hissed, "Don't tell her that!"
"Why not?" Eagle hissed back. "It's not like letter-writing is illegal in Equestria!"
"Neither of us know that!"
"She's not going to behead you, Ebon. You're safe," Eagle Eye winked, and the next part sort of trickled out. "You're always safe."
Ebon looked his way, or at least his head did. His eyes suddenly had to avoid Eagle's.
The unicorn shrugged it off, tilting his gaze back at the moon.
Silence.
"You gonna tell her anymore?" Ebon asked.
"I dunno..." Eagle Eye shifted on three legs, his left forelimb still resting on Ebon's shoulder. "You can only say so much before talking a princess' head off."
"Are you... an expert on princesses or something?"
"Hardy har. Been talking to Josho?"
"Pfft. Barely."
"I know, right?"
"I wonder what kind of desserts they serve in the palace where Luna lives."
"Or the seamstresses she hires."
"Seems too magical a home for a badflank pegasus like Rainbow."
"I dunno..." Eagle Eye smiled. "I think it just fits."
Frost lingered between them, numbing their skin. This might explain why Eagle didn't notice at first that Ebon was leaning his head against his shoulder.
"Hmmm?" Eagle glanced aside. "You cold?"
Ebon shivered and his teeth were chattering. "No," he muttered. "Not r-really..."
Eagle merely nodded. With a graceful smile, he pulsed a wave of mana into his horn, performing a basic warming spell. A lavender aura bathed the two, and Ebon's shivers settled somewhat. He didn't stop leaning against the stallion, though.
Silence.
"Princess Luna?" Ebon murmured. "You've got a darn pretty moon, girl."
"The important thing right now is that you stay calm. You're going to pull through this—I promise. The best physicians of Mountain Fall are going to take care of you."
"But I-I can't see! I can h-hardly even feel! That... that explosion killed me! Blessed Spark, what have I done?!"
"Shhhh... Easy there. You've saved dozens of ponies—that's what you've done. You're a very brave zebra, Mr..."
"Pilate. My n-name's Pilate. Did... did I really save—?"
"Hmmm... Yes. Ponies on the ground spotted a hovercraft undocking from the main zeppelin just seconds before it crashed. Entire families survived the final impact—and it's all thanks to you."
"I just... I-I was just doing what I knew h-how to do. I couldn't let everypony die. I just c-couldn't..."
"Well, you showed great tenacity and zeal, Mr. Pilate. Stallions like you are rare among Ledo's ranks. Don't give into dismay. You're in one piece, and I'm going to make sure you're rewarded for the selflessness you've shown."
"R-rewarded? How c-can that be? I can't see a single thing. I'm useless..."
"Not if I can help it. Rest easy, and let your troubles slip away. Soon you'll see again... and the first thing you'll notice is that hope is stronger than the darkness. Of this, I assure you."
"You... y-you have a beautiful voice. What's your n-name?"
"...Bellesmith. Doctor Bellesmith, and I am proud to bring you back from the depths, Mr. Pilate."
Pilate's eyes opened, and all he noticed was that the world beyond the shadows was slightly colder. He sighed, sitting up... somewhere. Feeling with his hooves, he realized he was still inside the infirmary. How long had be been lying on that mattress with crumpled bedsheets? Weeks? Months? Years?
A warm voice trailed in his ears, threading apart with the grace of a warm, angelic tone that he had fallen in love with years ago. In its absence, the bulkheads of the Noble Jury rattled with a cold, dull hum.
The zebra hugged himself, rubbing his forelimbs and fetlocks together as a chill brought a chatter to his teeth. With a sigh, he hung his head, ears folded to the sightless ceiling.
Not long after, the entire ship shook. He nearly fell off his bed from the sheer jolt that he was dealt. Gasping slightly, he tilted his head up, blinking blindly to the oblivion.
After a period of silence, the ship shook again. Curious, Pilate slipped out from beneath the bedsheets, held his breath, and slinked like a striped serpent into the hallway directly outside.
"Hey... uhm..." Ebon Mane looked up from where a giant, pulsating red mass was stuffed into a metal basin in the center of the engine room. The Frost Wyrm gland's bloody center had several wires running between it and a series of glowing orange coils situated along the far end of the chamber. "With all this jostling around, do you we'll melt this ugly thing to goo? I mean, not that I'm love with it or anything, but it'd be a shame for us to lose the ship's heat on account of a simple test."
"Nnngh!" Props kicked a console along the wall shut and leaned against an instrument panel, panting. "The icky wicky thing's gonna run out of Frost Wyrm blood juice soon anyway! Until Dashie somehow forages up another one, we're going to have to heat ourselves up with your hay noodle soup!"
"Yeah. About that." Ebon winced. "I can't be cooking that stuff forever. Even without a Josho on board, we'll be running out by week's end."
"Well, here's hoping the skystone will take us someplace quickly enough to compensate for the Joshozoid Mass!" Props side-stepped towards a series of levers and yanked on them. "Okay lemon spraaaaay... That should about do it."
"What are the risks of failure?"
"Uhm... just a little bit less than the risk of blowing up."
"Buh?"
"Time for the signal!" Props motioned towards the stairwell beyond the stern-side door. "Tell Floydien I'm counting down from sixty!"
"Righto..." Ebon galloped to the doorway and leaned his muzzle into the space beyond. "Sixty seconds!"
Halfway up the stairwell, Eagle Eye stood. Upon hearing Ebon's shout, he tilted his head towards the top of the chamber above. "Sixty seconds, guys!"
At the mouth of the stairwell, standing in the bitter chill of the morning, Josho uttered loudly, "There's the signal for one minute countdown!"
Rainbow Dash nodded. Spinning in her coat, she flew towards the cockpit. "Ya hear that? Gotta be fifty seconds at this point."
"Yes yes yes..." Floydien turned several knobs while simultaneously firing energy bolts from his antlers into the cockpit controls. "Floydien hopes Nancy Jane's been exercising secretly or else this is going to be a very short trip."
A series of loud, heavy hoofsteps ended with Josho sliding to a stop inside the cockpit, panting. "Better shut this dayum door, elkazord. I'm waiting for Ebon to switch dinner meals at least once before I toss myself overboard to the Frost Wyrms."
"For spit's sake, Nancy Jane could pay Frost Wyrms with fat boomer for a boost across the Sea."
"Knock it off, guys," Rainbow Dash grunted. On the way out the cockpit, she kicked a lever, causing a metal door to slide shut behind the elk and the obese unicorn. "I'll be right outside to spot ya!" She lowered her muzzle to shout through the remaining space in the shutting door. "Josho, if worse comes to worse, you give the shout through the crawlspace for Props to turn the skystone off!"
Thud!
"She must think I'm denser than frozen cat poop."
"Twenty seconds until glimmer spectacle," Floydien grumbled aloud, his red eyes spotting various dials needling their way to their highest energy readings. "Blonde boomer is a smart boomer, but if she tears Nancy Jane to shreds—Floydien swears to pears..."
"Hey... relax..." Josho smirked with a calm expression. "Of all the morons on board this ship, she's the one with the tightest grasp on what she's doing—"
Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm—POWWWWWW! The engines exploded into full power. The skystone shard above the ship's gondola flashed like a second sun, sending sparkling reflections rivuleting across the Sea towards every horizon. Burning forward in a red streak, the Noble Jury swiftly became a red splotch along the eastern sky, leaving a flabbergasted Rainbow Dash hovering by her lonesome.
"Luna poop!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. Wincing, she flapped her wings and rocketed desperately after the runaway vessel.
The Noble Jury shot ahead like a fiery red cannon. It took every ounce of Rainbow's strength to so much as keep the vessel within her line of sight. She found herself naturally ascending, as if in expectation of the skystone ship somehow burning its way past the natural vanishing point.
A pocket of violently displaced air rippled ahead of her, toying with her feathers and throwing her flight off balance. Nevertheless, she glided east as speedily as her wings could afford her.
The Noble Jury weaved left and right. Rainbow judged that Floydien was attempting to create wind drag and slow the vessel's eastbound approach. Still, it grew more and more distant, and Rainbow as at a loss to catch up.
She was only just starting to panic when something truly drastic set in. Without warning, the world around her spun. Rainbow's startled mind attempted to explain what was going on: a wind gust? A tidal wave? A stray comet hitting the ocean?
Then, by the fourth blink, Rainbow Dash understood completely. Her body jolted in mid-air, quivering uncontrollably. Wave after wave of dizziness rippled through her being, the first time in several days. Wincing, she slowed her flight into a casual drift, flapping her wings for the sole purpose of keeping aloft. She winced, and her tearing eyes flickered yellow on red before flashing back to their normal ruby luster.
"Never good t-timing... never g-good..." She wheezed, voice cracking as she struggled to fly upright. "Come on, keep it together. K-keep it..."
Her eyes rolled back. With a wheezing exhale, her body went numb—as did her wings. She plummeted towards the Frozen Sea below.
"Spit!" Floydien grunted, gripping the ship's controls with a pair of tight, cloven hooves. "Spit spit spit spit spit!"
"Care to put your brain where your muzzle is?!" Josho shouted, leaning against the edge of the cockpit for support. "How do we stop this dayum thing?!"
"Floydien has a good mind to throw fat boomer into the engine and blow a gasket!"
"Cute." Josho threw himself—grunting—against the floor and virtually stuck his head down the crawlspace. "Hey! [h]Heeeey! Shut it off! We're leaving Miss Paint Bucket in the dust!"
Indecipherable shouts dripped down the rattling bulkheads.
"I said!" Josho frowned. "Get that goggled brainazoid to cut the engines! We'll end up in flames if we continue this interstellar loogey impersonation!"
"Gnnngh!" Eagle Eye stumbled into view two decks down. His lavender face looked up. "Old stallion! Tell Rainbow Dash that we need another three minutes of flight before we can recalibrate the engines for the next test!"
"Gonna be a little hard to do that, seeing as she checked out, sugar flanks!" Josho snarled back.
Eagle Eye blinked. His face paled. "Oh cat nuggets!" With a whimpering squeak, he scampered back the way he came, dove through the navigation room, and flung the heavy door back open to the engine compartment. "Cut it off! Cut it off!"
"But... I-I gotta fix this thing!" Props stammered into the lavender pulse of the caged tome.
Eagle Eye shouted, "Rainbow Dash is outside, remember?! She'll be a pinprick on the horizon by now!"
"Whoopsicles!" Props grimaced, turning to face the array of sparkling cables fastened to an instrument panel. "Uhhhhh... uhhhhh..."
Ebon spoke up from the far side of the engine room. "Whatever you do, Props, be delicate!"
"I'll do a tea party later! Dashie needs us!" She pouted. "Ohhhhhhhh—" Lunging forward, the goggled mare bit onto one wire and yanked it loose. There was a flash of mana, and the entire ship surged backwards, decelerating within an instant. Props' body flew hard into Ebon Mane. "Ooof!"
"Daaah!"
A pair of blue eyelids fluttered shut.
A mane of prismatic hair billowed out from a leather coat's hood.
The world toppled and spun while a glittering ocean of ice loomed ever closer.
"Austraeoh..."
"Mmmmmm..." Rainbow's mouth stirred. Her wings twitched, quivered. Water enveloped the toppling world.
"Austraeoh... when did you stop flying east?"
With a gasp, Rainbow's eyes flew open. Red and yellow colors flickered, then reflected frosty waves of water.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow fought against the dizziness, spread her wings wide, and caught air just seconds before she could plow into the currents of the Frozen Sea. Her body pulled itself upright with a jolt, the tips of her hooves skimming the cold, cold waters. She hissed through her teeth from the numbing sensation. As her dizziness dissolved, she swore she saw a dark mass surging underwater along with her. A pulse of light emanated from below, crimson and bright. Before she could make out the texture of scales and massive fins, she had pulled up to a comfortable distance, flapping her wings until she was a stone's toss from the glittering waters.
Panting, she hovered in place, her upper body slick with sweat beneath the tight contours of the leather coat. She gulped and looked all around.
The skies were clear. She was the only winged thing within visual distance.
Rotating about with a perpetual shiver, she finally saw the one speck that she was looking for. The Noble Jury floated in a limp hover along the eastern horizon.
Rainbow's body ached. Nevertheless, with the faint traces of her chaotic illness lingering in her veins, she lurched her way through the arctic breeze and approached the stalled ship.
Ebon, Eagle Eye, and Props galloped out of the stairwell. Breathless, they spun about, scanning every horizon they could. The cockpit door slid open, allowing Josho to stumble out and join them.
"What in the McBuck Burger happened?!" Josho growled.
"The engine worked!" Props gulped. "A little too well."
"Dang it, lady, are you ever going to get that thing working properly?"
"Don't be so hard on her, old stallion," Eagle Eye said, still worriedly squinting across the waves. "She's kept us from plunging into the ocean time and time again."
"I'd gladly take that at this rate—rather than drifting here forever and becoming sea serpent food!"
"Yeah, well, if we need to appease the hungry monsters here, we know who to toss first!" Ebon grunted.
"Ebon," Eagle sighed. "Must you—"
"I'm getting really sick of him spitting out mule muffins everytime he opens his fat muzzle! Is it so easy to forget that we're making a team effort here?!"
"The only reason I'm at the end of my rope is because I'm eating watered down vomit each evening for breakfast with nothing to shoot at!"
"Would it at least kill you to turn your frustrations to something else?!"
"Well, if I tried headbutting you, Sir Soups A Lot, I'd cause us all to starve, cuz you'd be sobbing it off like a pansy for a week!"
"Josho—"
"You really wanna push my buttons, don't you?!"
"How about it, burgundy?! Frying pans at thirty paces!"
"Everypony, cut it out!" Props stood between the stallions. She hoisted her goggles up to her blonde bangs and panted. "Look, I'm super, super sorries about the engine going all kersplodey. Next time we test it, we should just keep everypony on board, that way I can calibrate for the resistance manifold and make sure that we can decelerate in the future because—" She froze in mid-speech, blinking suddenly towards the western horizon. "Oh lookie! Dashie!"
Thud! Rainbow Dash's limp body plowed into Props. Both mares went toppling across the deck.
"Whoah!" Eagle Eye jumped in place. "There she is!"
"Propsy!" Ebon gasped.
"Hold on..." Josho trotted over and disentangled the two ponies with telekinesis. "There. Catch your breaths. Breathe."
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash curled up, coughing and sputtering as her muzzle twisted in dizzied pain.
"Phweeeee..." Props sat up, shaking the cobwebs out of her skull. "Thank goodness I'm so plush or one of us would have broken something!" She leaned over and shook Rainbow's shoulder. "Hey Dash-Dash? You okay? Usually you bounce back up after plowing full force into another pony."
"Guhhh... mmmff... I'm f-fine..." Rainbow stood up on wobbling legs.
"Eagle..." Ebon leaned over, murmuring. "It's acting up again..."
"Yeah, I get it." Eagle nodded, then trotted to Rainbow's side. "Rainbow? How bad is it this time?"
"I said I'm fine," Rainbow grumbled.
"Because there's room in the infirmary for another pony, I'm sure." Eagle smiled and placed a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder. "Lemme just walk you down there and—"
"Don't you guys get a clue?!" Rainbow snapped, batting Eagle's hoof away and frowning. "I said I'm fine so I'm fine!" She hobbled forward. "Besides, the ship's more important than me."
Eagle Eye winced, biting his lip. "Rainbow..."
"Well? How about it?" Rainbow glared at Props as she trotted by. "We learn anything?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Props shifted uncomfortably.
"You know what? Forget it. I'm sure you've got control of it." Rainbow limped on towards the cockpit and shimmied her way down the crawlspace. "I'm gonna go crash for a bit. Knock on the doorframe to the observation room when you all are ready to give it another go."
That said, the ponies were left alone on the top deck, fidgeting in the cold winds.
The dark interior of the Noble Jury shifted with the weight of the vessel's deceleration.
A pair of chestnut brown eyes fluttered open to dim lantern light.
Bellesmith sat up, her face blank. After a few seconds, she blinked. A sigh escaped her lips as she gazed down.
Kera laid on her side amidst the blankets of the small cabin's cot. Her eyelids were shut, just as still as the rest of her. The tattooed filly's lungs rose and fell with tiny breaths.
Belle bit her lip. Leaning down, she nuzzled the child gently, careful not to disturb her slumber. She remained their, her cheek resting against the back of the filly's mane. Just as the mare's eyes began watering, she shuffled off the bed and stood on wobbling legs. Her head turned towards a grimy mirror. In the dim light, a lethargic reflection stared back. A neck-length mane hung in tattered strings. Belle brought her hoof up, running it through the frazzled mess. A brush lay on the end-table, and for a brief moment she reached her forelimb towards it. She froze, however, and stood limply in place.
Seconds later, Belle shuffled towards the door to the cabin. She rotated the valve and pushed the metal thing open. Lingering in the doorframe, she paused, turned around, and gazed at Kera. With a lasting breath, she limped out of the cabin altogether and shut the door just a crack behind her.
With softly clanking hooves, Belle descended the ladder of the forward vertical crawlspace. She came to a stop on the bottom deck, turning towards the bow. She blinked.
A canvas curtain hung across the entrance to the observation room, blotting out all light coming from Rainbow Dash's chosen sleeping quarters.
Belle fidgeted, adjusting her weight from one pair of legs to the other. At last, she reached a hoof up to knock on the doorframe. She froze just inches from making a noise. She hissed through clenched teeth, shuddering from head to tail. With slumped shoulders, she lowered her hoof and backtrotted from the curtain.
Eyes downcast, she turned around, looking at nothing in particular.
That's how the mare discovered the door to the navigation room hanging ajar.
With an eyebrow raised, Belle tilted her head to peer inside. She reached forward, sliding the door open all the way with a slight creak. Stepping inside, she was greeted with a dark, dark room. Without hesitation, she illuminated a lantern to her right.
A moving set of stripes squatted before a bookcase on the far end of the room.
Belle blinked. Her eyes ran down the zebra's figure, fixating on the bandages still clinging to his forelimbs. Not long after, her gaze fell to the floor, and she swiftly made for the door. Inadvertently, her flank brushed against the side of a globe, producing a rattling noise.
Pilate froze. His head tilted up, ears twitching.
Belle clenched her jaw shut.
After several seconds, the stallion quietly said, "You have the quietest breaths of everypony on board, beloved." He gulped. "Especially lately."
Belle said nothing.
Pilate moved again, his hooves placing several books back onto an empty shelf. "There's a tarp... or a blanket of some sort acting as a barrier to the observation room." He took a deep breath. "Any idea why?"
Belle fidgeted. She stared into the shadows next to him as she finally said, "Rainbow put it up. If you want to know a reason why, you should ask her."
"I haven't had a chance to run into her," Pilate said. "I barely hear from anypony. I just figured... uhm... that maybe the two of you—"
"We haven't."
"Ah... okay."
Silence.
Belle's brow furrowed. "What... are you doing?"
Pilate shuffled through more books, feeling across the floor to find ones that had scattered from the rest. "Mr. Floydien didn't make this library ver speed-proof, it woulod seem. Books and folders have been falling all over the place down here for days—what with all of the skystone tests that the crew's evidently been doing."
"There's no telling what order they were in to begin with, Pilate," Belle said. "You don't need to bother yourself with—"
"Yes, well, I'm the only pony on board with nothing to do. I figure everyone will be fine with these books arranged by weight and size."
"Pilate, there's no telling when I'll actually be able to make a new O.A.S.I.S. for you—"
"I didn't ask you for a time frame, now did I?" he grunted.
Belle frowned. Exhaling heavily, she glared into the shadows. The limping seconds pulled the hard lines loose from her brow, and she lost herself in a depressed glare.
At last, Pilate asked with a shuddering tone, "Has she... gotten any better?"
"No. Kera hasn't."
The zebra winced.
"But... she... uhm..." Belle ran a shaking hoof through her tousled mane. "She hasn't exactly gotten any worse either. I mean, it's not as though she refuses to eat or drink. She does basic functions when prompted. She's even... uhm... managed to walk when prompted. But..." Belle grimaced.
Pilate tilted his head towards her from across the dark room.
"She's not talking, Pilate," Belle murmured. "I don't know if... if it's something that can be nurtured... or if she's going to be this way for the rest of her life, or if she has to be re-taught..." The mare gulped. "But the Kera we both knew is gone. The things she was forced to see... and hear and t-taste..." Her voice trailed off.
Pilate spoke up. "Maybe if I had a chance to speak with her?"
Belle shivered. "I don't know..."
"I mean, if the two of us brought her topside, showed her some sunlight..."
"Pilate..."
"It might bring something back, you know? Instead of day in and day out of... of d-darkness..."
"She's fine, Pilate."
"Fine? Belle, beloved, you just said that—"
"Kera doesn't need any more favors!" Belle snapped. A blink, and her ears folded. "I mean... that..." She shook her head. "That's not what..." A gulp. "I didn't mean for it to sound like... that..."
Pilate sighed into the books. "Then what was it that you meant?"
There was no answer to that.
"Some things may be irreversible," Pilate murmured. "But not irrecoverable. I think Kera could use some sunlight, Belle. Even companionship. That's all."
"I've not left her side for a single moment."
"I know."
Belle squinted at that. With a cold breath, she spun towards the vertical chamber. "Knock on the engine room when you're ready to come back up to the infirmary. Best that Props or another pony be there to help you up the ladder."
"I'll keep that in mind, Belle," Pilate began, but lingered.
Belle's hoofsteps became faint as they ascended up the passageway beyond.
"If I could just build Nancy's womb from scratch, y'know?" Props stammered as she sweated beneath a series of gutted manaconduits inside the engine room. Using her forelimbs, she ratcheted several pipes together and tightened them to the breaking point. "Nnnngh... I could make handsome's ship sing! Instead, all I have to work with is clutter and mothballs!"
"You're doing a great job, Propsy," Ebon Mane said from the sidelines. "Don't let anypony tell you different."
"They can tell me whatever they wanna tell me," Props muttered, tossing her blonde mane out from her eyes as she squinted at an intersection of tubes. "Still isn't going to change the fact that we're all better off remaking the womb instead of trying to salvage what's been doubly, triply, and quadruply done on this!"
"Yes, well, one mare's womb is another's pit of snakes." Ebon turned to Eagle Eye, grinning. "Right?"
Eagle Eye grimaced. "Wrong."
"Erm..."
"Stick to cooking... for real..."
Props giggled, then batted her eyelashes from where she lay beneath the pipes. "Manatuner?"
Eagle levitated the item in question from the bench to where Props was. "I'm just glad we were able to shut this off before we left Rainbow Dash in the dust. You can never know when her dizzy spell kicks in."
"You can never know anything about her period," Ebon Mane muttered. "Especially as of late."
"Yes, well, we all know the weight she's been carrying."
"Of course we do!" Ebon exclaimed with a nod. "All the reason—y'know—for us to revevaluate things... maybe..." The stallion fidgeted.
Eagle Eye squinted. "What are you getting at?"
"I can't be the only pony who's thinking it."
"Thinking what, Ebony?" Props squeaked in mid-tinker.
"That... well..." Ebon scratched his head and shrugged awkwardly. "Maybe we should have somepony else take the leadership chair for a while."
"Heh... like who?" Eagle Eye smirked. "Floydien? Belle? The first is nonsense and the second is no show. I'd vote for Pilate, but he's kind of lacking foresight at the moment... or at least just sight."
"What about Josho?" Props asked.
"HA!" Eagle Eye held a hoof over his smirking muzzle. "Oh please. That old stallion would run the Noble Jury into the ground."
"I'd rather worry about the ship than about us," Ebon said.
"How do you mean?"
"Do I gotta spell it out for you?" Ebon glanced at the doors on either side of the long engine compartment and spoke in a lower tone. "Maybe Rainbow's saved the day for us before, but lately she's developed the coaching talent of an alligator. She stands around, saying nothing, and if you get too close to her she hisses."
"I think pegasi are warm blooded..."
"You could have fooled me!" Ebon exclaimed. "With the way she's been holing herself up lately!"
"Just have some faith in her," Eagle said. "She'll come around."
"EE, she passed up an opportunity to talk to her Moon Princess last night!"
"She did?" Props blinked.
Eagle sighed. "Ebon, let's not bring that up..."
"Why not?!" Ebon shrugged. "We can't just bury the issue, can we? Then we'd be adding to... y'know..."
"To what?"
"The misery that seems rampant as of late." Ebon frowned. "I know what they say about 'misery loving company,' but that isn't what I signed up for! The pegasus who smuggled us out of Blue Nova believed in something, and at this rate it's gonna take more than time and circumstance to jump start her back into action!"
"Ebon, I'm all for sunny skies and rainbows, but I really don't think now's a good time to challenge the status quo."
"But—"
"We're hovering high over the Frozen Sea. It's already been a week and we still haven't reached the Strip of Flurries. Rainbow Dash may not exactly be her usual, cheery self, but she's no less dedicated to this crew and everypony's safety." Eagle smiled as she said, "Let her do what works for her. The problem isn't in the leadership, but just the overall mood on board the Jury. That, the rest of us can work on. We don't need a charismatic head hauncho to be charismatic, y'think? I mean, listen to us! We're striking a good chord, just the three of us, aren't we?"
"Yeah!" Props grinned. "And I don't even know how to play guitar!"
After sighing, Ebon smiled tiredly in the mare's direction. "Maybe we could vote you in charge of the Jury for a while, Propsy. Your smile's bright enough to melt a path through the Flurries."
"You think?" Props blinked her blue eyes. "You want that I should put a veil over it or something?"
"Errr..."
"Hey, uhm..." Eagle's ears flicked. "Is there a steam leak?"
Props turned towards him. "Huh?" She peered through the mess of pipes. "Shouldn't be. I went over the pipes with a fine toothed comb just yesterday."
"I swear, I hear... like... a hissing sound."
"You know, I hear it too," Ebon said, nodding. "It's more of a crackle than a hiss."
"Where's it coming from?" Props asked while tightening another pipe.
"From across the room, I think. Almost as if it's coming from the bench."
Thud! Props head struck the pipes, sending a resonating clannnnng throughout the engine compartment. "Owie zowie!" She slid out, breathless. "The communicator!"
"Huh?!"
"It's picked up something! Somepony be a gentlecolt and help me up!"
Ebon and Eagle Eye bumped into each other to reach Props. Wincing, Eagle resorted to giving the mare a boost with his telekinesis.
She sprang across the room and threw her hooves deep into a mess of wires and electrical dials. "Oh please... oh please..." She bit her lip and sweated as she adjusted the frequency, causing the fragmented spurts of white noise to come in slightly better clarity. "Come on..."
"Seems like a crazy mess there, Propsy," Ebon asked.
"Yeah, you need any help?" Eagle added.
"Shhhh!" Props frowned. "You stallions just stand there, being cute and quiet! But mostly quiet!"
In a jerking motion, Ebon and Eagle pressed themselves against the wall like wooden soldiers.
Bellesmith climbed her way up to the middle deck of the ship. She paused, gazing down the crawlspace to where she had just finished chatting with Pilate. After a sigh, she turned and resumed her lonesome lurch back to her room.
She froze in place.
The door to her quarters hung fully ajar.
Turning pale, Belle galloped in a yellow blur towards the room. She flung her head through the doorway.
"Kera...?!"
The filly was gone.
"Kera?!"
Her yelping voice echoed across blank bulkheads and empty bedspace.
Panting, hyperventilating, the mare looked all around. She dashed from room to room, unabashedly flinging the doors open and gazing inside. "Kera?!" At one point, she startled a groggy Josho awake, but moved right along with a frown when there was no filly to be seen. "Kera?! Where'd you run off to?! Please, for the love of the Spark, answer m-me!"
By the time she peered into the lavatory and infirmary—both with no success—she was starting to collapse. Tears sprang from her eyes and her muzzle choked on a sob.
It was around that time she heard a faint voice from the next compartment towards the stern. Breathless, Belle dried her cheeks and limped into the mess hall. Between the hallway and the long table, a pair of figures sat on the sofa that filled up most of the tiny lounge. One was Kera, slumped sideways against a hoofrest with her legs curled up. She gazed into the distance while Zaid squatted in front of her. The stallion had a glossy metal bowl full of fresh grapes, and he was plucking them one at a time off a tiny set of stems.
"...now here's a bit of a secret, only it isn't one, really. And yet it is, cuz I've carried it with me for so long." The stallion smirked and raised a goblet to her tiny lips. "Strawberry and cranberry juice. Good stuff, right? Here, take a sip, sweet pea."
Kera's lips tensed and untensed. At last, they pursed wide enough for Zaid to pour a tiny amount into her mouth.
"Ah! There we go. No need to drown you in fruitgasm, though that'd be a fitting thing for a tombstone." He winked, lowered the goblet, and held the bowl of grapes up. "Now, give it a second or two for the taste to settle. 'Kay? Now... let's have ourselves a nice purple grape, shall we? Just what the doctor ordered... the doctor of awesome." He held it to her muzzle, giving it a tiny shove against her lips. "It's alright. Don't be afraid. It's the green grapes that'll murder ya..."
Not long after, Kera nibbled, then inhaled the tiny piece of fruit in question. Zaid hoofed her another, and she gobbled it down more liberally.
"Yeah... and one to grow on!" Zaid smirked. "Now, here's the part with enchantment and kitten sparkles. Ya ready?" He picked up the goblet again. "Same juice, right? But—alas... if we just take a sip..."
He tilted it to her lips. The tiny filly swallowed a miniature gulp. Once Zaid lowered the cup, Kera remained still, but her ears twitched slightly... then twitched again. There was the hint of darting movement to her eyes.
"Eh... ehhhh?" Zaid grinned from ear to ear. "Where'd the strawberry and cranberry go? Was it suddenly and inexplicably replaced with a muzzle-ful of sweetastic heaven?!" He slapped his two hooves dramatically in front of her. "Pshhhhhh!Magic! Killer, huh?" He smirked as he picked the bowl of grapes up again. "I learned it while having to ration fruit on top of one of Khao's ships. I tell ya... those long journeys over the Ledomaritan mountains were boring as stones, but I found a way to jazz up the situation. Amazing how sweet life can get if you just squeeze out the bitter, y'know?"
It was around this point that Belle finally regained the breath to speak. "Zaid...!"
The stallion looked over his shoulder. "Hey-heyyyyy! Look who's up'n'at'em!" Zaid winked at Kera. "She's a very funny mare, your mom."
"What do you think you're doing?!" Belle stammered as she hobbled towards the sofa.
"Uhhhh..." Zaid blinked awkwardly with the bowl in his grasp. "What I do best? You don't have to be in demolition to break through walls." He popped a piece of fruit into his mouth and held the bowl out to her. "Mmmmmf... how 'bout some nibble for your tribble?"
"Did you steal Kera out from our room?!" Belle growled.
"Ew, and commit Grand Theft Filly on a Tuesday? No thank you."
"Answer the question!" She stamped a hoof.
Zaid choked on a grape, wheezed, and waved a forelimb. "Alright! No need to get all Riversaddle on me! Jeez!" He slapped his own chest, inhaled sharply, and said, "I heard somepony whimpering. Figured it was her. Thought the little scamp could use some food, so..."
"Zaid, I've got Kera taken care of!" Belle frowned. "If you wanted to see her, you should have asked me!"
"Uhhhh..." Zaid's eyes darted left and right. He smirked awkwardly. "I think I can see her just fine. What, do I need your permission to use my eyes?"
"Zaid..."
He scarfed down another grape. "Mmmf... cuz if you ask me, Pilate's overdue in that department—"
"For Spark's sake, Zaid, do you ever stop joking for once?!" Belle brushed past him and picked the Kera up, draping filly over her flank. "In case you haven't been paying attention, this poor little pony's been through a lot!"
"Uhhhhh... yeah..." Zaid gulped down some grapes and shrugged. "So I figured... y'know... sweet fruit, companionship, sunshine? The girl's catatonic, not a vampire."
"She needs rest and peace, Zaid!" Belle grunted. "Not to be carted around the ship at random and force fed fruit! There's no telling what a change in her diet will do to her stomach!"
"Yeesh. Chillax, chestnut!" Zaid remarked in a drawling tone. "She isn't exactly getting any better in that sarcophagus of a room you keep her in!"
Belle stared daggers his way. "Are you insinuating that I don't know how to take care of her?!" she spat.
Zaid tongued the inside of his mouth, eventually murmuring, "Ya think... uhhh... that maybe I should be?"
Belle fumed and fumed some more. At last, she stomped away with Kera in tow.
"Y'know, Belle, the girl used to eat grasshoppers and dodge chaos snakes. I think she can handle a tasty grape or two—"
"Kera is not the girl we used to know!" Belle threw angrily over her shoulder. "And until you're sharp enough to realize that, Zaid, I don't want you anywhere near her!"
"Belle, c'monnnn! I was just—"
"I mean it! Stay away!" Belle was hollering from halfway down the hall at this point. It only took three more heavy steps, and she was inside her quarters, slamming the door shut behind her. She stood there, breathing heavily. After a half-minute, she calmed down, knelt by the bedside, and lay Kera down again.
She pulled a blanket over the filly's tattooed body. Kera stared at belle... through her. The mare reached a hoof over and stroked her mane. As the seconds wore on, so did Belle's resolve. Her eyes glistened, and by the time her muzzle twisted in a sob, she had buried her face into the mattress beside Kera, crying in tiny little salvos of bitter breath.
"So... uh..." Eagle Eye leaned forward. "What do you think it means?"
"Shhhh!" Props hissed, tweaking and adjusting the dials of her communication array.
Eagle gulped, then leaned towards Ebon. "Hey... what do you think she thinks it means?
"To be perfectly frank?" Ebon shrugged. "We're probably not alone out here."
"You mean over the Frozen Sea?" Eagle asked. "Who else would be dumb enough to get stranded out here in the middle of the Spark-forsaken cold?"
"Pizz Fah Wizz!" Props jumped in place. "I knew it I knew it I knew it!"
"Mind telling us the it that you know?"
"I only got it for a second—like a ghost signal—but I'd recognize that frequency in my sleep! Heck—while doing backflips in my sleep!" Props spun, her cheek rosy as the edges of her happy bright eyes glistened. "It's just gotta be him! Him and nopony else!"
"So..." Rainbow Dash's voice droned. She blinked, turning to glance at Props from across the engine room. "Where's the signal?"
"It was crackling like crazy earlier!" Props sing-songed, hopping in place while Ebon and Eagle looked on. "For two minutes solid!"
"For two minutes solid..." Rainbow squinted. "Crackling? Doesn't sound like much of a signal to me."
"But it totally was!" Props grinned. "And I could recognize the frequency in a heartbeat! Nopony but my own genuine Uncle Prowse could possibly broadcast it! It's his radio signature from across the waters! I know it!"
Rainbow Dash's muzzle scrunched and unscrunched. She trotted quietly across the engine compartment, her eyes locked on the communications array. After an extraordinarily long pause, her voice unenthusiastically muttered, "And you detected this how long ago?"
"About a half hour! I got you as quickly as I could! Well.." Props fidgeted, staring down at her hooves with a slight blush. "To be honest, it took me twenty minutes of courage to interrupt you from your hammocking."
"We basically kicked her in the flank," Ebon said with a wink.
"Yeah, Rainbow." Eagle nodded. "We figured you needed to see this."
Rainbow turned about, her eyes dull and jaded. "What's there to see?"
Eagle's and Ebon's ears drooped.
"Uhm..." Props bit her lip. "It was the only signal that my array picked up in days..."
"And yet it's somehow matching your Uncle's trademark frequency? After all these months of being away from him?"
"Uhhhh—"
"Props..." Rainbow Dash sighed. "Have you stopped to consider that the only reason you know it to be Prowse's signature is because that's what you want it to be?"
"But... but..." Props' muzzle quivered as her eyes sparkled. "It's him! It h-has to be..."
"Rainbow, what are you getting at?" Eagle Eye trotted over to Props' side. "We all know that Props is an expert on this stuff. Why shoot her down?"
"Was there a voice on the other end?" Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. "Was there clear communication from a stallion fitting her Uncle's description?"
"The signal came from ninety miles southeast!" Props exclaimed, leaning forward. "That's a lot of room for interference!"
"A lot more room for phantom noises, if you ask me," Rainbow said.
"Rainbow, can't we just check it out?" Ebon asked.
"No." Rainbow frowned. "We can't just check anything out. We've been out here for a long time, and we're running out of resources as it is. Now our goal is to head towards the Strip of Flurries, and we're going to need all the concentration we can get to pass on through it. Any detour we take could put us behind, not to mention risk starving us completely."
"I can draft a new ration, Rainbow!" Ebon said with a hopeful smirk. "Josho may be ticked off, but so what? He can survive off his body fat. If this is indeed Prowse's Uncle trying to radio for help, then it'd be really stupid to not go and investigate!"
"We know that he's headed this way, Rainbow," Eagle insisted.
"No, we know that he's headed east. No pony in their good minds would try to cross the Frozen Sea, which puts us in a far worse position than him." Rainbow turned towards Props. "I'm sorry, Props, but unless we get something on that array of yours that's actually concrete, I can't have us risking the crew unnecessarily."
"But can't we just... I dunno... cruise by the source of what I picked up? Please?" Props fought the urge to grimace as she pleaded. "If I could just see him again, it would be really, really, really super! What's the harm in just making a quick flyby?"
Rainbow frowned. "There's every harm in it. We need to stick to the plan."
"Rainbow—" Eagle Eye began.
She snapped at him. "Every detour we have taken—Every. Single. One... has ended in manure hitting the fan. From a gunfight at Green Slope, to abduction at Gray Smoke, to a total friggin' massacre at Lerris, we've done nothing but find or stir up trouble, and I'm not about to risk it again."
"If you'd please just listen—"
"No, you listen! My job is to make sure this ship gets across the Frozen Sea and to the continent on the other side!" Rainbow growled. "We're not here to chase after phantoms." She blew the bangs out from her brow. "Celestia knows we've got enough of those to deal with as of late. I owe it to my friends and everypony on board this ship to get us to safety. I'm sorry, Props, but until you've given me more than just a mere hunch to lean on, we're heading east and east only. You got that?"
"But... but..." Props shuddered, then hung her head.
Ebon's eyes swam from Rainbow to Props and back again. He stood cold and silent.
"Props, I appreciate all the work that you've been doing on the skystone engine, but there's no need to overdo it. That much labor without sleep will play tricks on your head. Trust me, I know." Rainbow trotted over, paused, and motioned with her head towards the dried up Ice Wyrm gland. "Looks like that thing's running out of juice. Is the fluid for the heating system depleted?"
"Uhm..." Props ran a shaky hoof through her mane and nodded limply. "Yeah." She sniffled. "Kind of."
"I'll see what I can do about fetching another. Eagle, next time you're on the top deck, keep a look out for more peculiar shaped icebergs. We're bound to run into another one of those frozen creeps at this point."
"Uhhh... r-right..."
"Give a shout if there's an emergency or anything." With that, Rainbow Dash briskly made her exit towards the stairwell.
The three ponies stood alone.
Eagle Eye sighed. He looked towards the lone mare in the room. "Props, look... I... I'm sorry..."
"No, it's... it's alright." The Noble Jury's engineer hid her face, trotting with slumped shoulders across the room. "She's right. I-I haven't been getting that much sleep lately. I... I guess I'm letting my imagination get the best of me..."
"Props..."
"Ebon, if you don't mind watching over the engine, I-I think I'm gonna go lie down for a while..."
Eagle Eye winced, watching as Props trotted through the door to the navigation room, closing it gently shut behind her. He sighed, toying with his silken bangs as he paced across the engine compartment. At one point he froze, tilting his head up until he looked squarely at Ebon.
Ebon stared back.
"Wh-what?" Eagle stammered.
"You're the one who looked at me," Ebon said.
"Only 'cuz it looks like you've got your mind on something."
"I've got my mind on something, alright," Ebon remarked with a nod.
"Like... what are you thinking?"
With a hard sigh, Ebon glared towards the stern. "That Austraeoh and Eljunbyro are both the best and worst things to happen to us..."
Rainbow Dash lingered halfway up the stairwell. She stood, slumped against the wall in her brown leather coat, turning over a pair of goggles in her hooves. The initials "S.L." were barely noticeable, just dark blemishes obscured by shadow.
A cold gust blew down from the open entrance above, carrying with it flakes of frost and arctic air. Rainbow Dash shook. Her teeth chattered, and for a moment she feared the onset of another dizzy spell. So, impulsively, she trotted up the stairwell and made for the first door that she could find.
She emerged upon the upper platform of the hangar. There, she stumbled to a stop, for she was not alone.
"Just choke her to death, while you're at it," Zaid muttered to himself, bouncing a little rubber ball against the wall and back again. "Not like she's got anything to breathe but your incurable funk, anyways." Upon feeling a sudden draft, the stallion's ears twitched. He turned around, blinked, and smiled faintly. "Ah. Rainbow Dash, as I live and drown. How kerflails you?"
Rainbow's eyes squinted. "Where'd you get that ball?"
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Zaid threw the object up and balanced it playfully on the tip of his nose. "Found this lying in a mostly empty crate along the bottom floor of the hangar. Figures that the only thing with mirth and silliness is what Roarke would have left behind when she blew this ship like a tornado trying to get the bills paid."
"Hrmmph..." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "I can see this hangar is taken. I'll leave you alone."
"Pfffft. Oh please. It's a free airship, at least until Floydien desides to go Saddle Haysein on our flanks!" Zaid head-butted the ball up and balanced it with his tail. "Seriously, I can see what Roarke digged about this place. It's quiet, roomy, and the acoustics makes for some really bodacious ballad recittals."
"I... don't think Roarke was the type to take up singing at random," Rainbow Dash muttered as she shuffled along the platform's railing.
"Heh. How would you know? You barely hung out with her; Goddess knows she tried."
"You do realize we're talking about Roarke here," Rainbow droned. The pegasus leaned against the railing, staring down into the spacious compartment below. "She didn't exactly present herself as friendship material."
"And yet, from what I've been told, all it took was five rounds of buttkicking for you to learn her right!" Zaid winked as he hoisted the ball up, over his flank, onto his shoulders, then balanced on the square of his head. "Seems like you two made rapid progress! Ya can't harsh that!"
"Zaid, she's gone. Will you drop it?"
"Nah. I've kept this thing off the floor for thirty consecutive minutes. I'm trying to challenge myself."
Rainbow merely groaned.
Zaid tongued the inside of his mouth. He whistled for a few seconds, cleared his throat, and then leaned towards her. "Y'know... in speaking of challenges..."
"Mmmm..." Rainbow merely hummed.
"I can't help but feel like a certain pony has been coming short."
"Oh really...?"
"Yeah really. For sure for sure." He smirked. "A pony who has had every opportunity imaginable to rise up out of the deepest pits, but for some reason has chosen instead to stay cold, distant, and downright unsexy."
Rainbow's jaws tensed. "Before you start, Zaid, don't. I know I've been treating most ponies at forelimb's length, but it's because I wanna stay concentrated on the journey. There's a Strip of Flurries for us to fly through and—"
"Yeah yeah yeah. I ain't worried about you, girl. That's like being paranoid about my own large intestine imploding. It's a little too silly of a notion to sit on. Hah!Sit on! Get it?"
Rainbow groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Nah, Rainbow, I'm not worried about you." Zaid gulped then said, "It's your friends that I'm freaked out about. Belle and Pilate—sure—but not just them, but Kera too. And Props. And Ebon and that princessy mare that he keeps hanging out lately. Heck, even Floydazar and Joshochu in the flesh." Zaid stared up at the ceiling, spinning the ball atop a raised hoof. "Let's see... am I forgetting anypony...?" He turned to blink at Rainbow. "The Professor. Did I mention him yet?"
"It's been a tough journey for all of us," Rainbow muttered. "And need I remind you what happened only two weeks ago?"
"No. You needn't... needle... nerdgasm...?" Zaid went cross-eyed, then shook it off. "I get it. Life sucks and then you blow. Still, I dunno about you, but the only thing I'll ever roll over for is a threesome with Japaneighs Schoolfillies. So we've been through the fire and the flame. Big whoop. There's plenty of life to make music out of, and lately there's been a whole lot off sighing off key."
"Yes, Zaid, I've noticed—"
"Have you?" Zaid raised an eyebrow. "The only reason I came in here to begin with is to walk off the goosebumps I got after being given the third degree by your best friend!"
Rainbow blinked quizzically at him. "Belle?"
"No, the seapony with a red mane and a thing for forks. Of course I mean Belle! Or at least, 'It Came From the Belle Dimension.' Pffffft... if you ask me, she's exchanged 'lovely and funny' for 'nihilistic and stuck-up,' not to mention the fact she clings to Kera like a friggin' ball and chain. And even after saying that I can't honestly claim to know who is the one tied to who."
"They've been through a lot, Zaid," Rainbow muttered. "Give them time."
"They've got time!" Zaid cackled. "I've got time! You've got time! Everypony on this friggin' ship has got time—but nothing to fill it with, and certainly not hugs! Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but am I the only one who hasn't forgotten that one of your friends went blind?"
"What are you trying to get at...?"
"Come on, gurl! You've got wings!" Zaid balanced the ball to another hoof so that he could reach over and nudge her. "Swoop in and catch them! Before they fall too deep into the pit as it is!"
"They're alive and they're healthy."
"They're miserable! Even a blind zebra could see that—and I bet he does! Every day of his friggin' life, as of late!" Zaid sighed, gazing at the spinning ball before his muzzle. "I'm just bummed out to see it get this pathetic. From what I've seen and heard, you and your pals had something really sweet goin' on, like a friggin' platinum posse of ponies. I'd hate for the same misery that engulfed Roarke to bite the eyeballs out of them too."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I guess that's a bit of a stretch." Zaid chuckled to himself. "Roarke at least had a bunch of tools at her disposal. She wouldn't have left under the promise of pure hopelessness. The dayum mare's too resourceful... not to mention sexy."
Rainbow's nostrils flared. Staring into the far corners of the room, she surfaced from her deep thoughts just long enough to mutter, "Roarke didn't leave because she was miserable."
"Hmmm? What, then? She caught sight of a rust trade as we passed by the last row of mountains?"
"No." Rainbow slowly shook her head. "I sent her away."
The hangar echoed a light thud as the rubber ball fell to the metal platform below.
"She... confessed to me that she had told Kera about Lerris before we even left Archer Pointe." The mare's features tightened slightly. "She coerced the little scamp into making the decision to stay. And look at what happened?"
Silence.
"I was upset with her... beyond pissed. I wanted her out of my sight... and so... I made it happen. I told her to leave. And she did." Sighing, she leaned away from the railing and turned aside. "I almost tried going after her, but I realized that she was better off on her own—"
Thwap! Zaid's hoof flew across Rainbow's cheek.
The mare's head jerked to the left, though her body stayed anchored in place. Slowly, icily, she looked back towards him.
What she saw was a snarling muzzle just a twitch away from foaming at the mouth. "You sent her away?!" Zaid's mouth hung like a pendulum. "You flippin' sent Roarkeaway?!" He blinked like he was having a seizure, shook his head, and spat, "Are you out of you goddess damn mind?! Did you drink extra paint that day?! Wake up with feathers stuffed between your ears?!"
"Stuff it!" Zaid pointed in her chest. "You don't get to make orders and play the role as this ship's leader if all you can muster is stupid buck-ups like that! I know you've been biting the proverbial bullet after all of that Shell crap, but to send Roarke away?! Roarke, the one mare with the resources and know-how to get us through life's thickest bullcrap?! Were you dropped on your head from a super high cloud as a foal or what?! How in the turkey-humping Hell could you possibly have felt that was a good idea?"
"I... I-I..." Rainbow shifted nervously, avoiding his gaze. "I was upset—"
"You were a hysterical tube worm—that's what you were! And now we're all having to pay the price because she's gone!"
"Zaid, listen—"
"No, you listen!" He leaned into her face and growled, "I've tried my darnedest to be a perfect gentlecolt! In all my life, I've only ever hit a mare on two occasions! I'll give you a hint! One of them was Nightshade!"
Shuddering, Rainbow let her gaze fall to the metal platform below. "I couldn't trust Roarke, Zaid. Not after what she had done. Not after learning how far she'll go to do something she thinks is right..."
"Heh... yeah... and you're just batting a thousand, aren't you?" Zaid frowned. "Rainbow, I can't pretend to know all the highs and lows you've flounced your sweet tight body through in your life, but at some point in time—it seems—the colors lost and something far darker won the ballgame. All in all, I'm not a huge fanboy of what this nastiness is turning you into, because from this angle it's looking more and more like the hollow freak that lived up to his namesake and did a number on your best of friends!"
Rainbow flashed him a furious frown. "Don't you ever compare me to—"
"—then stop before you become him!" Zaid snarled. "Stop pushing your friends away, pretending that it's all for the best. Stop distancing yourself from this crew, claiming that it's in the ship's good interest! And, last but not least..." He reached forward and slapped her shoulder like an angry sibling. "Don't. Be. A dick!"
"Guhhh..." Rainbow Dash winced from his light pummeling. "Zaid, I can't expect you to know what this journey's going to cost me—going to cost all of us—if I don't see to everypony's safety first and foremost!"
Zaid stared at her with an iron frown. "Rainbow, your journey ended the moment you stopped being awesome."
The pegasus blanched at that. She leaned back, her face pale as a pair of fuzzy ears folded over her scalp. Shivering slightly, she stared down at her hooves. She said nothing.
"Rainbow Dash..." Zaid sighed, ultimately squatting down across from her. "Someway, somehow, you're going to have to pull yourself together. It's not something any of us can do for you. The whole universe knows that it's something that only you can accomplish. And you'd better get it together quick. You've already lost Roarke—who knows what this lameness is going to cost you next. Belle? Pilate? If you ask me, they're already gone, Rainbow. They're further gone than even Kera at this point. But it doesn't have to be too late. It doesn't have to be. Talk to them. Talk to yourself. Just talk to somepony."
Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut. She sniffled slightly, gritted her teeth...
...and slowly tilted her head up towards the full moon.
Pulling the collar of her coat wide open, she exposed the loyalty pendant to the cosmos.
Her body lit up, resonating with regal energy from where she sat on the very bow of the Noble Jury.
With remarkable speed, a delightfully eerie voice drifted along the arctic wind, tickling her ears and stealing the mare's breath away.
"Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash, thou still liveth?"
Rainbow sucked her breath in. After a few tense seconds, she muttered, "Yes, Your Highness. It's me. I'm still here."
"Oh, Rainbow Dash! We ask that thou excuseth our tone of enthusiasm. We hadst received no response from thy voice the evening previous, and we feared the worse hadst travaileth upon thee."
"It's... uh... it's all good, Princess Luna. I'm not dead or anything. I'm alive. And... like... my friends and I are making our way to another continent... with kingdoms unknown."
"We admit to being somewhat perplexed, Rainbow Dash. If thou art not in harm's way, then what disturbeth thy attempts at monthly communication?"
"I..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted. She tried smiling, but it lasted for only a few seconds, and then she was stammering. "I just... I felt..."
The echoing voice morphed into a gentle, warm whisper. "Rainbow Dash. Doth thou fair well?"
The pony's muzzle scrunched up. Tears trickled down her cheek. She inhaled, shook, then squeaked, "No... No, Luna." A sniffling. "I'm not okay..." She collapsed on shivering hooves, weeping into her forelimbs. "N-nothing is okay..." She hyperventilated, then wailed in a muffled tone. "Everything is so horrible."
Silence... and then: "Wouldst thou wish to talk about it, our little pony?"
"Yes... y-yeah..." Rainbow gulped, nodding weakly into the moonlight. "I think... I-I think I have to, your Highness. I really do..."
"...and you know what the worst of it is?" Rainbow Dash muttered towards the cosmos as she lay casually on her back along the bow of the Jury. "It's not the over-one-hundred dead Lerringtons. It's not how traumatized Kera is. It's not how unhappy my friends and I have been as of late." She gulped before saying, "Earlier today, while nearly crashing into the Frozen Sea from a dizzy spell, I could have sworn I heard a voice..." Her jaw grew tight. "Axan's voice..."
"Just like the manner in which thou heard her at the battlefield between the Ledomaritans and the Xonans?"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "It was a reminder that someway—somehow—she is following me. Keeping an eye out on me. Observing everything that happens to me with her ancient... erm... dragon tingling or something."
"Without a doubt. Considering what thou hast done to free her sister from suffering, the Divine hath taken a great interest in thee."
"But, your Highness, it's way m-more than that!" Rainbow Dash sat up. "Axan nearly killed me. For all intents and purposes, she did kill me. The only thing that made her spare my pathetic flesh is the fact that she figured out I was this 'Austraeoh' crap." Nostrils flaring, Rainbow glared down into the cold waters lying in the darkness beneath the Jury. "Now she's heck-bent on making sure I make this trip east, as if it's something that was prophesied or what-crap. So that got me to thinking... why didn't she intervene at Lerris?" The pegasus winced, her voice taking on a squeaking tone. "What makes her think that what Shell did to so many innocent ponies and to the ones I care about was... s-somehow necessary?" She brought a pair of hooves to her face, groaning. "And then the shape-shifters and the doppelganger of Lasairfion who knew my name and... and..."
"We can only imagine that thou feeleth remarkably overwhelmed, Rainbow Dash."
"Nnnnngh... you have no idea. Feels like the further I fly east, the less and less control I have over what happens—both good and bad. But m-mostly the bad."
Silence.
Rainbow lowered her hooves from her face, sighing. "And... and I've taken it out on my friends, all the while pretending to be protecting them. I figured that my loyalty is the one thing hurting them. In a lot of ways, it kind of is, at least in the way I see it."
"When stuck in the pits of despair, it is undeniably easy to see every element of thy life as a flaw. While this typically can be the signature of a wise and noble sentry, it too can act as a veil, under the shadow of which our greatest enemies travaileth to undermine that which maketh us strong."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash grumbled aside. "I've got a crapton of enemies, it seems."
"We art no strangers to malevolent shape shifters, Rainbow Dash."
"Oh?"
"In ancient times, before even the utilization of the Elements of Harmony, three older siblings retreated deep into the mountains of Equestria. There, they fed off the caverns of crystals that they found in hiding..."
"Wait... older siblings?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "You mean... like alicorns?"
"A brother and two sisters. At one time, they would properly have been called alicorns, but they sacrificed their station as guardians of Equestria for the sake of selfish persuits. They were drawn to the magically imbued minerals located deep below modern day Canterlot. The enchanted properties of the crystals granted immense power and improved magical prowess. These alicorns were so addicted to the riches of this plane, that they forsook harmony for any sensation that the substances gave them. Eventually, Celestia, ourself, and the other alicorns at the time had to intervene. We succeeded in driving the three out of the mountains, but the caves had been stripped bare, and the consequences of the magical consumption had taken their effect on those whom we once trusted as our own flesh and blood.
"The two sisters, Chrysalis and Tchern, were driven to the far corners of Equestria. They took with them scores upon scores of ponies—minions who tragically shared in the curse that the crystals had brought upon them. They could no longer harbor emotions like the naturally born ponies of this plane. Instead, they had to mimic others in order to feed off of feelings of love, passion, and distress. The sisters became queens of a nomadic brood, and they telepathically lorded over the mutated ponies who pledged their undying allegiance to them. The only way the mortals could now survive was by operating under a hive mind with Chyrsalis and Tchern at the center. The last time we ever saw them, they had fled to the dark side of the world, where undoubtedly they had constructed a kingdom of malevolence where no sunlight or moonlight can be glimpsed... to remind them of the true love that they have forsaken.
"Our brother, Sombra, was even worst off. To evade our harmonic touch, he sacrificed his wings, his mind, even his own corporeal form to become one with shadow. He fled to the frozen north beyond the borders of Equestria, and there he enslaved countless thousands of crystal ponies, harvesting their very essence in order to satisfy the hunger that his dark soul had become dependent on. We and Celestia discovered him centuries later, and the battle we had was devastating. We had succeeded in vanquishing him from this plane, but tragically he took the entirety of the Crystal Empire with him, burying himself and thousands of innocent ponies in shadow. It was a terrible price to pay for ridding this land of his wicknedness, and there isn't a day that goes by when it doesn't dwell upon our conscience."
"Yeesh, Your Highness." Rainbow Dash winced. "I knew you've battled nasty-nasties in the past, but I had no idea..." She gulped. "Your own brothers and sisters? That's really tough."
"Indeed, but not as distressing as knowing the fate of every pony that blindly followed Chrysalis and Tchern to the ends of the earth... nor the crystal ponies who fell into shadow along with Sombra. But they art hardly the worse that this plane has to offer."
"Oh...?"
"When we succumbed to the darkness ourselves... when we became Nightmare Moon, we too brought doom upon thousands of innocent ponies."
"Come on, Luna..." Rainbow smiled weakly. "It... it c-couldn't have been that horrible."
"Alas, it was. Thousands of unicorns marched to our evil cause, and even more sarosians flew in the shadow of our dark wings. We brought war and cruelty to the land of Equestria, blanketing the countryside in eternal night, until every corner of the world was covered in darkness. The worst part is that it wasn't the initial banishment to the moon that cleansed us, but rather the revitalization of the Elements of Harmony over a thousand years later."
"Yeah... but... it all worked out in the end, didn't it?" Rainbow meekly asked. "When Twilight and the gang..." She fidgeted. "When we gave you the zap, you were cleansed of all that nasty Nightmare Moon junk right?"
"Yes, but it still hath not taken away the scars that we hath caused, the generations upon generations of persecuted sarosians, the unicorns who died attempting to defend a malevolent dictator who was banished centuries ago."
"Ouch." Rainbow Dash grimaced. "I... I-I don't know what to say, Luna. I mean, from the way I hear it, y-you're totally a good alicorn in spite of all that."
"Indeed, we are cleansed of the horrible taint, and we hath endeavored to raise the sun and moon with unwavering diligence. Thou must realize, Rainbow Dash, that in this age—just as in ages previous—evil always finds a place to bring anguish and torment. But where there is evil, there is always the opportunity to bring about good. While Chrysalis and Tchern morphed into horrible mimics of their past selves, it taught the rest of the alicorns the dangers of crystalline addiction, so that we could better protect the mortal populace. While Sombra enslaved thousands of ponies, his reign was put to a vicious end before he could grow powerful enough to corrupt millions. And while Discord nearly managed to convert the entire world to chaos..."
"Yeah, I hear ya..." Rainbow Dash muttered. She nervously rubbed a hoof across her pendant, sighing. "While I'm glad that dude kicked the bucket, I'm not all that happy with what it took to do it."
"Nor can we expect thee to comprehend—much less appreciate the good that hath come out of thy adventures as of late. While it pains us to hear of Nevlamas' passing, we are pleased to know that she was stopped before she could bring corruption to the entirety of the realm beneath the world. And it would seem, Rainbow Dash, that Chrysalis and Tchern have not entirely left the light side as we thought. Regardless, thine intervention in Xona has assured the end of a great and costly war—one that could have grown to excessively murderous lengths had you not flown through the air of that landscape whatsoever."
"But..." Rainbow Dash sniffled, her eyes growing moist as she gazed across the Frozen Sea. "What of Lerris? What good could possibly come out of what Shell did... and what I-I had to do to stop him? Honestly, Luna, it f-feels that no matter what good I do for these lands, I end up doing a whole lot worse in the end, and I-I don't like what it's turning me into." She shuddered and sighed. "It's like I'm becoming just as monsterous as the siblings you had to drive out of the mountains to begin with..."
"We highly doubt that. A monster hath no conscience, Rainbow Dash, much less ponies whom one can practice loyalty with."
"Yeah, well, I'm a bit out of practice, if you ask me."
"We could equally feel the same. We hath felt the same, repeatedly, with seemingly no outlet for our grief."
"Then just what makes you go on? How do you raise the sun and moon every day without fail?"
"Because we have to. Because so many ponies depend on us. And because we knoweth that to give into despair—if even for a moment—would mean giving the victory to our enemies, even if our greatest foe is ourselves."
"Yeah, but I killed Shell. He's gone for good."
"He is never dead, Rainbow Dash, so long as thou willeth his corruption to endure through the acceptance of thy defeat. He will resurface, like the will of Chrysalis and Tchern, or like the shadow of Sombra, so long as thou becometh so despondent that though giveth him a vessel through yourself."
Rainbow Dash bit her lips.
"We accept with a heavy heart the possibility that there'll come a full moon when thou wilt no longer be alive to reply to us, Rainbow Dash. Please, we beseech thee, do not let a day come when the pegasus on the other end of the communication spell is voiced by a spirit far darker than yours."
Rainbow sighed. "I won't become another Nightmare Moon, your Highness." She smiled bitterly. "Besides... I'd look like a total lame-o in that balding helm thing you were sporting."
"Nnnngh!" Props strained, twisting at a rivet with a large wrench. "Guhh! Mmmffffnngh!" At last, she finished tightening a bulkhead in place. She exhaled, her muzzle producing tiny vapors. With a slight shiver, the blonde mare tightened a cloak over her sweaty figure.
Behind her, one of the doors to the engine room squeaked as it opened.
Props immediately winced. "Sorriez! Loads of sorriez!" She twirled about. "I lost juice for the air conditioning just now! But good news! The skystone should be ready for another test anytime soon—"
"Don't worry about the heating for now," Rainbow Dash said. She trotted lightly across the compartment in her leather coat. "We've got stuff to bundle up with. Besides, I can totally find more of that ice wyrm stuff to help us out in a pinch."
"Oh, totallies. But still... uhm..." Props squirmed, avoiding the pegasus' eyes. "If we're gonna test the skystone engine again, might I suggest you stay inside this time? I mean, I know it's not my place to tell you what to do, Dash-Dash, but the last thing I want is for you to be abandoned again—"
"The test can wait for a bit," Rainbow said.
Props blinked. "Huh?"
Rainbow looked at her. "If we're trying out the skystone, I want us to be heading east as we do it."
"You mean we're... n-not heading east?"
"You picked up that signal from the south, right?"
Props nodded with a gaping muzzle.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Rainbow nodded towards the wall. "You got the intercom back online yesterday evening, right? Tell Floydien to set a course for the source of the broadcast. Better now than never."
Props stared at her. Her eyes quivered as a slow smile was birthed across her face. Clenching her jaw, she let out a tiny squeal as she flounced over to the intercom.
Rainbow smirked and trotted back the way she came.
"Hey! Hey hey hey! Handsome!" Props chirped into the crystal console. "Guessy whatty! We're going after my Uncle after all! Take us southeast by about sixty degrees from sunrise!"
"Scrkkkk! Just as soon as I get these glimmer boomers out of my sight!"
Rainbow froze, glancing back over her shoulder in mid-trot.
Props blinked. "Uhhhhh..." She leaned her muzzle closer to the intercom. "What glimmer boomers?"
It was black, round, and glossy—with a pair of slender fins jutting out of its stern. The rising sun glinted off the front of the aircraft as it hovered two hundred feet over the northwest waters.
"It certainly looks stabby stabby, from Floydien's circlehood." The elk snorted with a frown from the doorframe to the cockpit. "It's been following Nancy Jane since starlight, about four hours now. Sometimes it glides, other times it just lingers. Like frecklespace. Floydien doesn't like it one bit, especially how it eyes Nancy with unseen eyes of envy spit."
"No balloon... no steam vents... no signs of any sort of obvious propulsion," Props murmured, squinting off the ship's port side.
"Your goggles can't do everything, girl," Rainbow Dash muttered, then turned towards Eagle Eye. "Anything you can see?"
"Uhhhh..." The stallion squinted from where he stood in the middle of the deck. His breath came out in fitful vapors. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that its bow is actually facing us."
"Really? That big bulbous thing? Looks like a flying dome."
"I know, but... it's hard to make out—but I think I see thin orange lines aimed at us... maybe the cockpit window. I've been staring at the vessel for the last ten minutes, during which we must have traveled several hundreds of meters. I've no doubt it's pivoted to keep facing us directly."
"That's not creepy or anything," Rainbow muttered.
"Whoever it is, they probably have some sort of long range crystalline scanning devices," Props said. "Otherwise they would have swung in for a closer peep show."
"Floydien would have bucked them into their own butt cracks," the elk grumbled.
"Easy there, twinkle toes." Rainbow looked past Eagle Eye. "You recognize this thing at all?"
"Nnnghhh..." Josho rubbed his chin in thought. "Can't say that I do. They sure as Hell ain't Xonan. The tattooed weirdoes are fond of the color blue and serpent designs. Most of their decks are open and exposed so that they can jump from ship to ship and board enemy vessels. But this thing is super crazy. It's like a bowling ball with cake knives sticking out its ass."
"I know it's far away," Eagle Eye thought aloud. "But I can't see any doors, portholes, or windows whatsoever."
"Just the glowing orange stuff, right?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah, for lack of a better term."
"Maybe they've come to deliver us pumpkins!" Props exclaimed.
Everypony turned to look at her.
She bit her lip, ears drooping as she hugged her cloaked self. "I think I'll be going back into the engine room now..."
"Wait!" Floydien suddenly barked. "Hold your spit!"
"The elk's right!" Josho grumbled. "It's moving!"
"EE, keep your eyes on it!" Rainbow shouted.
Everyone flinched as the vessel spun like a top, twirled, and stopped dead—facing northwest. Half a second later, there was a flash of orange and yellow lights—and the vessel shot off incredibly fast on amber streams.
"Jinkle streams!" Props gasped. "Did you see that?!"
"I absolutely did," Eagle Eye said, exhaling vapors. "Those fins at the back were definitely venting something."
"Like what?" Josho grumbled. "Those ain't like no steam vents I've ever seen!"
"Can you see it anymore?" Rainbow asked.
"No, Rainbow..." Eagle gulped. "It's gone."
"What do you mean it's gone?"
"I mean it's already beyond visual sight!"
"Glimmer runs..." Floydien muttered.
Rainbow flapped her wings. "Perhaps... if I went after it?"
"No offense, color wheel." Josho glanced over. "But that dayum thing is far faster than you."
"The old stallion has a point, Rainbow." Eagle rubbed his eyes and turned to blink at her. "That thing is zooming about freaky quick. Perhaps you should just stay here."
Rainbow sighed out her nostrils as she touched back down. "I'm not a fan of being watched by something we can't... w-watch back."
"Tell Floydien about it," the elk muttered. "It freaks Floydien out everytime."
Rainbow flung him a squinting glance. "You mean this isn't the first time they've been oogling us?"
He shrugged. "Floydien thought he saw black glimmer against the starlight the last two nights, but counted it off to imagination and drowse drowse. Spit you any less? Floydien thinks not."
"At ease. We're not ganking you or anything," Rainbow muttered. "It just ticks me off, is all... out here in the middle of nowhere..."
"Rainbow, you don't suppose..." Eagle's words trailed off.
"Hmmm?"
He gulped. "I mean, the stuff that the Lerringtons talked about. Golden Happenstance especially. You think that maybe these Frozen Wastes aren't quite so... wasted after all?"
"If a bunch of punks were streaking across my lawn, I'd study them real hard before giving them the proverbial smackdown," Josho uttered with a nod. "I'm just saying."
"I really can't imagine anyone claiming ownership of these parts," Rainbow muttered. "As far as I'm concerned, the Frozen Sea belongs to the Ice Wyrms."
"One thing's for sure," Props said with a wince. "That glowy energy we just saw? As the ship jetted away?" She gulped. "That was skystone propulsion."
Rainbow glanced towards the northwest horizon, then back at her. "You sure about that?"
"Pretty sniffing sure."
Rainbow exhaled. The paced about in a slow trot.
Josho and Eagle Eye looked on. "What do you think we should do?" asked the younger.
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Keep an eye out. Lemme know if they show up again, and then I'll get Floydien to steer back east again."
"Steer back east?" Josho raised an eyebrow. "Are we going somewhere?"
"That we are, buckaroo." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and darted towards the stairwell. She patted his sweatered shoulder along the way. "Somepony's got an Uncle who's hopefully less dirty than you. So bundle up. It's gonna be a chilly ride."
The Noble Jury throttled its way south, dipping low so that it skimmed over the jagged peaks of several icebergs floating at random. A veritable field of alabaster chunks lay across the Frozen Sea, some of them reaching so high that their twisted summits made beams of shadow in the pale sunlight.
Rainbow Dash flew parallel to the ship, scanning the bobbing mess below with goggled eyes. She’d occasionally dip down beneath the level at which the Jury hovered, inspecting the icebergs closer, studying the moving mountains from different angles.
Some of the ice shards’ surfaces were so smooth, so shiny, that they reflected Rainbow Dash’s leather-coated figure completely. She found herself gazing at them, squinting at the flecks of frost clinging to her exposed muzzle and mane.
Then, following a sporadic flicker of her ruby lightning pendant, she swore she spotted a black shape swirling by in the reflected sky. With a gasp, she hovered in place, staring up at the heavens. All she could see was a blank blue sphere. The desolation of the world once again settled across her skin, shaken only by the sound of the Noble Jury’s thundering engines.
With a shuddering breath, Rainbow Dash pressed on, threading her tiny body between separate icebergs as she weaved a meandering path southeast. Along the way, she couldn’t help but glance at the waters directly beneath her. Through the edge of her vision, she could have sworn she saw a hint of crimson light glistening just beyond the waves. The pegasus’ brow furrowed, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck raising slightly. However, the more she looked at the waves below, the less she saw of anything but black depths gurgling indefinitely.
Undaunted, she pressed on, escorting the Noble Jury into the southern stretches of the Frozen Sea as the sun melted its way towards the western horizon.
“Is… is that it?” Ebon Mane asked as he squinted off the starboard railing.
“It definitely has to be,” Props murmured, wide-eyed behind her goggles.
“Why does it look like a crashed shipping freighter?” Ebon remarked.
Meanwhile, Eagle Eye was squinting. “That’s because it is a crashed shipping freighter.” He gulped. “Or at least half of it.”
Rainbow Dash hovered alongside the Noble Jury as it levitated high over a large slab of ice. Along the frozen chunk’s western edge, a jagged hull of rusted metal lay deep in the translucent surface. The unmistakable signs of a stern, a rudder, and a snow-covered top deck lingered in the amber sunlight.
“Looks like it ran aground at some point,” Eagle Eye murmured aloud.
“How long do you suppose it’s been stuck in there?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Floydien stuck his head out from the cockpit’s entrance. “Many years since the kerplunk-a-chunk, Floydien thinks! The ship is half as old as the iceberg from the looks of it.”
“Certainly doesn’t match any design I’ve seen,” Josho grumbled.
“Perhaps…” Ebon fidgeted, then glanced at the others. “Perhaps Propsy’s Uncle was part of a separate expedition that got stranded out here and this was their only place of refuge?”
“Or he could have been abandoned here,” Josho said.
Eagle Eye flung him a disgusted look. “Old stallion…!”
Josho shrugged. “Just saying. Looks right like a Spark-forsaken prison to me.”
“And we’re sure the signal is emanating from here?” Rainbow Dash asked, eyes squinting.
“Yeah!” Props stammered breathlessly. “I know it! Something inside that chunk of a ship is broadcasting the signal!”
“And on Prowse’s frequency…” Ebon murmured.
The mare nodded. “As best as can be managed with the technology available!”
“One thing’s for sure,” Eagle Eye spoke into the frosty air. “Whatever or whoever is in there--they can’t be all that comfortable for long. Place looks like a tomb.”
“Oh please…” Props bit on the edges of her hooves. “Use another word that rhymes with Nancy Jane’s belly!”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “Well, there’s no sense in waiting up around here.”
“What’s the hurry, paint bucket?” Floydien spoke up. “Does the boomer think Nancy Jane is being followed?”
“At least being oogled from afar, yes.” Rainbow nodded. “But we came for Prowse, and we might as well go all the way. But I don’t want to stick around here any longer than we have to.”
“Sorry for adding my own miserable two bits as usual, but…” Ebon gulped and pointed over the railing. “That ship doesn’t exactly look stable.”
“Nothing that the heaviest set of hooves this side of Ledomare can’t bother to test.” Rainbow Dash turned towards the stallion in question. “Josho?”
“Hell, I’m game.” The unicorn pumped a crystalline shotgun levitating beside him. “Beats dying of old age on this ship.”
“Count me in as well,” Eagle Eye said with a nod. “There’s no telling what freaky stuff could have crept on board that thing.”
“Uhm… uhhhh…” Props fidgeted from one set of hooves to the other, biting her lip. “I… uhm…”
“Oh, knock it off, girl,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she signaled Floydien to bring the ship further down. “Consider this your first complimentary away mission.”
Props blinked, then smiled with rosy cheeks. “Squee….!”
Somewhere, inside a dark dark corridor with rusted bulkheads…
A door hung on its hinges, covered with a slick layer of condensation. All was silent, until a tapping sound resonated on the far side. This was followed by a grinding noise, and then a rattling cacophony of tremors. Once again, all was silent. Then, just as the last echo of the previous noise had begun to settle…
Clangggg! The door blew off its hinges, collapsing somewhere in the middle of the long narrow hallway. As the vapors of dispelled mana settled, Josho’s silhouette could be seen standing against the blinding light with a glowing horn.
Eagle Eye winced from where he and Props stood behind the obese stallion. “Did you really need to get Medieval on the doorway like that?”
“This is a rescue mission,” Josho grumbled. “Not a one pony sneaking mission.”
“Speak for yourself,” Eagle Eye said with a gulp. “Who’s to know how long this ship’s been run aground on this iceberg? I don’t want to wake up anything that doesn’t need to see the light of day.”
“You’re supposed to be sassy, Princess, not paranoid.”
“Yeah, well, some old habits of the battlefield die hard.”
“Heh… that’s what she said.”
“Oh, for the love of--!”
“Shhhh…” Rainbow Dash hovered down into view, peering through the opened doorway. “Thanks for making an entrance, Josho. Let’s do this next part somewhat quietly, okay?”
“Pffft. If you insist.”
“I do. Also that I go first.”
“But you’re always taking point!”
“Josho…” Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut, sighed, then gestured ahead. “Fine. Be the knight in shining armor.”
“Damn straight. I was born with turtle wax.” Josho stepped over the bottom frame of the door and shuffled his way into the claustrophobic corridor. His glowing horn lit the way while he levitated a shotgun cautiously left and right, eyeing every shadow that the ship’s interior presented.
Rainbow Dash floated close behind, her wings flapping above a tight leather coat. Behind her, Props nervously trotted, sliding her goggles above a pair of wide, blinking blue eyes. Eagle Eye took up the rear, levitating his sword and shield alongside him.
The interior was somewhat disorienting, a consequence of the structure of the ship leaning at an awkward thirty-degree angle towards its dilapidated stern. Though it looked like the quartet was trotting straight down an even plane, they felt like they were moving uphill. What’s more, the cold hallway walls were slick with moisture, causing Josho to slip a few times, much to his grumbling dismay.
“Don’t worry,” Rainbow murmured, her voice echoing a lot louder than she expected. Nevertheless, she patted the stallion’s shoulder and murmured into his ear. “You at least still look like a cool guy.”
“I never cared much for ships,” Josho grumbled. “At least the ones that stuck to water.”
“Why’s that?” Eagle’s voice murmured from the rear of the procession.
“Could never handle the cramped conditions. Plus, sailors are just… friggin’ weird,” Josho grumbled back at the unicorn. “Odds are they’d either eat me alive for sustenance if we got stranded, or they’d at least try and turn me into you.”
Eagle Eye frowned. “Really? We’re going into that at a time like this?”
“Shhh!” Rainbow Dash hissed. “Save it for the honeymoon, coltfriends.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Props, any idea how we’ll know if we’re getting warm?”
“Uhm… if we get warm.”
Rainbow sighed. “Props…”
“No! For real!” she squeaked. “Notice how slick the walls and floors of this place are?”
Josho slipped again, forcing Rainbow to steady him. “It did occur to me,” he grumbled.
“I’m guessing that most of the time the arctic air has layered the walls of this place with frost.” The mare paused to run her hoof across a wall streaked with water droplets. “But something’s causing that residual frost to melt!”
Eagle Eye craned his head. “Like a heat source?”
“Yup yup! And a doozy of one too!” Props grinned brightly. “And my Uncle Prowse sure does love to light a big fire!”
“Heh…” Josho smirked. “I bet he does.”
“So, lemme guess…” Rainbow glanced over her shoulder. “We find a heat source and follow it to the pony we’re looking for?”
“Seems a safe bet to me! And if that doesn’t work, I can try and triangulate the signal that’s being broadcasted from somewhere inside this ship!”
“Well…” Eagle Eye smirked. “If you ask me, this doesn’t sound half as bad as it looked from the outside--”
Crkkkk-k-k-k-k-k…
Everypony froze as the ship groaned around them. Droplets of water fell loose from the ceiling. Josho’s glowing horn reflected off wavering bands of moisture in the distant edge of the corridor.
Props gulped and stood closer to Eagle Eye, shivering.
“Yeah, okay…” Rainbow Dash nodded, her ruby eyes darting left and right. “Let’s get this mission over with before the ship decides to fart us out.”
“Nothing but poetry,” Josho droned.
“Propsy, where do we go, girl?” Eagle asked.
“Uhm…” Props reached under her cloak and produced a metal instrument. She tapped it a few times with her other hoof, then held it over her head, squinting. After a few seconds, she smiled happily at the rest. “Down!”
“Unnngh…” Josho shook his head and stumbled forward. “I swear, if we run into any iceberg yettis down here, I’m tossing her at them first.”
“Iceberg… yettis…?” Eagle Eye blinked.
“It’s called an imagination, kid. You should try it sometime.”
“I think that’s the last thing we need right now.” Rainbow Dash motioned the other two to follow as she hovered after Josho. “Let’s go, ponies.” She looked forward. “Stay frosty--” Her eyes crossed.
Eagle Eye groaned while Props giggled.
“Yeah…” Rainbow’s nostrils flared. “Just forget I said anything.”
The group followed the bobbing light of Josho’s horn into the frozen metal intestines of the derelict ship.
Eagle Eye winced, ducking his head slightly as he glanced forlornly at the rattling ceiling of a tight hallway. Gulping, he adjusted his hoodie and shuffled along with his sword and shield levitating alongside.
Ahead of him, Props, Rainbow Dash, and Josho traversed narrow chambers between cold leaning bulkheads. The light from the two unicorns shone off of glossy metal surfaces, giving the claustrophobic interior an ethereal quality.
"Have we figured out just who this ship belonged to yet?" Rainbow Dash spoke out loud.
"Hmmm..." Props rubbed her chin in thought. "Quadruple bolted bulkheads. Exposed mana conduits. Reliance on leyline reinforcement coils instead of enchanted crystals." She smirked. "I'd say standard Alexian tech."
"Alexian?" Rainbow repeated aloud.
Eagle Eye's echoing voice spoke up. "They're unicorns and earth ponies who hail from the far south."
"I thought there was nothing but ocean south of us."
"Er... south of Franzington, more or less." Eagle Eye smiled nervously. "Below Ledomare, the Continent breaks up into a bunch of seas and deep rivers that open up into the ocean. Alexia is the closest archipelago to the mainland, and the equines there have mastered ship building and merchant trade. They've been known to sail their mana-powered steamships all along the continental shore. Where they're not exploring or trading, they're at least selling their ships to other cultures who need to use them."
"So this may not have been run by... Alexians."
"Certainly smells too good in here to be Alexian," Josho said in a dull tone. "For all the time they spend around water, those bootstrapped freakazoids never bothered to bathe."
"Yes, well..." Eagle Eye shuddered. "That's one reason we always fought for the Ledomaritans and not for the Alexians."
"Yeesh." Rainbow Dash winced. "Was everyone on your continent going to war with someone?"
"Made for a good economy," Josho said. "Heck, all the explosions you started in Blue Nova has gotta give tons of ponies new jobs."
"Jee... thanks..." Rainbow muttered with folded ears.
"It's sad to think about," Props spoke aloud. "Jasper, Ebony, and I had a lot of reasons to call Nightshade a 'meanie head,' but we never had any grudge against the hundreds upon thousands of ponies who worked for her." She pouted. "With her company going bye-bye now, how many of those employees are going to have trouble feeding the mouths of their beloveds?"
"Well, Props, with the war over, maybe they'll consider something that doesn't involve the construction of weapons," Eagle Eye said. "I can already see the Council of Ledo funding a major agricultural boom!"
"If they're lucky, they'll just open borders with the northwest provinces and let ponies fill in a lot of that abandoned farmland," Josho said. "Who cares if the plains are haunted by the spirits of the dead caribou who once lived there."
"Hey, uh, not to sound like a heartless lame-o, but does it really matter?" Rainbow Dash's jaw tightened. "That place is friggin' behind us. Let's just focus on what's ahead."
Eagle Eye craned his head with a smirk. "You've said that a bunch of times already, and yet here we are in the belly of a crashed sea vessel. How does this count on 'focusing on what's ahead?'"
Rainbow exhaled out her nostrils. "Look, we're here for Props, okay? I made her a promise that we'd look for her Uncle, so let's get it done."
Props gasped, hopping excitedly. "So you do remember!"
"I always did," Rainbow muttered, wings flapping between the icy bulkheads. "I just lost track of what was truly important for a while there."
"Our... uhm... safety...?"
"Let's start with 'happiness' and see if we can make the ends meet."
"Shhhh!" Josho hissed.
"Wow, old stallion," Eagle spat. "Way to be a buzz kill."
"No! I mean it!" He raised a hoof while glaring at a corner of the hallway. "Clam up!"
Everypony came to a stop behind him, dead silent.
Josho's eyes narrowed. He gazed from left to right. At some point, a slight clattering sound emanated from the bulkheads in front of them. His ears twitched, and he turned to look back at Rainbow.
Eagle and Props trembled. Rainbow, in the meantime, nodded back and flapped her wings harder. With the grace of a flying serpent, she slinked around Josho's shoulder, clung to the ceiling, and flew her way around the corner.
Edging her way into the shadows, she flew for a few frozen seconds. At last, hovering to a stop, she pulled the collar of her leather coat down and ran a hoof across her pendant. A dim glow lit up the room, casting ruby beams across the walls. Rainbow Dash found herself staring into what must have been an open storage compartment. It was twice as wide as the Noble Jury's mess hall. What's more, it was longer How long—she couldn't say, the reason being that half of the chamber was submerged in water.
It felt colder in the room, but it wasn't just the water's fault. Gazing up, Rainbow saw that the ceiling of the chamber sloped up while the floor went down. Exposed ice from the glacier pierced the bulkheads, and a fine mist hung over the waters. From what she could judge, that portion of the ship had broken like a twig where it impacted the glacier, and the water had formed overtime from where the ancient ice had melted from friction.
Hoofsteps echoed behind her as the rest of the group trotted to a stop behind Rainbow.
"Sinking squirrelsicles!" Props exclaimed. "This ship sure took a dip!"
"I'm guessing all the water came from the glacier," Josho remarked.
"I thought the ice was too old to just melt," Eagle Eye said.
Props shrugged. "Could be that exposed manaconduits caught fire and provided enough heat to allow a slow burn."
"That would explain the burn marks along the shattered bulkheads," Rainbow said. Biting her lip, she levitated down and pressed the tip of her hoof into the waters. "Hssssss!" She hovered back up, shaking her forelimb as if she had burned it. "Luna poop! I think I grew new nipples from just touching th-that!"
"Why would you even do that?" Eagle asked.
Josho pointed. "That's why."
Eagle and Props craned their necks to see. Their muzzles hung agape.
A dim orange glow emanated from the submerged end of the sunken chamber. There was a light source from beyond the broken part of the ship.
"Is... is it a fire?" Props remarked.
"I feel bad for not seeing it first," Eagle Eye stammered.
"Yeah, well, nopony's perfect, princess," Josho said. He turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Whoever's alive on board this ship, they're probably camped on the other side. If I know a crap or two about Alexian vessels, we've just trotted the bulk of it. That end is smaller and likely more insulated."
"Seems like a good place for survivors to last a while," Rainbow said with a nod. "I wonder if any magical devices could operate from inside?"
"What for?"
Rainbow turned towards Props. "How's the signal?"
The goggled mare held up the instrument in question. After half a minute, she flashed Rainbow a bright-eyed look. "Could from anywhere. Which probably means..."
"Right under our noses," Rainbow Dash said with a nod. She turned back to the waters. "There's gotta be a way to get over there."
"All the other passageways are blocked up by ice," Props said. "We all saw it on the way here."
"We could go outside the ship again," Josho said. "See if there's another way to enter the vessel from the far side."
"Nah... All of that is under the iceberg's surface," Rainbow said. "The way we entered is the only way to do it."
"What if we got one of Floydien's or Roarke's tools from the hangar and tried to burn a hole into the far side of the ship's hull?" Eagle Eye asked.
Crkkk-kkkk!
Everypony fidgeted nervously as ripples of water ran across the disturbed pool.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Rainbow Dash said, starting to strip of her coat. "The longer we take to get to the far side of the ship, there's not going to be any ship."
"Uhhh..." Eagle Eye squinted. "What are you doing?" He jolted as Rainbow's coat was thrown into his telekinetic field.
"What does it look like?" Rainbow Dash cracked the joints in her neck. "The next step is simple. I'm gonna swim in there and check what's on the other side."
"Pffft... Your funeral, color wheel," Josho said.
"Are you out of your pony mind?!" Eagle Eye gasped. "That's freezing water! You'll become a winged popsicle!"
"You obviously weren't born in a floating cloud city." Rainbow Dash smirked at him in the unicorns' light. "I can handle cold. I'm 'cool' all the time for a reason, y'know."
"Rainbow, this isn't a joke! You could freeze to death!"
"It doesn't look that far of a swim," Rainbow said. "Besides, looks like they got a fire on the other side. I should be fine."
"At least let one of us come with you!" Eagle Eye said. "You shouldn't have to go alone!"
"Look, I'll give you guys a signal." Rainbow nodded towards Josho. "You bring the sound stones?"
Josho nodded and slipped one from out of his jacket.
Rainbow grabbed it in the crook of her hoof. "I'll fill you guys in on what I find. If I need help, then one of you can come over. Feel free to spend the next minute or two deciding who gets to be a second-wing polar bear for the afternoon."
"I volunteer Eagle Eye," Josho grunted.
"Dude!" Eagle squeaked.
"He already looks purple!" Props giggled.
"D-dudette!" Eagle squeaked in a higher pitch.
"Nnnngh... Yeah... I think I could use an excuse to wake up." Rainbow Dash gazed at the waters. "Celestia, give me strength."
"At this rate, she would do better to give you balls," Josho said.
"Not where I'm going." Rainbow Dash said. Stepping up to the pool's edge, she took one breath... two breaths... three breaths... then clamped the soundstone into her mouth and—
Splooosh!
If a million knives stabbed every single square inch of her body, it still wouldn't have been an adequate description of how cold it felt. Undaunted, Rainbow Dash kicked her limbs, torpedoing her way towards the dim light on the far end of the sunken chamber.
When Rainbow Dash emerged, she felt strangely colder than when she was underwater. This produced a gasp, followed by the clattering sound of her sound stone falling to the metal floor. She caught it before it could roll back into the waters. Shuffling up the steep incline of metal, she spread her wings and shook her body from head to tail. Most of the agonizing water droplets rolled off her, but she was still coated with a fine layer of frosty liquid.
Rubbing her forelimbs together, she next brought a trembling hoof to her pendant and rubbed it rigorously. The ruby light from her Element glowed at its maximum luminosity, warming the ends of her moist coat hairs. She still felt numb through and through, but at least she hadn’t collapsed.
Without hesitation, she flapped her wings while performing vigorous “galloping” motions in midair. Once the blood started flowing, she breathed more easily, pivoting about to take in the far side of the ship where she had swum to.
Though it was paltry compared to the vibrance of her pendant, Rainbow Dash could make out the hint of a fire on the opposite end of the chamber. A stack of crates stood between here and the light source, obscuring the details of the room.
Shuddering, Rainbow reached down, grabbed the sound stone in the crook of her hoof, and proceeded forward.
“Scrkkk! Dashie?! You frozen to death?”
“Sorry to disappoint you, girl,” Rainbow Dash said. “Tell Josho and EE I’m safe.” She gulped. “For now.”
“Uh oh! Is there something super scary and dangerous on that side?”
“Only thing dangerous in here is me,” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered over the crates and peered on the other side. “As for super and scary…”
A camp had been set up, with several empty and crumpled soup cans forming a pile in the far corner. Rainbow Dash saw two burlap saps with potato sacks for pillows. A set of random horseshoes lay on the side, and there were multiple chests full of metal trinkets, tools, and nick-nacks.
”Well? Don’t leave us in suspenders!”
“The fire’s still fresh,” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered further over the indoor campsite. “Looks like they’re using tiny white filament to burn. Doesn’t look like hay to me. Besides, where they heck would anypony get hay?”
”That’s probably excess manafibers from the ship’s backup! That’s why Alexia never gets to play with the big boys. Everything they build is flammable in some way or another!”
“Seems to be working for whoever’s here.”
”Do you see ‘em? Huh? Huh?”
“Can’t see much of anything, to be honest.” Rainbow squinted along the far end of the chamber. “Looks like there’s a passage that leads out of here. For all we know, whoever’s been hiding here has plenty of more places to crawl away.”
”Josho’s asking if you can tell how many have been staying down there!”
“Well, I see two beds. So it’s either two ponies or one really fat pony.”
”You sure it’s an equine?”
“I doubt the extra horseshoes are for eating.”
”Can you see the communications array, at least?”
“Looking as we speak.” Rainbow Dash trotted along the corridor, sweeping her vision across the firelit resources. “Sure is dank in here. I wonder how much oxygen there is to burn.”
”There’s probably an air leak that connects to the atmosphere above the iceberg.”
Crkkkkkk-kkkk!
Rainbow Dash paused, staring at the ceiling. “Thank you both for reminding me what’s at stake here.” She proceeded forward. “Lots of junk around this part of the ship.”
”You mean tools and metal machine parts and the like?”
“You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”
”I knew it! Uncle Prowse can never sit around without tinkering on something! He’s gotta be there!”
“Hold your blondie, horses… er…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. “You know what I mean…”
”Have you seen any transprocketed bilateral strut casings? He can make those babies in his sleep!”
“No… I’m… uh… just seeing a bunch of crap.” Rainbow Dash hovered to a stop, blinking. “And I think I’m seeing the crappiest bit of all.”
”Huh?”
“It’s the communication array. I’m staring right at it. At least I think I am.” Rainbow flew closer to a jagged console with exposed wires and dimly glowing blue diodes. “It’s looking like it just threw its own guts out after eating spoiled daffodil alfredo.”
”I-I’m sure it’s just water damage!”
“It’s about the cruddiest I’ve seen a pony-built structure since I flew over Silvadel.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Props, it doesn’t look like anypony’s been around to repair this thing in ages.”
”What… what do you mean, Dashie?”
“I dunno, Props. But it’s not looking good. If your Uncle Prowse was really around, I’m sure he wouldn’t let this thing go to waste like it did.” Rainbow hung her head. “I hate to be such a downer, but it might be time that we expect the worst--Mmmmmmmffff!”
A metal forelimb with multiple digits had wrapped around Rainbow’s muzzle from behind.
“Ye bit yer blue boggin bawbag yoo've got yerself th' warst, ye huddy tube!” The world spun around Rainbow as she was lifted in a violent bear-hug--”Hrraaaaaaaugh!”--and suplexed through a wooden box behind her. Smassssh!
Rainbow’s sound stone fell loose, rattling towards the far end of the chamber. ”Dashie?! Dashie, come in! Dashiiiiiiie!” Props’ voice strobed against a sudden onslaught of darting shadows.
“Unnngh…” Seeing stars, Rainbow struggled to stand up. A heavy weight pressed against her from behind. “Gughh!”
“Yoo've come tae steal uir lit, eh?” A hoof and a metal hand gripped Rainbow’s skull from behind. “Aam gonnae skelp yer fizzog aff tae Spark's blazes, ye loopin wanker!”
“Grnnnngh!” Rainbow spread her wings, knocking the weight off to give her space to slam the attacker in the groin.
“Ach, my bloody knob!”
“Yaaaugh!” Rainbow flew her elbow back, Her tingling skin felt the hint of a beard, then struck all cranium. Whud!
“Ooomf!” The body stumbled back with uneven hoofsteps.
Rainbow backflipped, twirled in mid-air, and turned--snarling--towards her attacker. “Okay, who ordered the concussion with a side of fries?!”
“Grrrrrr!” A tall, lanky horse with a scraggly red tail and an even scragglier tail stood--cross-legged--glaring at Rainbow through a squinting eye. “Yoo're a reit jobby bastart! Snuck in frae winter's oothoose tae hae a go at mah wares, huh?!”
Rainbow frowned. “I think I’ll settle for your face, you overgrown redwood forest--”
Clakka-clak-clak! The stallion’s metal left forelimb converted into a boomstick, burning bright red.
“Luna poop!” Rainbow turned tail and flew.
Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! The chamber erupted with the echoing salvos.
Chunks of metal splashed at Rainbow’s hooves as she desperately outraced the mayhem.
“Professor!” a timid voice stammered from beyond the thunder. “Stop it! She obviously didn’t know what she was getting into--”
“Shut yer cabbage hole, loon!!” The augmented stallion spat, his blue eyes quivering after his darting target. “Aam blastin' thes pigeon's yanny in twain!”
“To what end?! You’ll sink us all!”
“I'll jawbox 'er first--”
Rainbow spun, kicked against the ceiling, and sailed towards her foe. Her ruby light blinded him, causing the stallion to stumble backwards, gripping his pained eyes. She flew into his chest with a massive backdrop, kicked his leg joints, then spun around. Flinging a hoof up, she grabbed his neck from behind and dropped straight down, slamming his chin against her shoulder.
“Gaaagh!” The stallion flailed and fell back through a crate of metal junk, smoking leg cannon and all.
Panting, Rainbow Dash kipped back on all fours. “Okay…” She wiped her brow. “That sure warmed me up.” She turned around limply. “Now, who in the hay did I just go to war with--Oh jeez!” She flinched back dramatically.
A giant shell with features jerked back, its scaled facial features wincing behind a jagged beak. “Please! Don’t hurt me! I can’t help it if my only friend is a half-metal psychopath!”
“Uhhhhh…” Rainbow Dash’s eyes fell over the reptile’s stubby legs and tail from where they stuck out the rigid shell. “I’m not sure where to punch you even if I wanted to.”
“It’s okay! We’re both harmless!” The reptile smiled awkwardly. “Really!”
“Raaaaaugh!” The stallion stood back up, eyes crooked above a bleeding smile. “Dinnae talk mince, Tankette lass!” He threw his left limb out again, converting it to a jagged grappling hook. Clakka-clakkkk! “I've nae yit begin tae gie thes winged fitbaw a beatin'!”
Rainbow grind her hooves against the metal floor. “Pull the trigger, bucko, and I’ll be making you eat those words you keep crapping out!”
“Try meh, ya wee fart!”
Splasssssh! A loud gasping noise emanated from the waters, followed by a sputtering, “Uncle?”
The stallion’s ears instantly folded. “Propsicle…?” Lips quivering, he turned to look across the campfire. “Did Ah jist hear mah propsicle?”
“Unky Prowsy!” Props hopped up and down, splashing water everywhere.
“Weel, Ah’ll be skint tae Spark's mana dust!” He fired the grappling hook at her. “Come haur, lassie!”
Rainbow flinched, only to watch the metal claw expertly wrap three times around Props’ midsection. The mare was flung viciously towards the lanky stallion.
“Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
The collision sent the two rolling back through a rattling ocean of nuts and bolts. They rolled in the grease and ended with the lank stallion sitting on his bony haunches while rubbing the mare’s skull harshly with a metal hoof.
“Whew! Yoo're a micht chankin! Hae ye bin rollin' aroond in th' arctic pools withit a sweater?”
“I had to come find you, Unky Prowsy!” The mare shivered, but nevertheless nuzzled his pale fuzzy chest dearly, her smile wide enough to burst. “Mmmmm! I can smell the soot on you for days! What are you doing down here?!”
“Tryin' tae bide aheid ay th' braw wi' naethin' but a turtle tae lean oan! And you?”
“Ohhhhhh outrunning evil war machines, giant frost wyrms, and super meanie unicorns with inconceivably high power levels! But enough about me! Tell me about youuuuu!”
“Ohhhhh Propsicles.” The stallion sniffled, nuzzling her with his red beard. “Ah cannae keep mah eyes dry with the sweet smell of ya.”
Rainbow Dash stared, rubbing her head. A scaled hand touched her shoulder. She flinched once more.
The turtle winced behind her beak. “Erm… sorry. My name is Elma. Elma Boreal.” She shrugged. “It’s a snapping turtle name.”
“I bet it is.”
“Are you here for the Professor?”
“Professor?”
“Yeah. Professor Prowse.”
“Uhhh…” Rainbow Dash glanced over at the tender reunion. “More or less.”
“You caught the Professor’s signal?” Elma Boreal asked with a quivering beak.
“Errr… yeah. It took us most of the day to get here.”
“How’d you navigate the icebergs?”
“Well, we flew.”
Elma gasped. “You’ve got an airship?!” Her reptilian eyes narrowed on Rainbow’s wings. “Err… or do you mean you personally?”
“As much as I’d love to, I wouldn’t be able to carry robo-bronco’s niece on my lonesome.” Rainbow gestured towards the pool of water where Props had just emerged. “We’ve got an airship. Four of us came down here to the wreck to rescue who’s left. Tell me, how many of you guys are down here?”
“Erm…” Elma brushed one foot with another, her shell rattling slightly. “Just us two. We holed up in here where it was better insulated, but we were starting to run out of food ever since we were stranded here.”
“You were stranded here?” Rainbow squinted. “What exactly happened to you guys?”
“Well, uhm, there were these pirates, you see, and they thought they could make away with this Alexian tech while there were passengers on board and--”
“Haaaaugh!” Prowse shoved the overgrown turtle away with a savage metal hoof. “Stap yer havering, Tankette! Yer story doesnae hae enaw explosions in it!” He spun towards Rainbow Dash, wild eyes and even wilder whiskers. “A boorichie ay mingin' pirate mingers tried tae hae uir guts fur garters! Sae Ah gae them a taste ay th' auld professor's boomstick! Showed them th' sights ay th' abyss, Ah did! It was Spark's blessin' 'at we ran aroond ay a floatin' piece ay frizzen guff insteid ay sinkin' tae Spark's shadaw an' becomin' frost w'rm scran!” He grinned proudly.
Rainbow Dash blinked at him. Slowly, she brought a hoof up and wiped the copious amount of spit from her deadpan face. Panning over, she stared at Props. “Care to relay that in your typical Bouncelish?”
The blonde mare slid into sight, smiling. “Unky Prowsy here says that they ran into a bunch of pirates, but he blasted them away with his super cooly crispies prosthetic arm cannon! Then they luckily ran aground this iceberg!’
“Ach, pure barry!” Prowse nodded with a red-bearded grin. “Boggin buncha dobbers ran off! Ah hud tae slap together a communications array wi' th' baur scrap ay th' naf they left us!” He kicked a crate of metal junk on his right. “Thes is what's left ay th' lest attempt.” He kicked the box of junk on his left. “Thes is th' mince frae th' first thee.”
Elma finally finished rolling over in time to stammer, “You only had to do it so many times because it kept blowing up in our faces!”
“Ach, don’t get totally radge on meh, Tankette!” Prowse rolled his eyes. “Luckily, yoo've got a sheel an' aam guid at booncin' oan mah crease.”
Elma hoisted Rainbow down by her pendant. “Pleeeeeeeease tell me you’ve got room on your airship for the both of us!” She gulped. “Or at least just me!”
“Dornt be sassin' me loch th' pirates noo!”
“Professor, you haven’t had a wink of sleep in four days! We need to get out of here!”
“Anno!” The stallion waved his prosthetic with a smile. “Lit me jist gie mah triple sprocketed nick nacks an' bob's yer uncle!”
“Weeeeeee!” Props hopped and hopped in place. “I get to sample Unky’s Tech! It’s been so long!”
“Wait wait wait…” Rainbow Dash waved her forelimbs. “Hold on!”
”Scrkkkk! Rainbow?! This is Eagle! Are you and Props alright?! She just dove in and--”
“Yes! We’re fine! We’re all fine! Just everypony stop talking and spitting for one second!” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, her feathertips fluttering in the camplight. “Alright… this place is starting to crumble all around us, and we haven’t got much time.”
“Just point me where to go and I’ll move my shell!” Elma said with a wide-eyed expression. “Between pirates and the cold and the constant threat of an leg cannon, I’m ready to jump through flaming hoops!”
Prowse narrowed his eyes. “Ye pure cannae expect me tae lae aw ay mah patented doohickeys behin'!”
Crkkkk-kkkkkk-kkkk! The entire chamber shook. A savage crack formed in the bulkheads ahead, immediately showering the interior with snow and flakes of frost.
Props gasped, her blue eyes blinking wide. She leapt aside and clung--trembling--to her stalwart uncle.
“What in the turtle gods is that?” Elma stammered.
“Uhhhh…” Rainbow gulped. She raised the sound stone to her muzzle. “Eagle? Josho? You feel that?”
”I’m pretty sure Crimson and Tweak back in Aurum felt it! We gotta get out of here!”
The entire ship groaned once more, as if a large object was scraping at it from down below.
“Whoopsie poopsie…” Props gulped. “I don’t like the sound of this…”
“Ay, lass…” Prowse nodded inquisitively in Rainbow’s direction. “Ye didne by chance happen tae attract onie giant brine serpents wi' wee danglin' lanterns alang th' way haur, did ye?”
“Uhhhhhhh…” Rainbow Dash’s forehead glistened with a single sweatdrop.
Crkkk-kkkkk! The chamber shook violently. This time, the turbulence was accompanied with the noise of a deep bass roar. Two seconds of silence later…
Crackkkk! A bulkhead in the far corner of the chamber exploded with a gust of water.
“Bloody Hell!” Prowse gasped.
Through the splashing water and rippling metal, a gaping maw lined with serrated teeth showed in the rippling firelight.
“Frost wyrms!” Elma howled.
“Show’s over, everyturtle!” Rainbow Dash darted towards the pool of water on the opposite end, motioning to the group to follow. “Time to get wet! Move it!” Her voice was swallowed up by the sound of bulkheads collapsing all around them.
“Lit me jist grab mah tools an' aam guid!” Prowse dove towards his supplies, only to be tugged backwards by his scruffy read tail.
“Pffft!” Rainbow spat, “You stay here and you’re meat! Move it!”
Crkkkkkk! The entire compartment collapsed in a wave of imploding debris towards the quartet. With invasive jets of freezing water, the mouth of the frost wyrm lunged closer and closer, filling the ship’s interior with sparkling light from its crimson lantern.
“Ohpoopohpoopohpoop!” Props squeaked as she fidgeted at the pool’s edge. “How’d I do this the first time?!”
“It's loch i've aye said, lassie! Less thinkin' an' mair spelunkin'!” Prowse bucked her savagely in the flank. “Noo oan yer trolley!”
Whap! “Eeeep!” Props plunged into the rippling waters. Sploosh!
“Make loch tatties an' mash, Tankette!” Prowse dove after his niece. Splash!
Rainbow waved a hoof while barreling across the rocky floor. “Come on, Miss Boreal! We gotta get out before this whole place does an eggshell impression!” She stopped at the waters and spun around. “Elma--Oh for Pete’s sake!”
“Nnnghhh…” Elma winced, oozing her scaled limbs forward while the gobbling maw of the frost wyrm tore through the metal behind her. “Not… so g-good… on land!”
“Friggin’ A!” Rainbow darted over, positioning herself at the snapping turtle’s stubby tail. She pushed with two forelimbs, slipping on the slick floor. So she spun around, putting her back into it as she shoved against the creature’s shell with all her might. “Gnnnngh!”
Craakkkk! A layer of serrated teeth slammed into the floor just centimeters from Rainbow’s hooves.
The breathless pegasus slumped backwards over Elma’s shell. “Duahhhhhhh…!”
The turtle glanced back. “Is it close?”
“You can pull your legs in, right?”
“Y-yeah! Every turtle can since hatching--”
Rainbow spun around and gripped opposite sides of her shell. “Do it! Do it now!”
“Oh gosharooni!” Elma’s limbs retreated into her body.
“Nnnnnnnnngh!” Rainbow’s facial muscles contorted as she carried the weight of herself and the giant reptile on her wings alone. She fluttered forward just seconds before the giant wyrm’s jaws slashed through the floor where they were situated. With agonizingly slow grace, the pegasus threw the two of them into the morbidly freezing pool. Once submerged, the collapsing ship sounded off with echoing salvos against Rainbow’s twitching ears. She held Elma’s body for buoyancy and paddled her hooves behind the two of them, propelling both through the murky depths. The faint light of unicorn magic shone ahead, and Rainbow propelled the pair upwards as bubbles erupted all around them.
“Rainbow! What happened?!” Eagle Eye leaned forward with her coat. “Who’s this stallion? Did you find Prowse!”
Rainbow batted his hoof away and jumped up on jittery hooves. “It’s r-right behind us!”
“What is?” Eagle asked.
Hcrkkkk! The partially-caved-in ceiling finally collapsed entirely, revealing the moist throat and lashing teeth of the arctic eel.
“Ackies!” Eagle stumbled backwards, tripping on Rainbow’s coat.
“It’s gonna gobble us like gob-gobs!” Props shrieked into Prowse’s shoulder.
“Hook hooves wi' me, bonnie lassie!” Prowse extended his left forelimb into a glowing cannon. Clakka-clak! “An' i'll feed thes jobby taker some flak!” Kapow! Pow!
The frost wyrm groaned as the high calibre shots took chunks of its teeth and gums away. The water turned red as it churned closer.
“Stop it!” Rainbow wheezed from where she slid across the trembling floor with Elma’s shell. “No sense in making it more ticked off than it already is--”
”Raaaaaaaaaaaaugh!” Josho stormed forward, unloading several blasts of his shotgun into the monster’s mouth.
The creature’s muscles quivered with each violent impact. Once enough of its flesh had been torn away, it shook, shimmied, and slinked away from the crumpled hull.
Josho gritted his teeth, grinning into the smoke from his levitating gun. “Nnnnngh--Buck yeah!” He spun with a wicked smirk tossed Prowse’s way. “Friggin’ finally! A pony who likes to party my way!”
“Ach, brae, sonny jim!”
“Uhhhhh…” Eagle’s glowing horn illuminated the dust and flakes of metal falling from the ceiling. “Rainbowwwww?”
“We need to get out of here!” Rainbow shouted.
“The Jury should be right outside!” Props squeaked.
“Skelp my baheid!” Prowse glanced at her. “Ye hae an airship?!”
“I’d think so!” Props nodded, blonde bangs flouncing. “I’ve been in her womb all month!”
“If Ah kent ye hud it in ye tae be a fanny filly Ah woods hae hoofed ye a brush insteid ay wrench!” Prowse heaved the gasping mare onto his back and broke into a sprint. “Let's jit! Lest a body it can kiss mah mother's erse!”
“I’m with oatmeal mouth!” Eagle Eye yelped as he scampered after the two.
“Everypony remember the way in which we came!” Rainbow shouted, then looked at the remaining stallion. “Josho?”
“Wha--?”
Rainbow flung the shell into his telekinetic field. “You’re on turtle duty!” She picked up her coat, flapped her wings, and shot after the group. “Move it move it move it!”
“Huh?!” Josho turned the shell over.
A wrinkly reptilian face slid out, her beak to his muzzle. “Hello!”
“Coming!” Josho grimaced as he floated Elma along his galloping figure. “I swear to Ledo, when it shits, it pours.”
“You’re a horse with a horn in its head! Neato!” Elma wheezed in mid twirl. “And I thought wings were pushing it…”
“I didn’t ask for a soundtrack!” Josho grumbled as he navigated collapsing bulkheads and falling walls. “Arrrrrgh!” He leapt through an imploding doorframe while water and ice shards splashed madly behind him.
“Come on!” Rainbow grabbed his hoof and hoisted the two stragglers along as they threaded through a claustrophobic interior growing thinner and thinner by the second. Rivets and bolts popped on either side of them while torturous jets of arctic cold water sprinkled their skin. “Just a little further along! I can already see daylight!”
Up ahead, Props gasped from atop Prowse’s back. “Holey moley the holey!”
Prowse’s blue eyes reflected the collapsing exit at the end of the hallway. “We cannae make it! it's tay damn thin!”
“Hold up!” Eagle hurled himself past the two of them. He slid to a stop, planting his hooves against the bottom edges of the bowing door’s frame. Cl-Clank! He telekinetically planted his sword and shield between the buckling planks of metal, forcing a thin gape to remain intact. “Nnnnnghhh… okay… g-go through!” The ex-mercenary hissed.
“Barry job, bonnie loon.” Prowse slinked on past him with Props in tow.
Slivers of metal and copper plating collapsed around Eagle’s trembling body. Breathless, he looked down into the ship’s dark interior and hissed, “Rainbow…?!”
“We’re right behind ya!” Rainbow and Josho reached the doorframe… but only then woke up to just how obese the former enforcer was. “Awwwww crapazoid. How the heck are we gonna do this?”
“Like so.” Josho lowered Elma to the floor.
“Uhhh…” The turtle glanced up. What are you doing--
Plonk! The stallion kicked her so that she slid out between Eagle Eye’s legs.
“Gaaaaaaaaiiie!” Elma slid to a stop along the iceberg beside Prowse and Props.
“Now for the main event…” Josho hooked a forelimb around both Rainbow and Eagle. “No moist ideas. Hnnngh!” With a telekinetic boost, he shoved the three of them forward. The doorframe exploded around them, giving them the berth they needed for an emergency exit. Milliseconds later, the hull of the ship sunk behind them, collapsing into the frosty body of the iceberg.
“Guhhh!” Rainbow winced as she, Eagle Eye, and Josho went sprawling across the sheet of ice. The wind picked up, and Rainbow looked up to see the Noble Jury looming directly above. Zaid and Ebon Mane stood on the door plank to the open hangar.
“Hey! Awesome!” Zaid said, pointing. “An excuse for Mr. Sailboat to make more soup!”
“Rainbow! What’s going on?!”
“Lower and grab us!” Rainbow shouted. “Quick!”
Ebon hollered into a sound stone, his voice cracking above the arctic wind. “Floydien! Bring us down more! Rainbow found survivors, but they all need to get on board! ASAP!”
“You heard the stallion!” Zaid leaned down, hoof outstretched. “Aching Saddle Ass Pronto!”
With a dull hum, the Noble Jury lowered towards the tip of the iceberg. Prowse was halfway through hoisting Props on board with a massive roll of thunder lit the air. Rainbow Dash and Josho looked back to see the chunk of ice cracking in two and the collapsed ship falling into the frothing depths below.
“Thaaaaaat’s a big crack!” Eagle stammered.
“I’ve worn bigger.” Josho twirled and threw Eagle sky-high with a burst of mana. While the shrieking unicorn flew in, Josho jumped, grabbed onto the hangar plank’s edge, and required Zaid, Props, and Ebon to be pulled on board. Meanwhile Prowse hopped in while Rainbow shoved on board Elma.
Not long after, a blood-curdling growl emanated from the waters. Rainbow’s ears twitched, and immediately she stopped what she was doing to yell, “Up! Up! Go up!”
Sploooosh!
With a high-pitched shriek, the bloodied frost wyrm lunged out of the waters, its teeth clamping onto the stern of the Noble Jury.
“Bloody Hell!” Prowse found himself thrown against the hangar wall. He tried to aim an arm cannon but fell victim to the throes of inertia.
“What what what what what--?!” Ebon pointed, wide-eyed and trembling.
Zaid leaned over the ship’s cook to shout, “Rainbow! Do something about your pet, will ya?! She reeks!”
“Grggggh!” Rainbow gripped the plank with her forelimbs while slamming her lower legs viciously into the monster’s gills.
The eyes of the creature flinched, rolled back, then disappeared under mucus lids. With a vomit of saliva, the thing released its bite on the Jury and slunk back into the waves.
Almost instantly, the Noble Jury rose like a bottle rocket, putting yards upon yards of distance between its quivering hull and the sinking iceberg below.
“Mmmmf!” Rainbow slumped on board the hangar, panting. Her breathless wheezes were shared by the rest of the crew as they all stood on the stern entrance’s edge, peering into the tempestuous brine. The pale figure of the massive frost wyrm shook and writhed violently.
“Yeesh…” Zaid stammered, smiling wearily at the others. “I suppose that one dude in the robe was right… y’know… about there always being a bigger fish?”
Josho shook his head. “Gimme a closer shave than that and I’ll be all bone.”
“You okay?” Ebon shook Eagle’s dazed body. “You’re not bitten or frozen or anything, are you?”
“I… don’t think so…?” The unicorn felt his bangs with a wincing expression. “Oh Spark, how’s my mane look?” A beat. He blinked and glanced aside at the stallion nuzzling him. “Uhhh… Ebon? I said I’m fine.”
“So what now?” Elma stammered, glancing up at the others. “Thank you for saving us. But we’re still out in the middle of nowhere. What brought you out this far anyways?”
Rainbow Dash was silent. She stood up, glaring suddenly into the waters far below.
“Uhm…” Elma’s beak clammed up as her head drew deeper into her shell. “Was it something I said?”
Suddenly, Rainbow stripped of her saddlebag, reached inside, pulled her trusty hatchet out in her teeth, then threw the satchel into Zaid’s grasp. Then, without warning, she spread her limbs and swan dove clear off the plank of the Noble Jury.
“Jeebuses!” Props squeaked, eyes wide.
“Rainbow!” Eagle Eye scampered up to the side, only to be stopped by Josho at the last second. Ebon and Prowse also looked over in shock. “What’s she doing?!”
“Shhhh!” Josho grunted, eyes squinting.
Rainbow Dash had already splashed into the waters below. Her body disappeared amidst the cold, freezing waves. Not long after, the tumultuous sea calmed entirely. The pale figure of the frost wyrm also dove into the depths, so that all that was visible was the bubbling froth from the sinking ship beside the fractured ice berg.
Seconds past… an entire minute…
And then, a pool of deep red murk wafted up to the water’s surface.
Eagle Eye gasped while Ebon Mane grimaced. Props held a hoof over her mouth and leaned against her uncle, squeaking internally.
But, not long after…
Splassssh! A blurring body soared out of the water. It ascended rapidly towards the Noble Jury on flapping blue wing. Then, without hesitation, Rainbow Dash landed back on the plank. Clank! She dropped a bloody hatchet on side of the room. Thud! A sopping red, twitching luminescent lantern gland landed on the other side.
“There…” Rainbow Dash muttered, shaking the frigid droplets off her. “Think that’ll… be enough to… warm us and our new guests… for a while, girl?”
Props blinked back. She then smiled. “Okay whillikers!” She flung the bloody organ over her backside and trotted gaily towards the engine room beyond the stairwell. “This’ll only take a sec! Thankies, Dashie!”
The hangar hung in silence for a bit.
And then…
“Burn mah beard!” Prowse grinned from pale ear to pale ear. “Ah loch thes ship!”
Zaid smirked while Ebon and Eagle exchanged glances.
“Mrmmmf…” Josho rolled his eyes and lurched out of the room. “Don’t hold your breath…”
Ebon laid a plate of lettuce onto the mess hall table before Elma.
“Thank you,” said the snapping turtle with a beaked smile. She took a liberal munch of the greens, gobbled it down, and closed her eyes. “Mmmmm… it feels so good to bite into something that isn’t dried-out Alexian rations.”
“Just how long were you both stuck there inside that crashed ship?” Ebon asked as he sat at the head of the table.
“Oh, weeks… two months? It’s hard to say.” Elma bit onto some more lettuce and gulped it down. “We spent most of the time inside. We saw very little daylight on account of the cold.”
“Pffft!” Prowse gulped onto a wad of straws and pointed with a hook in the crook of his hoof. “Mebbe ye waur braw wi' yer baltic bluid, Tankette, yer oversized hoofbaa!” As he dug more into his plate of dried grass, Props sat by the stallion’s side, leaning in and nuzzling him with a contented smile. “But Ah was warmin' mah anes wi' th' greatest ay aw split second inventions! A communications array 'at can operate at twintie percent efficiency! An' Ah hud naethin' but thee bundles ay magical filament an' a worn it energy conduit tae bit!”
“Sooooooo amazingles!” Props squee’d, nuzzling her uncle harder. “Leave it to you to take a nothing situation and turn it into somethingtastic!”
Rainbow Dash squinted from where she hovered across the table. “What I wanna know is how you got into a nothing situation to begin with.”
Slam! Prowse’s metal hoof slapped the table. “It was those bludy pirates, Ah teel ye! At a body point, me an' mah team waur cruisin' athwart th' Frizzen Seae aw calm loch, an' 'en th' next moment--WHAM--these gantin freaks in leaither armur board uir ship, strip us ay aw th' Alexian tech, an' threaten tae seel us tae a boorichie ay strangers!”
“Uhhhhh…” Eagle Eye turned to glance at the others in the room. “All I got from that were ‘pirates’ and ‘strangers.’”
“Hey, Blondie.” Josho craned his neck to see the mare at Prowse’s side. “Care to translate? None of us can speak muzzle oatmealese.”
“Maybe I can help in that department,” Elma Boreal said, raising a scaled hand. “Ahem, what the good Professor is trying to say in his usual eloquence is that our ship was hijacked by pirates who then tried to sell us.”
“Sell you?” Rainbow blinked. “To who?”
“They… uh… they didn’t say.” Elma fidgeted, her shell rattling slightly. “They weren’t exactly the friendly type.”
“Which gart it aw th' easier fur me tae blaw burnin' metal intae their jobby eatin' grins!” Prowse belched.
“Weeeee!” Props pumped her hoof. “Go Unky!”
Elma sighed, bearing a weary smile. “Yes, the Professor did force the pirates to shove off with his… penchant for explosions. Ahem. But before we were abandoned, the best I could make out from the pirates is that they wanted to sell us to some mysterious group of wanderers who frequented the frozen wastes.”
Josho glanced at Rainbow Dash.
“Did… these strangers have a name?” Rainbow asked.
“Well, I thought I heard something, but it didn’t make any sense,” Elma said. “Some really silly, passive name, like the ‘lucky’ or the ‘luxury.’”
“The Lounge,” Eagle asked.
Elma blinked at him. “Why… yes. That sounds about right.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “We’ve heard of them before.”
“You have?”
“They don’t exactly sound like nice ponies…” Rainbow fidgeted in midair. “Assuming they are ponies.”
“When you first arrived, we were kind of scared that maybe you were the Lounge, having come to excavate us from the ice!” Elma said. “Why any group of shady characters would want to get their claws, hooves, or whatever on us is beyond me.”
“Ach! Ah ken exactly th' reason wa!” Prowse spat. “They're efter uir knowledge ay th' secrit lain ay opportunity!”
Props gasped. “You mean Zadubadabu!”
“Unnnngh…” Josho rolled his eyes and stormed out of the mess hall. “Here we go…”
“Sure!” Prowse barked after the obese stallion. “Ye can caa it mince if ye want! But it's real, Ah teel ye! It's it haur in th' Frizzen Sea! It's what's causin' th' damned Strip ay Flurries! See 'at it isnae!”
“Do you mean you almost found it?!” Props stammered.
“If I may interject…” Elma frowned slightly. “This expedition into the arctic waters was meant to map out the edge of the Strip of Flurries in order to assist other maritime vessels in avoiding the turbulent waves to begin with! It was the Professor here who insisted on turning this into some sort of maniacal archaeological pursuit of some nonexistent temple!”
“If ye didne sass me at every turn, mebbe we'd hae gart some progress by noo, Tankette!”
“Say, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Props looked up with a scrunched muzzle. “Why’s she calling you Professor this whole time? I thought you gave up engineering school to work the shop at Gray Smoke!”
Elma gasped, eyes wide. “You mean you’re not even a Professor?”
“Sure Ah am!” Prowse grinned a bearded grin. “Professur ay kickin' th' world's crease wi' mah mental metal meddle!”
“Unnnngh…” Elma gripped her head with two trembling hands. “What’s my life coming to…?”
Eagle Eye gulped. “Seems like the expedition was hijacked by more than just pirates…”
“Ay!” Prowse frowned at him. “We waur makin' foo progress until th' bludy pirates cam alang! So keep yer wee purple beak it ay thes, jobby jabber!”
Eagle raised a hoof, lingered, fidgeted, and muttered, “I can’t tell whether or not to feel insulted or confused.”
“Well I’m feeling randy,” Zaid said. Whap! “Oww!”
Rainbow lowered her hoof and faced the table again. “Well, you’re welcome to stay on board where it’s safe. We’ve got a skystone ship. We should be able to outrun any pirates.”
“I would hope so,” Elma said with a nod. “The only vessels that bother to streak through these clouds are the ones powered by skystone.”
“Well, you’re in luck!” Props grinned wide. “Nancy Jane’s womb is powered by the stuff! And all of it super shiny and glowy!”
“Ach!” Prowse smirked, munching on hay as he ruffled the mare’s golden mane. “Mmmmfff… Noo there's a bonnie lassie, takin' efter yer uncle wi' th' grease bawbag genes!”
‘Heeeeeeeeee I’m the bawbaggiest!”
“There’s… just one thing.” Rainbow Dash gulped. “We’re… n-not exactly heading west on this ship.”
“That’s fine,” Elma said.
Rainbow blinked. “It is?”
“Of course!” The turtle smiled. “I was born across the Frozen Sea. Alafreo, my home country, is just on the other side of the Strip of Flurries.”
“Alafreo… huh?”
“I only cross over to help merchants map the frozen wastes out here. So, if you’re heading east and you’re kind enough to bring me on board, then I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.” She shuddered slightly. “Bleachkkk… anything’s gotta be better than traveling west towards that nasty kingdom with the wars and stuff.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash exhaled with a calm smile. “Tell me about it.”
“Jusssssssst one question…” Zaid leaned in.
Elma glanced at him. “Yeah?”
“Do they serve grilled cheese sandwiches in Alafreo?”
Elma Boreal blinked. “What’s a grilled cheese sandwich?”
Zaid’s left eyebrow twitched. He turned to look towards the other half of the mess hall. “Any chance we can take a quick detour west?” Whap! “Oww!”
“Ain sae thaur Ah was!” Prowse smirked from where he leaned over the middle of the mess hall table. “Surroonded by Xonan mercenaries oan aw sides! Mah trusty boomstick was it ay ammo, an' Ah didne e'en hae a wrench tae flin' at them! Ah kent 'at it was jist a matter ay seconds afair the tattooed jobby takers aw charged at me, horns first!”
Ebon and Eagle Eye stared, wide-eyed. Zaid and Josho stood behind the chairs, brows furrowed.
“What…” Props gulped. “What did you do?”
“Th' only bloody hin' Ah coods hae dain!” Prowse smirked, flexing his metal hoof. “Ah mit them, metal tae muzzle!” He winked. “In less than it takes fur a coo tae fart, th' whole fluir ay th' room was covered wi' teeth! they sure as heel werenae onie ay mine!”
“Wow…” Ebon gasped.
“Er…” Eagle winced. “That’s…”
“Violent?” Elma spoke up from sipping a mug of water.
“Damn straecht! Ah gart them bleed it their tattoos loch they waur faucets! That's whit they gie fur attackin' thes auld stallion jist fur walkin' ben toon oan an archaeological mission!”
“Well, then…” Zaid smirked. “One pony’s psychopath is another’s badflank!” He slapped Josho’s shoulder. “Eh, fatso?”
“Eh.”
“They didn’t send a squadron of ebil ticked off bad bads to skin you alive?” Props asked, eyes sparkling.
“They cooldnae fin' me e'en if they wanted tae, lassie!” Prowse smiled proudly. “Want tae ken hoo Ah tint them?”
“Duaaaaaaaaah!” Props gasped so wide her cheekbone nearly dislodged. “Is there ‘nut me’ in ‘minute?’ Dish it out, Unky Prowsy!”
The group leaned in tighter while Prowse began weaving another tale.
From a distance, Rainbow Dash hovered, watching the group with calm ruby eyes. She breathed lightly, her tail flicking beneath her.
“Floydien swears to Nancy’s internal antlers…” A certain elk shuffled up from the kitchen. “Does paint wheel ever touch the ground?”
“Even when I’m not moving I’m moving,” Rainbow muttered. She turned to look at Floydien. “How’s the weather?”
“Balm balm, but the snow is faint enough for us to burn through. Floydien would have liked it if Floydien had another pony to check on the winds beside himself and Nancy.”
Rainbow’s ears folded. “Err… yeah, sorry about that. Sometimes I take for granted how much you like to be reclusive.”
“Just because Floydien likes to be alone doesn’t mean he likes being alone.”
“Er… right…” Rainbow’s eyebrows twitched. “You see, it’s stuff like that. If you were a book, I’d need the eyes of a dragonfly to read you.”
“And machete for a bookmark, yes yes?”
“Whoah! I wasn’t calling you dense or nothing.”
“Surely color wheel can spit for humor.” Floydien gestured his antlers towards the pale stallion. “What’s with the bearded boomer?”
“Props’ Uncle Prowse. The one we saved earlier today? Oh, and the turtle too.”
“At this rate, Nancy Jane’s going to get fat.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that, dude.” Rainbow glanced at the elk. “I dunno what the future holds for Prowse, but Elma there has a home in some place called Alafreo. It’s on the far side of the Strip of Flurries.”
“So Nancy’s going to drop a turtle, then?”
Rainbow sighed. “Yes, Floydien. Yes, she will.”
“Floydien doesn’t care, so long as shelled boomer cleans after herself in the meantime.”
“I’m pretty sure she’s… erm… sh-shell trained.”
“More boomers look like they could use the thwack thwack.”
“Hmmm?” Rainbow glanced curiously at him.
He pointed a cloven hoof across the room.
Rainbow squinted.
Belle sat with Kera. The mare was far away from the happily chatting group, seated on one of the sofa cushions. She brushed the dormant filly’s mane with loving strokes. Not long after, a frail shadow shuffled in. Pilate strolled into the mess hall from the long narrow hallway beyond. Feeling about, he gradually made his way to the chairs across from the couch.
Belle took a deep breath. Without looking--or even saying a thing--she gently propped Kera on her shoulders, stood up, and walked quietly down the hallway from which Pilate came.
The zebra froze, his ears flicking to the sounds of dainty hoofsteps. After a while, he sighed, then continued shuffling forward, making his way towards the kitchen.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip as her eyes tensed.
The elk leaned his muzzle towards her ear. “And color wheel boomer thought Floydien was reclusive.” With a snort, he shuffled off to the far end of the room, leaving her alone with her flapping wings.
Rubbing her muzzle in thought, Rainbow Dash stared out the nearby porthole, noticing the sunset glistening off the frozen waters.
Hours later, Belle lay in the darkness, wide awake. She cradled Kera’s sleeping figure in her forelimbs, stroking the filly’s shoulders every now and then. Her moist chestnut eyes gazed into the bulkhead on the edge of the cot.
Somewhere in the midst of this perpetual malaise, the intercom inside the room crackled.
”Scrkkkk! Chestnut boomer. Floydien needs her ears to rise rise.”
Belle’s jaws clenched tight. She remained where she was.
”Crkkkkk! Chestnut boomer… It will spit on and on into the night with greater volume.”
“Nnnnnnngh…” With a low growl, Belle rose out of bed and slapped her hoof over the intercom. “Mr. Floydien, you caught me at a bad time--”
“The boomerette’s time is always bad. If only Nancy Jane’s spirit could infect all estrogenicon, yes yes?”
“Uhhhh…”
”Floydien assures chestnut boomer that this is a matter of extreme importport. Nancy Jane’s guide will freeze out here if she waits any longer.”
Belle blinked. “Rainbow Dash…?”
”Don’t make Floydien come down there. These antlers aren’t filly-proof, no no. Scrkkk!”
Belle fidgeted, shook, then sighed. Hanging her head, she stood in a slump besides the bed, then relented with a defeated groan. She leaned towards the bed, drew a blanket over Kera’s slumbering figure, and gave the filly a gentle nuzzle. Fighting back the urge to sniffle, Belle slipped on her leather coat and trotted out of the tiny compartment, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Belle climbed up the vertical crawlspace and emerged inside the cockpit. A dim amber light lit the top deck under the black fabric of night.
“Alright, Mr. Floydien,” the mare grumbled, teeth chattering in the brisk wind as she hugged herself. “What is it? Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Hmmmff…” The elk turned and pointed out onto the open deck. “Follow the shimmer glimmer.”
“Mmm?” Belle turned, blinking. Her brow furrowed.
Rainbow Dash hovered just a few feet above Pilate. The zebra sat on folded limbs, a thick blanket stretched over his figure. A pale spotlight hung magically over the two, twinkling with lunar energy.
“Bonjour!” Rainbow Dash said with a wave. “And all that fancy crap. How kind of you to join us, Ding Dong.”
“Join… you…?” Belle heard a clanking sound. She spun and looked down.
Floydien was climbing down the crawlspace. Not only that, but he was cranking a valve on the inside, thus shutting a metal lid at the top of the vertical chamber.
“Mr--” Belle did a double-take. “Are… are you shutting me outside?”
“Bite your spittaker! This is to keep out the cold!” Floydien frowned. “Chestnut boomerette shouldn’t be so ridiculous!” A beat. Floydien nod. “But yes yes yes, mostly just you.” Clank! The hatch to the Jury’s interior shut behind him.
Belle blinked, her lips pursed.
”Bellesmith, I presume…” a voice carried elegantly along the wind.
The mare shuddered. Spinning about, she gulped and murmured, “Princess Luna, Your Highness?”
A light chuckle lit the cold air. “Close, but not quite. My beloved sister has been gracious enough to allow me an evening to speak to Rainbow Dash and her friends.”
Belle’s pupils shrank. “Pr-Princess Celestia…?” she stammered.
”In the spirit, at least. It pleases me to speak with such close friends to my royal subject. Rainbow Dash tells me that we have a lot to talk about tonight…”
Belle squinted. She looked at Pilate, whose head was bowed towards the deck, then at Rainbow Dash, who was smirking proudly.
"Come on, Belle." Rainbow motioned with her windblown mane. "Have a seat."
Bellesmith took a deep breath. Eyes darting left and right, she trotted forward until she was within the penumbra of the moon's glow. As she sat down, her gaze fell on Pilate.
The zebra's ears twitched slightly to her shuffling limbs, but otherwise he gave no indication of having noticed her approach. His head remained bowed towards the top deck, his folded limbs curled tightly under a thick blanket.
"I just got finished telling Princess Celestia about the ponies we've picked up recently," Rainbow Dash said. "Not just Prowse and Elma, but Zaid as well."
"You are surrounded by very intriguing characters," the regal voice said, drifting through the enchanted air. "Not to mention very novel and talented."
"Yes," Belle said, nodding slightly. "We are... a varied bunch."
"And no doubt very cooperative, in spite of those differences."
Belle said nothing. She kneaded the ends of her hooves against the deck below.
"Belle wouldn't be able to tell you much about Prowse and Elma, Your Highness," Rainbow said, staring the mare's way. "Seeing as she hasn't taken the opportunity to talk with them yet."
Belle glanced up and squinted at her.
"All good things come in time," Princess Celestia's voice said. "At least such is my experience."
"Time carries with it many other things," Pilate suddenly droned.
Belle's ears folded upon hearing that.
Rainbow Dash fidgeted in midair, darting her head left and right between her two friends. She eventually cleared her voice and said, "Celestia and Luna happen to know a few things about the creatures we saw over in Seclorum's encampment. Isn't that right, Celestia?"
"Most certainly," Princess Celestia said. "As my sister already conveyed to Rainbow Dash, there's a race of equine beings from ancient Equestrian history that are commonly referred to as 'changelings.' Ever since the old Matriarchs Tchern and Chrysalis corrupted their brood with malevolent energy, these shape-shifting beings fled to the furthest stretches of the physical world, undoubtedly making a home on the dark side where the Sun and Moon fail to reach."
"It must have been difficult maintaining the Sun and Moon for so many years, Your Highness," Belle suddenly said. "I can't imagine the sort of strain that must have put on you."
There was a brief bit of silence, followed by Celestia's voice: "Indeed. But it was a labor I endured for a thousand years, as it was required of me in my sister's absence."
Belle gulped, staring at the deck. "It must be even harder to keep a chaos rift held shut... while also performing a long distance communication spell..."
Rainbow jerked a glance at Belle.
Belle bit her lip before eventually muttering. "Nopony would bl-blame you if you would rather rest and focus on your harmonic task at hoof."
Celestia calmly replied, "There are worse rifts in this world than that which plagues Ponyville, my little pony. As for rest, my soul cannot be at ease while I know that Rainbow and her friends suffer so much anguish."
"We... are n-not suffering, Your Highness," Pilate said. The zebra gulped and murmured, "It is a long and exhausting trip over the Frozen Sea, and it's taxed us greatly—"
"Oh please, Pilate," Belle sighed. "You're never 'suffering,' especially when you are."
Pilate's muzzle stretched tight as he grunted, "It's difficult to tell. I've had nopony around to compare myself too, beloved."
"Darling, if all you needed was somepony to talk to—"
"Don't pretend like it would make a difference!" the zebra snapped. "Most especially not in front of the Princess of Equestria!"
"Pilate—"
"Even when I'm in the same room with you, it's like you're miles away, Belle!"
"So help me if I'm not the strong mare that I was weeks ago, Pilate!" she snapped back. "I can't be expected to carry you every hour of every day! You're a grown stallion. Surely you're dealing with enough frustration of your own!"
"Mmnnngh..." Pilate rested his chin on his forelimbs. "...I just don't bury them in Kera everyday."
"Excuse me?!" Belle snarled. She blinked, then looked down to realize that she had stood up in a burst of anger. Grunting, she collapsed back on the top deck.
Rainbow bit her lip, then flinched when Celestia's voice broke the silence.
"Rainbow has... also told me of a most unfortunate turn of circumstances as of late."
The ponies atop the Noble Jury clenched their eyes shut at that—including Pilate.
"Such senselessly violent events are terribly tragic. But the greatest tragedy is the poison that is left over, that which leeches otherwise innocent ponies of their strength and vigor to live harmonically."
"Heh... 'innocent ponies...'" Rainbow Dash muttered. She tilted her head up. "Princess Celestia, it was my job to look out for the safety of the Noble Jury. By extension, that includes Kera and the ponies who care for her. What happened in Lerris..." She sighed heavily. "I could have prevented. I should have... h-had the foresight..."
"To do what, Rainbow?" Belle gazed sadly at her. "To have foreseen the future? To have killed Shell before he ever got to that village?"
"I had plenty of opportunities—"
"Not like I did." Belle gulped, her ears drooping. "I had him in my grasp, Rainbow. I... I-I know I should have told you sooner, but I didn't. I..." She grimaced. "I was too cowardly. In my heart, I knew that what I did to Shell was wrong. Not because he had any reason to be respected as a living being, but because I used him to destructive means... wh-when I could have used him for self-destructive."
"It was the most reasonable solution at the time, Belle," Pilate spoke up. "You wanted to get back to the Jury. And if you hadn't controlled Shell the way you did, who knows how many more ponies would have died in at—"
"At Seclorum's?!" Belle exclaimed, eyes hard-set. "A place that was already a blood bath?! Where ponies went to die and they knew it?!"
"There was so much at stake, Belle," Pilate said. "The world as we know it and don't know it. The path of Austraeoh and Nevlamas' reign of chaos—"
"Pilate..."
"If you hadn't forced Shell to intervene, there's no telling if Rainbow Dash or the rest of the Jury would still be alive—"
"None of that matters to me! Don't you get it?!" Belle stammered, sniffling. "In the end, it bit all of us in the flank! And it cost us Kera! All because of my selfish stupidity—"
"Dammit, Belle!" Pilate slapped his hooves against the top deck. "Will you drop it about Kera?! Everything doesn't revolve around Kera!!" He frowned. "What happened to her is terrible! Absolutely terrible! But you need to stop counting all of the mistakes that you've made and start to weigh in all of the good, courageous things that you've—"
"Because it's so easy for a blind zebra with a focus on the 'big picture' to justify the consequences of—"
"And you need to stop blaming me for Lerris!" Pilate practically hissed. "I made a judgment call. It was a bad call—I admit that. But I did not slay those ponies, Belle. I did not traumatize our surrogate daughter. And I sure as the Spark shimmers on..."
"Pilate, please—"
"...mm not the one burning this relationship to the ground!" he hollered.
Belle flinched away from him, shivering.
Pilate panted and panted, his tense facial muscles loosening gradually.
"It's neither of your guys' fault..."
Belle looked up. Pilate tilted his head skyward.
Rainbow Dash hugged herself in midair, her eyes wet. "I... I should have stayed in Lerris. I should have stuck with you guys all the way through to the end. I dunno if I could have stopped Shell but..." She sniffled and sighed. "At least it would have been something. Even if we all died that night." She looked away, her eyelashes beading with moisture. "Anything would be b-better than this..."
The other two ponies hung their heads.
At last, Celestia spoke.
"I have not felt this sad since I lost my apprentice."
Rainbow inhaled sharply. She stared up at the wavering moonlight. "Your H-Highness...?"
"This monster that you speak of—this Shell—needs to die. And he needs to die tonight."
Rainbow's brow furrowed. "But... but Princess Celestia..." She wiped her cheek dry with a forelimb and murmured. "I already told you. Back in Lerris. I—"
"Until you three stop blaming yourselves, he will continue to haunt you. He will continue to tear apart that which is magnificent. In the last three months since I first heard from my sister that Rainbow Dash had found herself some new companions, my heart has been filled with joy. For the first time, I could solace myself with the thought that the last of the Elements of Harmony had found a reason to be loyal yet again... and to be joyful. This is a blessed thing... or at least it was. It burdens my heart to witness how frayed everything has become. Even from miles away, I can feel the fibrous ends unraveling, and I'm telling each and every one of you that you must sort out these demons before they burn your love and trust into inert dust."
"Your Highness, you don't understand," Rainbow Dash spoke with a heavy sigh. She hung her head. "It really is my fault. I should have been there for these guys. Even after Lerris, I... I've made nothing but mistakes."
"And do you truly think that I am unfamiliar with the wages of death and anguish, my little pony?" Celestia spoke. "That I would not have made the same mistakes—if not transgressions a thousand times worse—in all my years?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
Belle glanced up while Pilate leaned an ear towards the source of the magical voice.
"Since the days that the Alicorns first came to this plane, I have endeavored to maintain harmony at all cost. The price has been exceedingly steep, and even at my greatest strength, I've only been able to keep peace consistent within a small pocket of geographical scale, the land that we know as Equestria. Do you truly think an immortal life equates to an immaculate one? It is nigh impossible to keep harmony stable in a land adrift in chaos. I have ventured to great lengths to protect the interests of the mortals of this plane, and this has inevitably cost the lives of many other mortals. I have seen dragons turned into mindless beasts. I have witnessed beloved siblings betraying themselves to darkness. Countries have fallen into the ash of endless strife and bloodshed while I've been forced to watch—helpless—from afar. For over ten millennia, I've used my magic for the betterment of Equestrian kind, and while my sister and I have maintained a rich state of equilibrium, there is ultimately one resolution I can make from the entire experience."
Silence.
Pilate lifted his muzzle. "Uhm... what is that, Your Highness?"
"That there will always, always be events that we cannot control. Most especially the tragic ones."
Belle hung her head.
Celestia continued. "You three have suffered a terrible fate. Whether your suffering exceeds that of the ponies of Lerris or darling little Kera, it matters not. You have survived. You are the ones who must lucidly deal with that which has taken place, and it does not benefit any one of you to be consumed by the pain that was dealt that day. If anger and regret exists between you, that is understandable, but you must exorcize it if you are to move on and spread harmony like you were born to."
"Princess Celestia, I don't..." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. A sigh, and then she muttered, "I'm not angry at either of these ponies. I failed them. It's as simple as that. I've... I've kept them at forelimb's distance because I'm just scared that... I dunno... something stupid will happen again." She gulped. "That the monster will have its way with them as it's had its way with me."
"Rainbow Dash, even you can't deny that anger and frustration is far more real than any supposed 'monster.'"
Rainbow sniffled and glanced up towards the luminous night sky. "Huh?"
"How often have you and I spoken during all of the full moons that have passed since your journey began?"
The pegasus bit her lip.
"Rainbow, you can fly as far as you want, leaving everything and everyone you know behind. But I made it clear to you from day one that I will always be here for you."
"Mmmmf..." Rainbow folded her forelimbs, suddenly shivering. "I know that, Your Highness..."
"And I am more than willing to hear anything that you wish to say."
"Whatever I needed to say to you has already been said," Rainbow grunted out the edge of her muzzle as she gazed towards the frozen horizoin. "Back in Silvadel, I let it out. Remember?"
"Rainbow Dash..."
"I forgave you, Celestia. Nothing's changed, alright?"
"Forgave me for what?"
"Dang it!" Rainbow snapped, spinning in midair. "I told you I—" She froze in mid-air, lip quivering. She gulped and murmured, "Why'd you have to let it happen? Didn't you love her? Wasn't she your 'good and faithful student' and all that crap?"
Rainbow's wings went limp as she landed awkwardly on the deck.
"Weren't she and all her friends what made the whole 'magic' thing w-work?!" Rainbow sputtered. "Couldn't you have seen the path that we were gonna cross with Discord?!" She gnashed her teeth. "You can raise the sun. You can lower the moon. But you can't bother to hammer one measly gargoyle statue in your royal garden to bits?!"
Rainbow Dash stood, trembling, hyperventilating.
At last, Celestia's voice drifted in a low tone. "I am so exceedingly sorry, Rainbow Dash—"
"Well, not as sorry as I am!" Rainbow's voice cracked explosively. "You're not the one with an expiration date! You're not the one with nothing to live for but the horizon! You're n-not the one who h-has to close her eyes every n-night, knowing that she'll see that vision of their faces again... of their screams... their bodies twisted in pain as one by one they... th-they..." Rainbow's face contorted in a sob as she fell to her belly, weeping into the wooden deck.
Belle watched with her muzzle agape. Pilate's ears hung limp on either side of his skull.
Sniffling, hiccuping, Rainbow Dash gradually pushed herself back up into a standing position. "I know. I-I know." She gulped. "There was n-nothing you could have done to stop Discord. Nopony knew just how crazy p-powerful he was... or what the elements would have d-done when they tried to fight him without me. I... I-I don't want to h-hate you, Celestia. I never have. I love you..." She squeaked, running a hoof over her tear-stained muzzle. "Oh gosh, I love you. How c-can't I? You're all I have left..."
After a while, Celestia's voice gently drifted over the sound of Rainbow's shuddering voice. "Am I truly the only one...?"
Rainbow Dash sucked her breath in, clenching her jaw. Slowly, she turned around, staring painfully at Belle and Pilate.
The two ponies sat in reverent silence.
Slowly, with meager grace, Rainbow trotted closer towards them.
"I love you guys..." Rainbow Dash took a shuddering breath and stood between Pilate and Belle on the top deck. "I love you enough to protect you no matter what. And I love you enough to leave you be when the time comes. But we all have to understand... th-that there are things that are simply out of my control." She inhaled heavily, eyes streaming with tears. "No matter how fast I can fly... no matter how awesome I am... the world is simply too dangerous for me to stop every signle horrible thing that happens. What happened in Lerris is terrible. What happened to you guys and Kera is unthinkably bad. But the only thing I can absolutely guarantee that I can control is my loyalty to you. And... and I-I've been so very bad about that, lately..."
She trotted up to Pilate, nuzzling him gently on the side of his head.
"I've left you in the dark. What I thought you needed was a protector. What you've truly needed is a friend."
She side-stepped over to Belle, planting her hooves on the mare's forelimbs.
"I wish you had told me what you knew about Imre, but you aren't the one who murdered her and you aren't responsible for making Shell the monster that he was. None of us are."
She shuffled backwards, hanging her head towards the top deck.
"You all went through something so... so bad... and I spent so much time blaming myself and thinking about my faults that I didn't think of preserving my strength. And that's my love and commitment to you. I felt that keeping my distance and focusing on the journey would be enough. But obviously, it's not. We're falling apart. Lerris happened weeks ago, but it could just as well have been yesterday or today. Nothing's healed, because I've abandoned it. I've abandoned you. And I'm sorry."
Rainbow lifted her head up, gnashing her teeth. "I'm so... so sorry. I love you guys too much to let it go on like this. But I'm not the only one." She clenched her teeth and spoke in a firmer voice. "You need to stop this. Whatever this is. It must go on no further."
Belle hung her head while Pilate kneaded his hooves against the top deck.
Rainbow took a firm step forward. "You both love each other. You're practically heads over hooves for each other! I don't know what it is about Lerris that's gotten you so worked up against each other that the miracle of your survival is like a speck of dust in the wind. You've been given another chance! This is your opportunity to make what's best of your lives, Kera's life, all our lives! Please... please... don't go it alone. Don't do what I did for so long in my anger, sadness, and hopelessness. It took my death at the hands of a massive dragon before I found what it meant to enjoy life again. Don't let something worse happen to you guys as well."
Pilate bit his lip. Belle stared off into the starry expanse.
"Please..." Rainbow murmured. She trotted forward, muzzle trembling. "Please. I want my friends back." She sniffled into the gathering wind. "I want my friends back. I don't want to seem them dead on their hooves when there's still time to help them..."
"Rainbow Dash! There's... something..."
The sound of Celestia's voice broke Rainbow out of her concentration. She blinked, realizing that a heavy gale was kicking at her mane and tail. Pilate gasped in fright, gripping onto the deck beneath him tightly. Belle tilted her head up and squinted towards the east horizon.
"...losing the connection... something... with the spell.."
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked. She glanced down at her neck. The pendant was flickering. What's more, the pale aura of moonlight around her and her friends vanished. "Princess Celestia!"
Her voice dissolved in the gradually building winds. Rainbow looked straight up to see that dark and gray clouds had blocked out the moonlight. Clenching her teeth, she ran towards the bow of the ship, having to stop two or three times to brace herself against the gusts of cold air.
"What is it?!" Pilate stammered frightfully. "What's going on?!"
"It seems like a storm of some sort!" Belle exclaimed.
"It's no regular storm!" Rainbow Dash said. Gritting her teeth, she hoisted herself onto the port side railing of the ship and stuck her hooves out.
"Rainbow, be careful!" Belle said.
"What the fuzz...?" Rainbow murmured. "This isn't right..."
"What isn't?" Pilate asked.
"The clouds..." Rainbow bit her lip. "The mist here isn't responding to my hooves."
"Aren't pegasi endowed with the ability to manipulate weather?"
"Normally..." Rainbow nodded. "It worked in Equestria, and it worked in Ledomare. But why not here?"
Belle gasped, then trembled. "The Strip of Flurries."
Rainbow Dash glanced back.
"Seems like we've made our destination sooner than was planned," Belle said.
"But how's that possible?" Pilate asked. "We had another two days of full speed at this rate!"
Rainbow looked at him.
The zebra's ears folded. "I may be blind, but I have a good memory."
"Could it be..." Rainbow thought aloud, fidgeting. "...that the weather of the Strip of Flurries has moved towards us?"
"You mean it's heading west?" Pilate stammered.
Rainbow said nothing, simply gazing into the thickening storm.
Belle gulped. "Perhaps we should turn around. We can make contact with Luna and Celestia again, then go about planning a way through this mess."
Rainbow Took a deep breath, watching as the mists grew denser and denser around the ship. "Something tells me this 'mess' isn't going away anytime soon." She dried her face with a forelimb and furrowed her brow. "There's no sense in postponing it. We have to pierce on through."
"Sae whit yoo're tryin' tae teel me is 'at thes floatin' magical book is what's powerin' up th' ship?" Prowse exclaimed, pointing a pale hoof.
"Mmmmmm... it's more complicated than that," Props said, trotting proudly around the cage with the floating lavender tome. "The Ledomaritans of Nightshade Industries rebuilt Nancy's inner workings so that the cage with the book would act as a buffer to the skystone engine. Apparently Nightshade understood this magical page-turner a lot. Almost more than Pilate, Bellesmith, and Dashie do. Whatever energy it runs on, it keeps handsome's ship pumping at full capacity!" She then winced, blushing. "Well, normally it'd be pumping at full capacity. I've been hammering away all month to get it back to working order ever since a bunch of meanie weanie cultist sacked the womb."
"The what?"
"The womb! Nancy Jane's womb!" Props pointed towards the walls. "Where we are right now, silly Unky!"
Prowse rubbed his beard, then stared at the mess of steam pipes and bulkheads around him. "It's a micht bit broon fur a lady's foal hole, dornt ye think?"
"Heeheehee! It's a figure of speech, Unky Prowsy! Floydien's full of them, in case you haven't noticed."
"Aye, I have! Second tae th' big jagged horns comin' it ay th' bastard's heed!"
"Hey! Be nice to him!" Props pouted. "He's a nice bastard!"
"Hahah!" Prowse reached over and patted the mare's shoulder. "I bit he is, lassie. if yoo've gart friends wi' heem, 'en he's okay in th' professor's book!"
"But I make friends with everypony!"
"That's wa Ah loch havin' ye fur a niece. Ah dornt need tae make friends. Yoo're aroond tae make friends fur me."
"But what about Elma?"
"Ah only notice 'er coz Ah trip oan 'er half th' time." Prowse gazed at the tome once more. "Sae, ye hink thes hin' has a connection tae yer colorful winged mate?"
Props blinked. "To Dashie? Yes! Totally!" She giggled again, then went silent. "Wait, how'd you know?"
"Thes bludy ship is foo ay aw sorts ay magic an' glitter, an' thes book an' yer flyin' filly friend ur th' magicalest an' glitteriest of em all. Teel me, Propsicle, jist whaur is thes Rainbaw Bricht bosomy character flyin' aff tae in sic' a hurrie?"
"You know, to be honest, I've never quite figured it out!" Props said with a bright-eyed expression. "All I know is that she wants to go to the dark side of the world. I don't understand why; I hear it's super scary there. Also, no sun and moon—and those are the only two connections she has with home."
"Th' puir sod's far awa' frae th' ones she loves, huh?" Prowse scratched his beard. "That's a tad bit strange, dornt ye hink? if Ah hud wings, eh'd fancy myself flyin' to haem an' nae awa' frae it."
"That's the nifty thing about Dashie." Props smiled with a flounce of her blonde mane. "I figure that she takes 'home' wherever she goes."
"Hah! Whit a clever hin' tae say! Nae ferlie Ah shared th' umbilical noose wi' th' stallion fa eventually spawned ye."
"Yeah. About Dad. Is he ever going to thaw anyday soon?"
"Bloody Spark, Ah hope not." Prowse grunted as he paced across the engine room. "Glaikit dobber needs tae learn his lesson abit messin' wi' coolant crystals. Sae, teel me mair abit thes glowin' book hin'."
"Heehee... enough about my ship, let's talk about you!" Props leaned in to nuzzle him. "Tell me more about this Zaba... Zabby... Zabarro—"
Before Props could finish her pronunciations, the ship shook. The mare gasped, bumping into Prowse. Prowse steadied her, blinking. Once more, the ship experienced turbulent, far stronger this time.
"Plow meh sideways!" Prowse stammered. "Ur we grindin' against a ben?"
"Only one way to find out!" Props galloped into the stairwell, motioning Prowse along with her. "Come on!" The two dashed out.
As soon as they galloped out onto the top deck, they had to brace themselves against the ship's railing. Sheets of rain sliced through the air in random bursts, all the while a punishing wind pelted the coats and flesh of those up top.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted from the cockpit far across the deck. It was so windy that even she refused to linger outside, choosing instead to brace herself within the doorframe to the cramped compartment. "You crazy?! Gallop back downstairs!"
Props hollered against the wind and rain. "But we wanted to know what was happening—"
"Then use the intercom!" Rainbow shouted. "We're approaching the Strip of Flurries!"
"Ackies!" Props gasped as Prowse gripped her protectively. "Already?!"
"It seems to be moving towards us!" Rainbow gestured with her hoof. "Just go downstairs! We'll keep you up to date!"
Prowse and Props nervously complied. In the meantime, Rainbow turned back towards the cockpit to where Floydien, Josho, Elma, and Eagle Eye were standing.
"Please tell me you can get us out of this patch of turbulence," Rainbow asked.
"What the glimmer for?!" Floydien grunted, shooting various sparks from his antlers into the console and controls. "Just so we can face the shake-shake elsewhere?! Color wheel boomer wanted to plow Nancy through the storm, yes yes yes?"
"Of course! But first thing's first! We gotta get to a calm spot so that we can figure out just where the passage of the Strip is so we can fly on through with no problem!"
Eagle Eye raised his hoof, shivering. "I vote for the calm spot!"
"As much as I like to do things the meatheaded way, I'd really like to live through this journey long enough to eat a meal that isn't watered down again," Josho said. "Come on, elkster, park us someplace relaxing."
"Floydien would love to!" The pilot grumbled. "If the boomers would just stop crowding Floydien!"
"S-sorry..." Elma shuffled backwards against one wall of the cockpit. "I forget that some creatures don't like to bump elbows."
Eagle looked at her. "Is Alafreo super crowded?"
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-ho-ho-ho..." Elma snapped her reptilian beak. "You have no idea..."
"Cease the spit for one minute-minute!" Floydien grumbled.
The ponies on board braced themselves, holding their breaths as the Noble Jury lifted up, up, and emerged from a layer of clouds. The air above the gray smudge was calm enough for the ship to carry forward at an even glide. Directly out the cockpit windshield, the Jurists saw rolling plateaus of dark black smoke, and most of them oozing slowly towards them. It was morning time, and the sun had risen—but the only hint of this was a pale haze that pierced only the topmost layer of the anvil clouds surrounding them, leaving the rest of the world in a depressing smoke-colored lurch.
"I don't see what you're all getting so worked up about," Elma said in a pleasant tone. "I've flown in and out of the Flurries for years. Sure, it's turbulent and scary, but you've got yourselves a skystone vessel!" She smiled. "You'll manage!"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, E.B." Rainbow smirked tiredly at the turtle. "But this crew has been through enough to know that you can't ever be too careful."
Right as she said that, a dark shape lifted up out of the clouds and soared past the cockpit window. SWOOOOSH!
"Cat scat!" Floydien gasped, accidentally causing the ship the jerk a little.
"Criminy!" Josho added to the explanation. "Was that a sea serpent?!"
"At this height?!" Eagle questioned.
"A m-meteor?"
Eagle's violet eyes turned thin. "It was flying up."
"You guys hear a strange humming?" Rainbow murmured.
"Don't look now..." Josho pointed out the back of the cockpit. The occupants stared over the rain-slick deck in time to see a glossy black sphere of a hovership come to a floating stop off the Jury's port side. "...but our friends are back."
"Uhhh..." Elma stumbled back, her quivering eyes reflecting the red lights flickering across the front of the round vessel. "Uhmmm..."
"Yeah?" Rainbow glanced down at her. "What is it?"
The turtle gulped and drew her head back into her cell. "Those aren't exactly 'friends.'"
The black spheroid of a vessel hovered so close to the Noble Jury's port side that the ponies on the top deck could see their reflections in the dark gloss. Every expression was contorted, full of dull shock and confusion. For over five minutes, the strange ship hovered within this anxious proximity—not moving, not drifting, not making a sound.
All the while, thunder broiled in the east, carried aloft by the bulbous heads of dark rolling clouds. The early morning sun broke through the Flurries every now and then, but no sheen of light revealed any change in the isolated aircraft.
At last Eagle Eye leaned into the center of the group and hissed, "Do you think it sees us?"
"It's not an 'it,' fruit basket," Josho said in a gruff trone. "If anything, it's likely a 'they.'"
"Well, they certainly are very comfortable staying as an it."
"It or they or crap, too closely to Nancy does the glimmer hover!" Floydien growled from the cockpit. "Floydien has a good mind to give them something to mind over!"
"Easy there, big fella," Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof at the pilot without looking. "No sudden moves. For all we know, this ship belongs to ponies who are in charge of this place."
Eagle Eye's muzzle scrunched up. "In charge of the frozen wastes?"
"Floydien has seen stranger things."
"Yeah, well, that much is certain," Josho said with a nod. "But out here in pointed nipple country?"
"Elma?" Rainbow Dash squinted towards the cockpit. "Elma, what's wrong?"
The oversized snapping turtle hid from view, shaking her scaled head and breathing heavily. In the meanwhile, two stallions swiftly climbed up from the floors below.
"Hey! Blue Mare Group!" Zaid shuffled briskly across the top deck. "Senor Mane and I here totally saw a big black watermelon floating about outside? You guys see it—Holy Jumarenji!" Zaid jolted in place at the sight of the sudden ship.
"Ooof!" Ebon bumped into the stallion's rear and winced. "What in the name of croutons?" His eyes twitched. "Uhhhhh... guys?" He gulped. "What's with the floating bowling ball of death?"
"It's not here to kill us," Rainbow droned.
"How do we know that?" Josho retorted.
"I refuse to believe that everything that exists out here wants us dead!" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Then your colored mane's doing a really darn good job of leeching the smarts from your brain 'cuz live and learn, sister! Out here we is screwed immaculate!"
"Will everypony just calm down?" Ebon remarked, then took one glance at the cockpit. "...and turtle." He cleared his throat and looked at the group again. "I'm with Rainbow Dash. Let's not assume the worst until the worst happens. Now, where's Propsy and her uncle?"
"Yeah! Let's get Beardo up here!" Zaid grinned wildly. "I'm sure he's got a super scope on that boomstick arm of his!"
"No! Nononono..." Elma stammered beneath a rattling beak.
Rainbow turned towards her. "Why not...?"
"Just... don't bring Prowse up here. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Floydien thinks that shelled boomer has bad feelings about every spit."
"It's k-kept me alive this long, hasn't it?"
"Uhm... guys?" Eagle Eye spoke up. "I think I saw movement."
"Movement?" Rainbow turned towards him. "Where?"
Phhhhshhhhhhhhhh! A wave of mist was expelled from the front of the craft. Josho instinctively unholstered his shotgun while, Eagle Eye levitated a sword and shield. Even Floydien's antlers were sparkling wildly. Rainbow Dash had to fly swift circles in front of them, gesturing the group to lower their weapons. All the while, she had her head turned, ruby eyes staring at the spectacle before them.
Slowly, the forward front quarter of the ship's dome-like structure rolled back, sliding inside its own shell. A flat, semi-circular platform appeared, with gray metal surfaces that contrasted greatly with the glossy exterior. After the initial burst of steam, tiny jets of vapor continuously emanated from the outer rim of the exposed ship. The Jurists shuddered, their faces and coats pelted by a curtain of heat wafting off of the ship.
"The crap is this thing?" Josho murmured through a twisted expression. "A muffin delivery ship? That thing must be full of ovens."
"Ooooh!" Zaid grinned wide. "I could go for some blueberry!"
"I was being sarcastic, dumbass."
"And I was being optimistic, snotcrotch!"
"Guys! Knock it off!" Rainbow hissed. "I swear! Stallions are such hotheads—"
In the space of two seconds, seven dark and hooded figures scurried up to the middle of the strange ship's platform and froze in place.
With a gasp, Eagle Eye jumped into Josho's telekinetic field so that the older stallion could "hold" him. Josho rolled his eyes and dropped the ex-mercenary with a thud ("Ow!").
Zaid blinked while Ebon Mane and Floydien gaped. Elma was nowhere to be seen at this point, even by her fellow peers.
"Uhhhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash could only drone.
Then, with icy grace, all seven figures rose at once, standing perfectly straight. Their forward limbs hid within the recesses of their tight, rubbery cloaks. As they all stared simultaneously towards the Noble Jury, Rainbow Dash could see streaks of glowing yellow light from between the creases of their black outfits. But that wasn't all she could see. Within the frame of each hood, there wasn't a face, but rather a mask—silver in color and slick with condensation, like sweating shadows. A pair of diamond-shaped eyeslits were set within the brow, and the "mouth" was formed out of a solid horizontal line consisting of several vertical metal links that rattled with the minute sway of the ship. What's more, the very outer edges of the masks—between the silver surfaces and the spongy black material of the robes—there was a deep yellow glow, as if some sort of luminosity was purposefully resonating from within the creatures' suits. It looked as though their masks' expressions were perpetually grimacing, and yet emotionally neutral. It was hard for Rainbow Dash to read anything from them, especially since the figures continually stood there, straight up in bipedal fashion, with no jerk or twitch to their icy frames.
"Er..." Rainbow cleared her throat, hovering forward a bit. "Hey there... dudes. My name is Rainbow Dash. These are my friends... the crew of the Noble Jury." She smiled nervously. "What brings you out to these parts?"
The seven figures said nothing.
"Have you... uh... have you gotten lost?"
The seven figures said nothing.
"Do you... know any way that we can get through the Strip of Flurries unscathed? Eheheh..."
The seven figures said nothing.
Rainbow Dash exhaled with a shudder. "Well, then. This certainly doesn't feel like shopping for pet rocks in the least."
"Psssst... Rainbow!" Eagle Eye hissed, leaning towards her while he kept his violet eyes locked on the craft. "Remember what they described? In Lerris?"
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash nodded. "I totally do."
"So... uhm... what do we do?"
"I doubt we have anything that's worth trading."
"Don't tell me that! Tell them that!"
"Why can't you tell them?"
"Because they're creepy as heck!"
"Oh for crying out—"
"Hey there! Uhhh... Yoohoo!" Zaid suddenly waved his forelimb, speaking above the distant roll of thunder. "You guys wouldn't happen to have any grilled cheese on you, wouldja?"
The seven figures said nothing.
Zaid blanched. "Yeah. Right. Screw these guys."
"Floydien?" Rainbow Dash finally took her eyes off the seven. "Pull us further north, slow and steady—"
The centermost figure atop the ship suddenly twitched. His hood's glow switched from gold to a crimson red. Vapor squeezed through the links of his mask's "lips" as he pulled his forearm out of his vest. Five elongated digits held a black disc, and with one squeeze, an image of a stallion appeared in flickering holographic glory.
"This stallion," a voice crackled, like a recorded voice being broadcasted through six sound stones back to back while suffering leyline feedback. It was difficult to make out the words, and he appeared to know it, speaking in slowly pronounced syllables and elongated verbs. "Have you seen him?"
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash did a double-take as the rest of the crew flinched at the sudden outburst.
The gloved hand held the hologram higher. "Have you stumbled upon this stallion in your travels?"
Rainbow Dash stared. She studied the hologram's pale coat, red beard, and metal left prosthetic. She glanced towards her peripheral vision, but Elma was nowhere to be seen. She cleared her throat. "No. I can't say that I have."
The figure remained frozen in place, holding the hologram up high. "If you've encountered this stallion, it would be in your best interests to be rid of him."
"Uhhhh... have you taken a look around, dude?" Rainbow gestured towards the stormy mess below and on the immediate horizon. "Either it's farting thunder or it's peeing ice around this place. I seriously doubt any random stallion is just going to happen to show up."
"This place is dangerous to foreign travelers," the figure said. "But there are things hidden in these clouds, things that are far more dangerous. Malevolent, even."
"You don't say..."
"If you give this stallion to us, we will be on our way."
"Didn't you hear me?" Rainbow frowned. She pointed at the figures on the top deck of the Jury beneath her. "All the stallions on board are accounted for."
"And mares," Josho said, nudging Eagle.
"Old stallion!" Eagle Eye hissed. "There is a time and a place—"
"We estimate that you have a lot of space on board your ship," the figure said, his suit's red glow giving a bloody taint to the vapors pouring out of his mask. "He could be hiding aboard and you wouldn't know it. You could be in great peril."
"For real..." Rainbow Dash frowned. "What's it to you?"
The figure finally lowered the hologram with a sudden, jerky movement. "I am Razzar of the Lounge, and the stallion in question is responsible for the theft and murder of dozens of our clients. For the safety of this passage, and for the integrity of our enterprise, we must have him."
Rainbow's tail thwacked the stallion's face from where she hovered in front of him. Keeping her eyes on the lead figure's mask, she hovered slightly forward and said, "I'm sorry to hear about your clients. That is most uncool. And if we could help you, we would. But, like I've said before, we're just trying to pass through the Flurries." She slowly shook her head. "We don't know anything about the stallion you're showing us."
Razzar, his mask laced with a red glow, stood stock-still. At last, after many seconds, he raised his hand up in a gnarled fist. The other six Lounge cohorts fell down on all fours and shuffled backwards. Slowly, Razzar stepped towards the edge of his ship, shuffling one rear foot at a time.
Rainbow fidgeted a bit, but eventually met his stride, hovering forward so that the two were face-to-face along the edges of their adjacent vessels. A cold gust of air flew through them, around them, obscuring their suddenly quiet conversation from the rest of those in attendance.
"I take it that you're the leader of this group of wandering, flying ponies," Razzar said, his voice calm and serene behind his emotionless mask. "If not evident in the possession of your wings, it's apparent in your resolve and bravado."
"Is that the business you 'Lounge' guys are in?" Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. "Drive by compliments?"
"I am only stating what I observe," Razzar said, his head nodding slightly. "Now let me state something else. We have been watching your vessel closely for the past week."
"What?" Rainbow frowned. "What the frig for?"
"It is our business to know who it is that decides to travel through these Wastes. We have learned to adapt to these frozen pockets of air in ways that no other group has. As a result, we have taken it upon ourselves to maintain the safe passage for everyone who is far less lucky than we. Right now, you and your group are a threat to others as well as to yourselves."
"What in the hay are you talking about?"
Razzar leaned forward with a glint to his silver mask. "We know that you were the last ones to leave that frozen seaship alive. We know that it was your battle with the Frost Wyrm that sank the vessel and the iceberg to the depths. Furthermore, we know who it is that you 'rescued' from the ship's hold, and whom you now hide in your possession."
Rainbow Dash said nothing, her jaw clenched tight.
"He is not as he seems. He is a deceiver of the highest order. What story did he concoct about how he was stranded to begin with? Pirates? Hijackers?" Razzar pointed a sharp, gloved finger. "It was him who stranded that vessel within the iceberg to begin with. All of the ponies on board lost their lives because he willed it, exploiting their trust and their weaknesses. He will do the very same to you if you are not careful."
"Tell me, bright eyes." Rainbow Dash leaned her scowling face closer. "If you're so good at following others around and seeing through everything, then how would you have let this supposed dude remain alive on such a frozen ship?"
"The Lounge are astute sentries of the Wastes, but we are far from perfect. We searched the ship all over in hopes of finding him after its crash. Alas, he somehow managed to escape our notice. His cunning is undeniably great. We believe that he only became visible once more when it came time to lure you and your companions into his trap. Little did we know that we'd be waiting in the wings, taking the opportunity to observe his foolish reappearance."
"If you ask me, I think you guys are paranoid," Rainbow Dash said. "If you're such a big help to the Frozen Sea, why don't you stop wasting your time on a pathetic wild goose chase and instead so something helpful?" She smirked briefly. "Like showing us a way through the Flurries? Because—I don't know if you've noticed—but the skies east of here aren't all that friendly, and we could certainly use a few good pointers."
Razzar slowly shook his head. "Not while that stallion remains unfettered. We owe it to the families and partners of those maligned to bring him back to justice."
"'Bring him back to justice?'" Rainbow Dash squinted. "Just what are you guys after?"
"Enough discourse," Razzar's voice took on a crackling edge as his cloak glowed brighter from within. The steam came out in rapid bursts now. "We must have him. It is imperative that you comply."
"I don't think you Lounge melon fudges are nearly as altruistic as you let on!" Rainbow Dash sneered. "You're just a bunch of bounty hunters, aren't you?"
Razzar said nothing.
"Feh..." Rainbow spat. "If there's anything I can't stand in this wide, wicked world, it's hypocritical bounty hunters. I've fought several, converted one, and butted heads with far more than I'd care to admit. I did not fly two weeks into Hearth's Warming buttocks just to deal with your kind again. You want to help us? Fine. Then buzz off." Rainbow flung a hoof through the windy air. "Make like a... a... wh-whatever you are and leaf!"
Razzar's red-tinted vapors coalesced around his bobbing head. "I am telling you this absolute truth now, winged pony. If you keep this stallion on board your ship, you will not make it to the other side of the Flurries alive." His fingers clenched into gloved fists. "Of this I can assure you."
Rainbow's mouth hung agape. "Is that some sort of threat?"
"Just a matter of fact." Razzar took a deep breath, his mask's speaker crackling. "We are giving you and your comrades five minutes to deliberate. Once time is up, and you have relinquished the stallion to us, then we shall guide you through the Flurries... or leave you be. Whichever you prefer." He made to turn around, but paused. His mask tilted up towards her again. "Oh, and if it helps you to know, we have endured not only the harshness of the Frozen Wastes, but the wrath of the Warring Continent as well. We know the lands behind and beyond the Flurries with utmost clarity. It would behoove you to not attempt anything foolish right now. Think of your crew. That is all."
With that said, the leader marched away and joined the other six of the Lounge.
Rainbow, shuddering ever so slightly, pivoted and flew back to the rest of the Jury.
"Where's Elma?" Rainbow Dash muttered, flying through the crowd.
"What did he say, Rainbow?"
"Never mind that. We're screwed if we don't give up Prowse to these dodoes in the next four and a half minutes."
While Eagle Eye gasped, Josho glared towards the Lounge's ship. "Define 'screwed?'"
"I don't intend to find out."
"But we can't give them Prowse!" Ebon squeaked.
"I know that, Chef Enstallion!" Rainbow hissed. "I don't trust these masked hornjobs any further than I can throw them. Now where's Elma?"
Floydien emerged from the cockpit, kicking the shivering turtle into view.
"Gaaah!" Elma hid behind Josho so as not to be seen by the masked figures. "Can I pleeeeeeease go down below?"
Rainbow squatted until she was even with her scaled face. "These dudes say that they want Prowse."
"Well of c-course they want the Professor!"
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"How should I know?! That's what the pirates captured us for to begin with! I already told you that!"
"They claim that Prowse is a liar and a murderer of local passengers."
"Propsy's Uncle?!" Ebon said through a grimace.
"The Professor certainly has a short fuse and he's been known to wave a boomstick in a few ponies' faces." Elma Boreal gulped. "But he's never finished a fight unless somepony else started it!"
"Are you sure about that?" Josho asked, glaring.
"He may be a bit nutso, but he's not st-stupid! The Frozen Sea is no place to make enemies. We've had enough trouble as it is being bullied by pirates to bother rubbing other travellers the wrong way out here!"
"Well, whatever the case, Prowse has made enemies in the wrong places," Rainbow Dash said. She motioned over her shoulder towards the floating ship. "And now these guys have come to collect."
"Collect?" Eagle Eye blinked. "You mean they're bounty hunters?"
"Different mouths, the same old spit," Floydien grumbled. "No sea is the same unless it can run red."
"Then what do we do?!" Ebon Mane asked. "They sure don't look friendly! What'll happen when the time they've given us is up?"
"I'm not going to let it come to that," Rainbow Dash said.
Zaid smiled. "I say you head-butt them!"
"What? No!" Rainbow frowned. "We gotta go about this carefully."
"Go about what, exactly?"
There was a tapping sound from the adjacent ship. Rainbow glanced over to see Razzar looking directly towards her.
"What's that all about?" Ebon remarked.
"I think we're down to three minutes..."
"So go on and headbutt him!" Zaid hissed.
"Floydien, carefully and quietly, turn the intercom on," Rainbow Dash murmured aside. "Patch us through to the engine room."
"Yes yes yes..." The elk shuffled over and stealthily tapped the console on the wall with his rear left hoof.
"What do you have in mind?" Eagle asked.
"It's going to be risky, but it'll take all of our concentration and teamwork to pull off."
"Pull off what, exactly?" Josho asked.
"Yeah." Zaid nodded. "It only takes one pony with wings to headbutt them."
"Shhhh! Will you shut the heck up about the stupid headbutting thing?!"
The intercom crackled. "Scrkkkk! Mareshi Mareshi!"
"Props..." Rainbow spoke while keeping a trained eye on the seven figures still facing the Jury. "I'm going to give you a signal. When I do, I want you to fire the skystone engines into full drive."
"Whoazies! The skystone engines?"
"Dang straight."
"Isn't the weather too ugly fugglies for doing a test run?"
"This is no test run," Rainbow said, shaking her head. "This is the real deal."
"But Rainbow!" Eagle stammered. "We can't speed headlong into those clouds?! The Flurries will tear us apart!"
"That's a slower way to die than being blasted to bits by whatever friggin' crap they've got trained on us from inside their ship!" Rainbow hissed. "Besides, the cloud cover will provide us with the only way to lose them!"
"To lose who?! What are we dealing with?!"
"We've met some friends of Elma's and your Uncle's," Rainbow droned. "The Lounge."
There was a great deal of explosive chatter on the other end, followed by Props' nervous voice. "Uhm... Unky Prowsy wants me to tell you not to trust those guys."
Josho spoke up. "Did he explain why?"
"He... used a lot of four letter words that even I don't understand."
"Tell your Uncle that I'll talk to him about this later," Rainbow said. "Right now, we gotta prepare to jump into the skystone drive right when I give the signal."
"Poor boomers will get sucked into the wind wind," Floydien remarked.
"Right. That's why we gotta jump inside as soon as we hit it," Rainbow said. "Me, Josho, and Eagle Eye will haul flank to the stairwell. The rest of you follow Floydien into the cockpit. Shut the doors and buckle up."
"Won't they chase us?" Ebon asked.
"I'm guessing you have a plan to knock their lights out," Josho said.
"Right..." Rainbow nodded towards him. "You make them run for cover with your shotgun. Floydien?"
The elk blinked.
Rainbow pointed. "You give them the zap with your... zappy antlers..."
"Floydien isn't sure that the glimmer will be enough."
"Do the best you can. Shoot their engine—or what you guess is their engine. Then rush into the cockpit, close the door, and throttle us straight towards the clouds."
"Hrmmmf..." Floydien's muzzle twisted. "Nancy Jane is not going to like this..."
"You think she'll like being pawed all over by these freakazoids?"
Floydien nodded. "Color wheel has a good point. Glimmer shimmer it is."
"We'll lose them in the clouds, pull to a higher elevation, and stabilize the ship." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and gazed at everypony around her. "Got it?"
"Mmmmm..." Zaid fidgeted.
Rainbow and the rest glared at him.
"Fine..." He sighed, waving a hoof. "You've got a soft fuzzy head anyways."
"He's right, of course," Eagle said.
Rainbow squinted at the stallion. "How would you know?"
"Uhhhhh..."
"My little ponies..."
Everyone turned and looked.
Razzar stood on the edge of his ship with arms outstretched. An errant ray of sunlight glinted off his mask. "Time is up. Have you come to your decision?"
"I don't recall you giving us an actual choice in the matter," Rainbow remarked in a dull tone.
Razzar icily nodded. "True. But I was hoping that your proper wisdom would pull through."
"Oh yes..." Rainbow Dash nodded. "It has alright." Her nostrils flared. "Are you ready?"
"We wouldn't have approached you in the first place if we weren't."
"Works for me." Rainbow spread her wings, spun around, and slapped Josho's flank with her tail.
Snarling, Josho twirled his shotgun out and fired two broad shots.
The rolling thunder masked the blasts as his weapon discharged on the exposed deck of the Lounge's ship. The six figures behind Razzar juked and dodged with extraordinary ease. Meanwhile, Razzar—unfazed—jerked his upper body and slid a ridiculously large double-barreled rifle out from his sleeve. Kneeling, he slid a slender tail out from his cloak, used it to prop himself in a low squat, and returned fire instantly.
Josho gasped as a stream of red energy soared straight for his skull. Cl-Clank! Eagle Eye's shield flew up, deflecting the blast.
Panicked, Rainbow hissed out the side of her muzzle. "Floydien—"
But the elk was already dashing forward, all antlers charging in full. "Grrrrrrrrrrgh! Here comes the magiccccc!" Bzzzzzzzt!
Bolts of electrical energy surged into the polished black hull of the Lounge's spherical ship. Something burst dully from inside, and the ship immediately veered away from the Noble Jury's port-side. Razzar and the rest of his crew stumbled for an even stance.
The ponies on board were already scrambling. Josho and Eagle Eye galloped towards the stairwell together. Rainbow Dash scooped up a breathless Elma and flew after them. "Punch it, Props! Punch it!" The door slid behind her, just as it slid behind Floydien, Zaid, and Ebon on the opposite end. Half a second after everyone was inside, the red skystone crystals atop the ship's deck pulsed brightly and the entire vessel rocketed east, skimming its way straight into the clouds.
"Rrrrrgggh!" Floydien hissed, his face tense and sweating as he gripped a pair of controls tightly in two cloven hooves. Behind him, the other three stallions gasped and stumbled as the entire cockpit flounced. "Forgive your beloved in advance, Nancy! A darling anniversary this is not! No no no!"
"Yeesh!" Zaid blanched. "Bouncy enough?!"
"This is crazy!" Ebon squeaked. "At this rate, the bulkheads will shatter within seconds!"
"Sorry to disappoint the sailboat boomer," Floydien gruntled. "But Nancy hasn't t-taken a swim yet!"
"Huh?!" Ebon craned his head to see over the elk's shoulder. His ears folded while his pupils shrank.
The dark wall of the thunderclouds loomed straight ahead at a crooked angle. They were about ten seconds away from piercing the tumultuous layer.
"You've g-gotta be kidding me..." Ebon reached out and hugged the first body he could.
"Whatever you do..." Zaid gulped. "Don't pee on me."
"Get ready for the shimmer shiver!" Floydien shouted as his body tensed.
And then the Noble Jury struck the cloud wall.
"Aaaaaugh!" Josho and Eagle Eye immediately lost balance, rolling awkwardly down the stairwell as the entire ship buckled around them. Rainbow Dash gripped Elma with all four limbs as she ricocheted off wall after wall.
Grunting, Rainbow Dash flew down and collapsed across a stretch of metal floor alongside the two former soldiers. She rolled Elma upright, stretched her feathers, and fought gravity until she ascended onto the second floor of the stairwell.
Inside her cabin, Bellesmith gasped, pratfalling out of her cot. She rolled across the floor, winced, then immediately jumped up to catch Kera as the filly fell limply from the mattress. Holding the catatonic little pony tight, she braced herself against a wall as the ship rattled all around her. Panting, she strained to pull herself across the tiny compartment and burst her way through the hallway door.
Outside, Pilate was already stumbling, his breaths coming in quick spurts beneath the perpetual clamor of the turbulent ride.
"Belle! Beloved, is that you?!"
"I'm right here, Pilate." Belle reached out to him with one arm while lying on her knees and cradling Kera with the other. "I think the skystone engines have been activated!"
"But what for?! The weather's too unpredictable!"
"Rainbow Dash must have a good reason..." Just then, Belle saw movement in the mess hall. She craned her neck and shouted, "Rainbow Dash! What's going on?!"
"It's all under control!" Rainbow sputtered, though her voice was drowned out by the clattering of pots and pans hitting the floor of the kitchen she had emerged from. Undaunted, she flitted from porthole to porthole, staring out at the churning waves of cloudy chaos. "I just gotta make sure that we've lost them!"
"Lost who?!" Pilate gulped. "Those strangers who pulled up in their ship just now?"
"They're bounty hunters who're after Prowse!" Rainbow exclaimed. "And they're willing to blow us out of the sky just to get him!"
"You sure about that?!" Belle asked.
Rainbow snapped, "What does it matter?! With all the crap that's been trying to kill us out here, I don't want to take any chances!"
Pilate blinked blindly. "You... you risked everything just for Props' Uncle?" He gulped. "Even though you've only known him for a day?"
"Look, if you don't agree with my decision, that's fine, but—"
"I didn't say I disagreed!" Pilate exclaimed, his lips curving slightly.
Belle glanced him while holding Kera tight.
Rainbow took a breath and looked out the port side windows. "Anyways, no sweat. Looks like we lost them." She exhaled heavily. "We should be able to pull out of this mess now." She flew over to an intercom and pressed her hoof against the shaking console. "Floydien? We're clear. You can tell Props to turn off the engines and—"
"Uhhhhh... Rainbow Dash?" A wavering voice picked up.
Rainbow grunted. "Zaid, what is it?"
"Don't look now... but... uhm..."
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash squinted out the porthole. Just then, a round black shape lifted into view, pulling itself parallel to the ship as it effortlessly pierced the clouds. The mare gasped.
"I... uh... really th-think you should have headbutted them."
Belle backtrotted nervously. "R-Rainbow...?"
In the next flash of lightning, a piece of the Lounge's black hull could be seen separating from the rest of the ship, swiveling a full circle, and stopping with a two-pronged cannon aimed at the Noble Jury. Two tiny holes glowed orange as the weapon charged.
"Get down..." Rainbow Dash muttered, spun around, and flew across the mess hall, covering all three ponies with her body. "Get down!"
"Auccchhh!" Prowse grunted as his body rolled into the engine room's rattling wall.
"Oooof!" Props collapsed on the floor not far from him. She tilted her head up, reeling, and gasped. "That felt like a Magnetic Transconductive Crystalline Energy Dishcharge!"
With two more resounding thuds, the hull of the Noble Jury shook around the Uncle and Niece once more.
She stammered into the flickering lavender light. "That was! That was a Magnetic Transconductive Crystalline Energy Discharge!" She dashed towards the nearest door and burst out into the stairwell. "We're being shot at!"
"Propsicle!" Prowse sputtered as he struggled back to his flesh and metal hooves. "Whaur ur ye runnin' aff tae, lassie?! Thes engine is spittin' up steam somethin' fierce!"
"You can keep an eye on it, Unky Prowsy!" her voice shouted down the compartment. "Just make sure we all don't explode!"
"Ye dae realize fa yoo're talkin' tae?!" Prowse winced, turning to face the mess of glowing, rattling pipes that filled the interior. "Mmmmmmmmmm bloody hell..."
All the while, the Noble Jury hurled through the thunderous mess that was the Flurries. Dark clouds frothed on all sides, spitting lightning and flashes of light in random direction. Sheets of rain poured in blinding gusts, and yet the skystone vessel hurled itself down the cneter of it.
Tailing the ship's stern, speeding along at a menacing rate, hurled the Lounge's ship. The craft bobbed and weaved through the turbulent weather with unmatched grace. In fact, the only reason it slowed at all was so that it could align its sights with the Noble Jury cruising ahead. At regular intervals, the bulbous black sphere rotated a cannon along its central access, taking aim and firing bright flashes of murderous light at its target.
These streaks of energy skirted past the Noble Jury's hull, at least until the stream inevitably made its mark, and then the resulting fireworks would send the Jury spiraling violently deeper into the howling tempest.
Ebon Mane and Zaid collided dumbly with each other. Meanwhile, Elma clung desperately to a metal panel while Floydien braced himself against the front end of the buckling cockpit.
"Grrgggh! Stop hurling turd glimmers at Floydien's beautiful beloved!" the elk shouted.
"Crkkkk! Floydien!" Rainbow Dash's voice crackled from a cluster of soundstones. "You gotta lose 'em!"
Floydien spat back into the intercom. "Well Color Wheel Boomer was the one who found them!"
"So the job of the losing the death stabbies is not up to Floyd Floyd, now is it?!" the elk's voice cackled.
Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth as she looked across the careening mess hall towards where Pilate, Bellesmith, and Kera cowered.
"You gotta fly more unpredictably! Try pulling is into a dive to see if they can match!"
"Does Nancy Jane have blue feathers and a cracking voice?! Nancy is far more delicate than east farting horse horse!"
"Well we're gonna be toast at this rate!" Rainbow rasped.
"Dashie!" Props' voice ran ahead of her as she scampered out of the kitchen and into the mess hall. "The baddies are using a—Whoahhhhh!" She slipped, somersaulted, and rolled like a blonde ball across the room.
Rainbow pivoted and caught the mare with her legs and wings. "Oooof!" They boith slid across the room and landed beside Bellesmith.
Props shook her dizzied head, then looked down at the pegasus she was straddling. "—a Magnetic Transconductive Crystalline Energy Generator!"
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow blanched before practically bucking the mare off her. "Don't know if you've noticed, blondie, but we're being shot at by rogue freaknuts in the middle of Hurricaneville!" She flapped her wings and hovered in the middle of the rumbling ship. "If you need spare parts, I'm not really in the position to do some scavenging—"
"No, don't you get it?! That's what these ebil ebil guys are using to shoot at us!" Props gulped, leaning against Pilate and Belle. "And Magnetic Transconductie Crystalline Energy Generators are highly sensitive to other magnetized materials! Something tells me these yahoos aren't used to shooting at ponies who can fight back!"
"Fight back?!" Pilate stammered, clutching Belle as the ship around them jolted from more energy blasts. "You mean if we had some magnetically conductive dust to launch at those chasing us?"
"Or m-maybe strips of energized industrial cobalt!" Belle added with a quivering breath.
"Darn it, guys, would you listen to yourselves?!" Rainbow hollered. "I blew it! And now we're all up to our earballs in pew pew death and lightning!" She kicked a nearby bulkhead, grunting. "Where in the heck am I gonna find magnetic sneeze powder or cobalt whatsits at a time like this!"
"Beats the fluff out of me," Props said with a shrug. "I mean, aside from the bucketload of industrial cobalt slabs that Roarke bought in Gray Smoke and left sitting and collecting dust in our very own hangar."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "Buh?"
"Oh... uhm..." Props smiled awkwardly. "I mean we totally have a bucketload of industrial cobalt slabs that Roarke bought in Gray Smoke and left sitting and collecting dust in our very own hangar!"
Pilate's jaw hung open.
Belle slowly pivoted her head to gawk at Rainbow Dash.
"And you didn't think to mention this before, because...?" Rainbow Dash hissed.
"Well, you seemed super merry-go-round-cheesed off at Roarke before and after she left, and I never once thought that'd we'd be on the run from a bunch of shady bad guys firing a Magnetic Transconductive Crystalline Energy Generator at our butts while in the middle of a dark magical fate storm—"
"Scrkkkk!" The nearby intercom lit up. "Will you stop spitting and just save Floydien's Nancy Jane already?!"
"Sorry handsome!" Props squeaked.
Rainbow flew over and picked the mare up by her shoulders. "How can I make explosions with strips of chocolate bolt?!"
"Cobalt! And it doesn't involve explosions."
"What?!" Rainbow grimaced.
"Their ship's gotta be super charged with crystalline energy!" Props stammered above the thunder and rattling bulkheads. "If the cobalt slabs were to—say—get in contact with the hull of the bad guys' ship..."
Pilate finished, "The magnetized metal in the slabs would overload the Energy Generator from the outside!"
"So?" Rainbow flashed the zebra a look. "What's that mean?! No pew pew?"
Pilate gulped and nodded. "No pew pew."
"Fine!" Rainbow dropped Props ("Whoah!"Thud!) and took a deep breath. "Then I'll grab the slabs, fly out there, and save the day with... erm... death metal!"
"Rainbow, are you serious?!" Belle hugged Kera tight with one forelimb and pointed out a flickering porthole with the other. "Look out there! You won't survive for one second!"
"Belle—"
She frowned. "You'll be cut off from us in a second! We can't afford to lose you at a time like this!" She gulped. "And after all that your Princess Celestia said..."
Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth. Another energy blast struck the ship, forcing everypony in the room to jolt. Rainbow Dash glanced, panting, at Kera lying in Belle's clutches. Her ears perked up. "Maybe I don't have to be cut off at all..."
Eagle Eye tumbled into the room, clutching to the doorframe to the kitchen. "Rainbow, I think they're gaining on us and—" He blinked. "What's going on?"
"I'm about to save the day, is what!" Rainbow darted across the room and shoved Eagle Eye with her towards the stairwell on the other side of the kitchen. "Come on! And grab Josho!"
"Ew. He'll never let me hear the end of it..."
"Just move!"
"I dunno what your treasured ship is made out of!" Elma clattered through a quivering break. "But even it can't last this long against the Lounge!"
"Floydien has a good mind to carve snap snap into a new bidet!" Floydien grumbled, veering the ship left and right through the pelting wind and rain. The flashing lightning illuminated the hardened lines in his frowning muzzle. "Why can't the Lounge make like their name and drink the piss?!"
"Floydien! This is Rainbow! You gotta trust me! I need you to fly the ship even for a little while!"
The elk flashed the intercom a horrified look. "Has the Color Wheel finally lost its paintbrush?!"
"Hey Rainbow!" Zaid sputtered, disentangling himself from a thoroughly dizzied Ebon. "Love hearing your voice! Why's it sound so sexy and determined all of the sudden?"
"I'm going to get those jerkensteins off our tail for good!"
"You are?!" Ebon murmured as Elma helped him up onto quivering hooves. "And how?!"
"The only way! The best way!"
Rainbow Dash stood in the ship's hangar, tightening a saddlebag full of heavy, magnetized slabs over her leather coated flank.
"Stupidity!" she cackled. Turning back, her gaze followed a tight metal cable wrapped around her body and looping its way towards a steel rig that Josho, Prowse, and Eagle Eye were tightening. "You done tinkering with that, Professor?"
"Aye!" Prowse nodded. "Yer elk mukker has a braw rig an' aw, but he certainly coods dae wi' a guid few grease monkeys overlookin' his pride an' joy!"
"Let me worry about the ship!" Rainbow Dash shouted as the vessel jolted once more. She pointed. "Just you make sure that this thing doesn't snap loose while I'm out there!"
"Leave it to me, daredevil," Josho said as his glowing horn reinforced the cable rig with strong magic. He finished fastening his and Eagle's fetlocks to the nearby railings while Prowse dug into a nearby bulkhead with a prosthetic of razor-sharp talons. "I'd go out there with ya, but—face it—without wings, the best I'd be is a wrecking ball."
"That'll be our second option," Rainbow said with a nod. "Here's hoping it doesn't come to that." She turned towards Eagle Eye. "Wanna start the party, Double-E?"
The unicorn gulped, then brought a hoof towards an adjacent lever. "Are you r-really sure you wanna go through with this, Rainbow?"
"No. Best to get it over with before I wake up to the insanity." She looked at the red-bearded stallion. "Professor, any wise advice before I fly out into the storm?"
"Yeah! Try nae tae gie yer nipples bloon aff by lightnin'!"
"Jee. Thanks. Eagle Eye?"
"Good luck," he said, pulling the lever. "Don't get killed!"
"Hah!" Rainbow smirked and slid goggles over her ruby eyes. "You forget who you're talking to. Danger's my middle—"
FWOOOOOOOOOSH! A cyclone of blisteringly cold air sucked Rainbow out as soon as the doors opened a sliver.
"Luna poop!" Rainbow hollered, legs flailing, as she and the weight of the metal strips went flying out of the ship's stern and into the tempestual flurries. The cable danced and twirled behind her while the stallions on board clutched to the bulkheads for dear life.
Eagle Eye winced, his tearing eyes squinting into the maelstrom. All he saw was lightning... and the dark silhouette of a black orb in deathly pursuit...
"Gaaaaaaaiiieee!" Rainbow Dash flew out the back of the Noble Jury. She twirled and toppeled until the metal cable attached around her waist jerked to a stop. "Hnnngh!" She grunted, being dragged through the rain-pelting maelstrom in reverse at suicidal speeds. Through squinting ruby eyes, she saw the black shape of the pursuing Lounge's vessel immediately facing her.
The vessel bent around a bulbous cluster of dark clouds to stay on its target. With a mechanical whirr barely heard underneath the perpetual growl of thunder, it swiveled its cannons around and aimed them—glowing hot—straight at the Noble Jury and through Rainbow.
"Guhhh!" Rainbow Dash kicked her legs in one direction and flapped her wings in the other. Her weight shifted dramatically, and her dragged body twirled out of the way of the twin cannon blasts before she could be reduced to ashes.
The Noble Jury pulled a hard left, bursting through sheets of rain while lightning flashed all around. Rainbow's body swayed along with it. Even as she spun on the cable, her eyesight caught her own reflection in the black round hull of the pursuers.
Rainbow Dash held her breath. As both ships leveled out, she tilted her wings so that her dangling body would glide towards the enemy. She brushed past the surface—ultimately swinging hard past it.
"Nnnnrghhh!" Rainbow grunted, feeling the weight of the metal strips on her flank rattling with her motion. "Darn it! Guhhh!" She angled her wings once more, gliding sideways until she swept towards the vessel once more.
Perhaps the Lounge sensed her, or perhaps not. Either way—as lightning reflected off its glossy surface—the ship spun and whizzed past her, attempting to broadside the Noble Jury.
Rainbow Dash helplessly gasped. Squinting through a rain-soaked mane, she watched as the black sphere approached the Jury's starboard side.
"Not good!" Eagle Eye stammered from inside the ship's hangar. "They're flying past her!"
"Just perfect..." Josho hissed, fighting to keep his telekinetic grip of the cable.
"Ay! Elkmeister!" Prowse shouted into the intercom from where he reinforced the cable rigging with his metal limb. "They're tryin' tae gie us th' broadside!"
"Use those fantastical fairy sparks of yours to gain some distance, why don't you?!"
"Does red beard think Floydien is made of magic and pixie spit?!" The elk fired several bright beams into the console.
Ebon braced himself against the cockpit's frame and stammered, "I-I'm sure he only meant to give you a good natured ribbing—"
"Boomer should have invested in an exoskeleton!" Floydien shouted and pulled the Jury into a sharp climb. "Proceed with the butt holding!"
"Aaaaugh!" Ebon toppeled back into Zaid's body. "Ooof!"
Soaring into the howling winds, the Noble Jury ascended suddenly. The skystone vessel pierced anvil clouds and layers of thunderous mist. The Lounge darted upwards to match the rapid climb, but it was clear that the Jury had gained more distance.
Nothing, however, was clear to Rainbow Dash. She yelped at the sudden change in the ship's course. Her body swung like a pendulum through the violent rain. Streaks of lightning darted in her peripheral, and she spat out globules of rain water.
"Darn it!" Rainbow Dash coughed and wheezed. "I told that diet moose to keep us steady or—" She blinked.
Her body was currently dangling abreast of the black sphere.
"Well, that works." Grunting, she flapped one of her wings and thrusted herself to the side. Strafing through the deluge, she reached the ship, her hooves making rough contact. Fumbling, she reached a shivering hoof into her saddlebag and yanked one strip of cobalt out. She raised the thing high over her head and prepared to slap it down.
That's when the Jury evened out. The Lounge did as well, while Rainbow's body jerked up and out of range.
"Gyaaugh!" Rainbow gasped as she dropped the precious magnetized metal in her grasp. "Cruddicon!" She flailed high above Lounge. Around that moment, the ship spun its cannons, recharged them, and fired at the Noble Jury. Rainbow's ship bobbed and weaved, causing her body to sway left and right like an uncontrollable water skiier. Lightning flashed above, illuminating a tiny pocket of air between her and her target.
Gnashing her teeth, Rainbow Dash bucked at the air, twirled upside down, and angled her wings so that she dove at the vessel. The black sphere approached the top of her vision. When she was within a spit's reach, she twirled again and landed with all four hooves planted against the flying ship's bow.
Two breathless seconds later, she was pulling another cobalt strip out and slamming it onto the black hull of the vessel. She gasped—for sparks instantly danced outward from the contact, illuminating the nearby sheets of rain. Instinctually, she kicked against the hull, putting as much distance between herself and the violent flash of light that the successfully impacted hull was experiencing.
The Lounge's ship did not veer off course, nor did it experience turbulence of any kind. However, during the extent of its electrical interference, it did decelerate to a noticeable degree. Rainbow watched nervously from where she dangled. Then, after about fifteen agonizing seconds, the sparkling stopped. The cannon spun around its central axis again and the ship started accelerating once more.
"Not enough..." Rainbow flapped her wings, twirled, and descended on the ship from a thunderous angle.
She saw her approaching reflection in the glossy surface—but then she saw the entire vessel spinning so that its axis aligned with hers. The cannons spun around, both barrels swinging purposefully towards her like a club.
"Aw crud—" WHAP! Yelping in pain, Rainbow flew hard from the blow, flailing wildly into the violent winds far off-track.
Inside the Jury's hangar, the metal rigging of the cable groaned and cracked on its foundation.
Eagle Eye gasped, his violet eyes reflecting the columns of steam rising from the apparatus. "Old stallion! Keep it steady! The thing's starting to buckle!"
"It's no use!" Josho managed through clenched teeth. "We gotta get her to come back in! Or else she's gonna go down like a lead kite!"
"Hae some bludy faith in th' wee spyug!" Prowse spat as he spun his body around the metal railing he was fastened to and braced the rigging with his whole body. "Grrggghhh... she hasnae gotten those jobby eatin' sods aff uir flenk yit!"
Just then, a loud whistling sound filled the chamber. Eagle Eye's ears drooped as he felt his mane billowing more and more violently. "Do... do you feel that?!"
"Sure as Hell do..." Sweating, Josho stared nervously out the hangar doors at twirling swaths of angry clouds. "Uhhh... Space elk?"
"What's with all the sky indigestion that you're flying us all into?!" Josho's voice crackled over the intercom.
Floydien, in the meantime, was staring out the cockpit window with a blanching expression. "Ohhhhhhhh Nancy, when will the next glimmer be our glimmer home...?"
"Huh?" Ebon peered over the console then paled. "Oh sweet salad forks."
Ahead of the vessel, a ginormous cyclone twirled, spinning counter-clockwise with violently dense clusters of rain and hail. It was no mere tornado, but an unearthly mile-high behemoth with steel-crushing winds whose howls pierced the water-proof windows framing the cockpit itself.
"Hey guys..." Zaid scratched his mane and muttered. "I spy with my little eye something tall and pony-crushing."
"Pull a left!" Elma shouted suddenly.
Ebon looked back at her. "Are you out of your shell?!"
"Do it!" Elma exclaimed. "The only way to escape the Flurries' Cyclones is to anticipate the wind formation and try to shake yourself out of them before you reach the inner core!"
"Scrkkk! Wait a second! Flurries' Cyclones?! What in the Hell is—?"
"Time to dance, Nancy!" Floydien physically yanked left on the vessel's controls.
Everypony yelped as their bodies were dashed towards the right side of the cockpit.
Inside the Jury's Mess Hall, Belle and Pilate yelped, tumbling across the floor until they lay on the starboard side wall as if it was suddenly the floor. Belle grabbed Kera and hoisted the limp filly towards her. Pilate gritted his teeth and trembled while the ship buckled around him.
Props, in the meantime, clung upside down to a series of pipes inside the engine room, clutching a wrench in her teeth as she shimmied her way to a burst manaconduit and haphazardly repaired it amidst all the chaos.
Outside the Noble Jury, it was a whole different story. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and covered her rain-soaked muzzle with a criss-crossing pair of forelimbs. Squinting through her hooves, she saw the Noble Jury hurdling counter-clockwise around a gigantic column of swirling mists and clouds. The howling noise of the cyclone was deafening, and Rainbow Dash was powerless to do anything but dangle far off to the right side of the Jury's emergency banking maneuver.
Breathless, Rainbow Dash looked down and behind her. With a gasp, she spotted the Lounge's ship. It too was stuck in a perpetual turning motion, skimming the outer rim of the tornadic currents as it desperately pursued the runaway skystone vessel.
Rainbow Dash's face jerked from the Lounge to the Jury and back to the Lounge again. She frowned with determination, then angled her wings in opposite directions. Her body started twirling, and soon that twirl turned into a broader swaying motion as she dangled wildly along the edge of the cable. Wider and wider, her body swung, until at last she was cruising left and right like an out-of-control pendulum. Timing her movements, the soaked pegasus grunted and flung her body on the last inward swing.
Rainbow broke through the wind, plunged, and sailed down towards the Lounge's position. Lightning flashed, and she judged how fast she was approaching by the bright reflection glinting across the black hull. It wasn't until a fraction of a second before crossing paths that she realized she wasn't going to make physical contact with the vessel itself.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow resorted to an act of desperation. She spun around, flung her hooves back, and ripped open all the pouches of her saddlebag. Every remaining piece of cobalt flew out of her satchel and soared into the winds. However, Rainbow Dash was ready for this, and she growled as her body spun one last time, bucking half a dozen slabs with well-timed kicks.
The bulk of the slabs were propelled towards the Lounge's ship below. At least four made their mark, clinging to the black hull with sparks of electricity. Less than a second later, Rainbow spotted the trademark yellow glow of the ship's engines flickering out. The entire vessel spun out of control, noticeable only by the rear fins of the craft whirling like loose blades. Then, powerless before the winds, the Lounge's ship drifted left... left... and plunged into the cyclone.
Rainbow gasped, watching as the black sphere became one with the tornadic monstrosity. For a second there, it looked as though the dark craft had disappeared entirely. Then—with a nightmarish howl of sliced air—the ship was ejected violently from the heart of the cyclone. It whizzed past Rainbow Dash—sparkling—and disappeared deep into the depths of the thunderous Flurries below.
Eagle Eye beamed from ear to ear. "She did it!" He looked ecstatically at the others. "She got them off our tail!"
"Lollipops!" Josho grumbled, tugging at the cable with his telekinesis. "Let's reel her in!"
"Careful..." Eagle Eye winced as he too pulled at the metal cord with violet energy. "Careful..."
"She's bankin' tay stoaner towards th' cyclain!" Prowse shouted, his voice vibrating from the jolts to the metal rig. "We've got tae move uir asses awa' frae th' waterspit!"
"Ya hear that, Floyd?!" Josho shouted.
"The dance is over! Time to go home!"
"He compacts it into such little spit," Floydien droned as he punished the controls, attempting to break away from the tornado's outer circumference.
"You can do it, Floydien!" Ebon Mane stammered. "Just easy does it—"
"Can it, sailboat!" Floydien sweated and strained. "Nancy... doesn't... want to budge!"
"It's too late!" Elma exclaimed shakily. "We're caught in the vortex!"
"Then how do we get out of 'the vortex?!'" Ebon remarked.
"Well..." Elma fidgeted in her shell. "I've done it a few times myself, but usually in ships smaller than this."
"Out with it already!" Floydien hissed.
"If we pull a hard left, accelerate, and puncture the eye of the cyclone—"
"Ew!" Zaid grimaced. "On a scale of one to ten, that's Ew eleven! Maximum Ew!"
"This ship's sturdy!" Elma said. "It'll be bumpy! But we'll make it!"
"But what of Rainbow?! She's like a flying squirrel on a leash right now!" Zaid exclaimed. "And letting the winds rip her into a thousand sexy pieces isn't going to make up for the one sexy piece she already is now!"
"Can Nancy survive the twirl-twirl at this rate?!" Floydien sputtered.
The turtle winced. "No. Most likely not..."
"Then there's only one way to finish this..."
"Ahhhhhhhhhh poo." Zaid grimaced.
Ebon was practically sprawled up against the intercom. "Guys! This is super important!"
"You gotta haul Rainbow Dash in and close the doors and you gotta do it now!"
"What..." Josho strained and sweated, "Do you idiots... th-think we're friggin' doing...?"
"Just hold on, Rainbow Dash!" Eagle Eye shouted, his eyes locked on the distant blue shape twirling on the far end of the cable they were dragging through the open hangar doors. "You're gonna make it through this! Just you wait and—"
"Uhm... dornt swatch noo, mates..." Prowse nervously glanced aside and pointed a flesh hoof at the buckling metal rig. "But... uh..."
"Oh for the love of tits!" Josho growled, his horn glowing brighter.
"Rainbow Dash!" Eagle Eye suddenly hollered. "You gotta fly! Flap your wings toward us or something! Anything! It's gonna blow!"
Prowse flew muzzle-deep into the contraption, clenching a wrench between his teeth that he used to tighten the loosening bolts as hard as he could. When that didn't work, he transformed his metal prosthetic into a bunch of talons and tried reinforcing the plate attaching the metal rigging to the hangar floor.
Meanwhile, the cable being slowly retracted into the apparatus started wobbling and groaning at an alarming rate. Tiny, dangerous fractures formed all along its taut surface. And Rainbow...
...was struggling to pull herself towards the Noble Jury, yanking at the tight cable with one forelimb stretched out before the other. She gritted her teeth and hissed into the howling winds. Lightning flashed uncomfortably close, highlighting the frothy outer surfaces of the mammoth cyclone to her left.
A piece of the hangar's floor shattered and flew loose. Rainbow faintly heard Eagle's yelping voice, but she was already yanking her head to the side. With miraculous luck, she dodged the flying shrapnel of debris, blinking at it as it disappeared into the tempestuous chaos.
For a brief moment, time slowed, and all Rainbow could hear was the throb of her own heartbeat against her ears.
"Axan..." She muttered. "You friggin' pretentious flying crocodile. Now would be a good time, ya think?"
Nothing happened. The howling and the chaos picked up.
"Hrmmmf..." Rainbow Dash pulled at the cable some more. "I see how it is." From the pit of her being, the tiniest of devilish smirks crossed her rain-soaked face. "To be honest, I kind of prefer it this way."
Crkkkkk!
The cable gave some slack. Rainbow's body jerked while it was just a few naked feet from the open doors of the Jury's hangar.
Eagle Eye shouted something, then so did Prowse. The metal rig shook, jostled, and cracked straight down the center.
Rainbow Dash's forelimbs were already flurrying around her waist. With panicked precision, she unraveled the cable from her body and flapped her wings.
Crackkkk! The rigging broke loose, along with the dangling cable. The metal mess flew straight past Rainbow Dash with flesh-slicing force.
Rainbow twirled like a figure-skater through it all, spread her wings, and flapped one last time, propelling herself like a blue bullet towards the rear doors of the Jury. Her hooves stretched out as she squeaked into her clenched teeth.
And she missed the doors by about two feet.
Rainbow's pupils shrank. Her body plunged back into the Flurries.
"Gotcha!" Josho shouted, dangling at the end of his attached cable.
Rainbow Dash jerked in place, caught in the unicorn's levitation field.
Eagle Eye braced himself against the old stallion's flank as he added his magic to Josho's. Together, the ex-soldiers slowly, slowly pulled Rainbow Dash in through the open doors of the ship.
Prowse was ready, his metal hoof clinging to the lever along the wall. Once Rainbow Dash was far enough inside, he gave the instrument a jerk, and the doors slammed shut. Everypony slumped hard to the floor as soon as the air pressure normalized.
Wheezing, Josho rolled Rainbow Dash off of him and sputtered towards the intercom. "She's in! She's in! Do it!"
Floydien immediately yanked the controls right and then left. "Beloved's going to hate Floydien in the morning!"
"Oh boy!" Zaid hugged Ebon tight. "Hurl time! Cleanup on the other side!"
"Gaaaaah!"
Elma cover her eyes while the Noble Jury violently twirled...
...and plunged left, flying ninety degrees towards the heart of the cyclone. Lighting erupted around it, illuminating the suicidal path it was inevitably taking. The moisture along the outer rim of the tornado was so dense that it reflected the red glowing skystone of the approaching vessel. A high pitched whine filled the air...
...that was audible even inside the mess hall where Bellesmith, Pilate, and Kera sat. The mare sat up, her chestnut eyes staring widely out the portholes as the surface of the cyclone approached frightening close.
She wrapped her arms tightly around Kera. As the whining reached a fever pitch, she glanced aside and mewled to the cacophonous air.
"Oh! Are you feeling alright? Are you experiencing any pain?"
"It's... hard to say, Miss Bellesmith. It's certainly... unique, is all."
"The runic plate is necessary in order to transfer information between the manasphere and your cerebral cortex. Aside from actually... uhm... drilling into your skull... eheh... this is the best means we have to create a junction. As you can imagine, it can't not be a tight fit..."
"And you're certain that this... this... uh... Optical and Sensory... erm..."
"Just call it 'O.A.S.I.S.' for short. Heehee... and to be honest, Mr. Pilate, no, we don't know if it will work. For the moment, all I'm making sure of is that it will not bring you or your nervous system any harm. If it integrates—good. We'll work from there. For the time being, take it easy, and we'll see next about giving you back some of your sight."
"I won't be able to see perfectly, then?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Pilate. At best, this will allow you to read, scan nearby objects, and commit structural things to memory. It won't replace your eyes, but I think you'll find it a means of continuing your intellectual pursuits."
"Well, I certainly can't complain about that. Did you try this device out yourself?"
"I... I did when I first invented the prototype, yes. But... I-I'm afraid to say that I'm not entirely a fitting or compatible subject."
"Why is that?"
"It's... complicated. But I'm glad to have this opportunity with you, now. After hearing what you did on board Ledo's Pride, I think you more than deserve a chance to regain at least a portion of your senses again."
"Is that why you're doing this, then?"
"Hmmm?"
"Is this your attempt to reward me for heroism?"
"Nopony can properly reward you for what you've done, Mr. Pilate. Over a hundred ponies are alive now thanks to you. No, I see this as... as..."
"Yes...?"
"A gift, Mr. Pilate. It's a gift from me to you. And if it works, then I'll feel like I've done something good... just like you've done something immeasurably wonderful for this world."
"I... I don't know what to say, Miss Bellesmith."
"Please. Heehee. Just call me—"
"Belle..."
Pilate raised a trembling hoof. He gulped.
"Belle... where... wh-where...?"
"Shhhh... Easy does it, Pilate," Eagle Eye said from where he squatted low, cradling the zebra's head. He gave the stallion's cheek a loving pat and said, "Your beloved's fine. So is Kera. A few bumps and bruises, but nothing to be scared of."
"Then..." Pilate winced, struggling to sit up. "What happened? Did we—?"
The mess hall shook—as did the rest of the ship. Wincing, Eagle Eye held Pilate tight while he glanced up at the rain-swept portholes. "We're still in the Flurries. We made it past that one nasty wasterspout, but... but..."
Pilate's clear eyes quivered. "But what...?"
With a flap of her wings, Rainbow glided down the mess hall. "This is wrong..." She gritted her teeth while her mane still dribbled with rain water. "Something's not right. You feel that?"
Josho looked up from where he knelt beside Bellesmith and Kera. "How come we haven't done much shaking and jostling?"
"Th-that's a good thing, right?!" Eagle Eye glanced up. "We've got the Lounge off our tail and we're out of reach of that cyclone!"
Rainbow gazed out the window. She saw swirling mists jetting past the Noble Jury on either side. "But we're not through the storm." She gulped. "If you ask me, it's almost like we're being threaded through a particularly nasty needle-eye."
"With each passing week, I don't know what gets more colorful," Josho spat. "Your mane or your analogies."
"Stay here." Rainbow Dash darted down the hallway, leaving a trail of rainwater behind her. "I'm checking on the cockpit!"
"Rainbow, slow down!" Eagle Eye squeaked. "You just went water-skiing through a hurricane! Don't wear yourself out!" His voice echoed against the bulkheads. Frowning, he muttered, "If you stripped her of awesome, all you'd have is 'stubborn.'"
Belle nodded, holding Kera close. "You've no idea..."
Rainbow Dash crawled up the last few rungs of the vertical crawlspace and entered the crowded cockpit. "Floydien? Elma? Can any of you guys tell me just where in the hay we are?!"
"Grrrrnngh!" Floydien replied with a teeth-gnashing grunt, his cloven hooves clutching tight to the controls of the ship. "It's like farting down a glimmer canal! Each direction I budge ends with shake shake!"
"It's been like this for the past ten minutes," Ebon Mane spoke up, sweating nervously. "As soon as we broke through the tornado, this... path formed..."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "Path?!"
"I've never seen anything like it!" Elma exclaimed. "It's like a tiny jetstream of air, blowing in one singular direction!"
"Well, screw the air!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Slow down and try and bank out of it!"
"If it suits the Color Wheel!" Floydien pulled sideways on the controls.
"Ah jeez, Floydien!" Ebon flailed. "Not again—"
The ship instantly rattled as if it was running aground. Zaid and Ebon bumped into each other yet again while Rainbow had to catch Elma to keep her from falling down the vertical passage.
"Never mind! Ease off!" Rainbow spat. "Ease off!"
Floydien evened the Noble Jury yet again. "Floydien tried to tell her!"
"Scrkkkk! Handsome! What's with the rattle in the saddle?!"
"We're caught in some sort of wind current!" Elma spoke above the crowd, her reptilian eyes reflecting the jets of rain on both the starboard and port side of the cockpit's windshield. "Judging from the movement of the precipitation, I'd say we were being shoved forward!"
"You mean Nancy's become a kite?!"
"Let's test that." Rainbow Dash looked at the elk. "Floydien?"
"What shimmering idea does the boomer have now?"
"Think you can cut the engines?"
"Nnnngh... Nancy needs a vacation." Floydien spoke to the intercom. "Blonde boomer! You heard the feather feathers!"
"Okies. Here we goesies." There was a gulping sound, then the noise of steam pipes hissing.
The ship jostled once, but continued gliding forward.
Rainbow Dash squinted out the windshield. "...Props, did you cut the engines yet?"
"I sure did, Dashie! Just thirty seconds ago!"
"But we're still moving forward," Ebon muttered.
"How is this possible...?!" Elma gazed up at Rainbow with a gaping beak. "No wind current has maintained itself so cohesively and so powerful for this long!"
"You sure about that?"
"Look at it!" Elma pointed out with a scaled foot. "We're in a virtual tunnel, heading in one direction!"
"You sure you can't slow us down any, Mr. Floydien?" Ebon asked.
"Even with sails, Nancy is out of control!" The elk sneered, "Floydien doesn't like it one bit. No no no."
"It's almost as if it wants us to go in one direction," Zaid said.
Everypony looked at him.
"What do you mean...?" Rainbow squinted. "'It?'"
The ex-cultist shrugged. "I dunno. But you gotta admit it's pretty dang eerie."
"Could the Lounge be behind this?" Ebon remarked. "Some sort of... mana-induced weather control?"
"No friggin' way," Rainbow Dash muttered, gazing nervously out the windshield. "I just schooled those guys royally. I'm sure they're still in one piece somewhere, but they're definitely out for the count."
"Maybe there are more of the dudes in their big black balls?" Zaid said.
"Do you see any flickers of yellow skystone?" Props' voice asked.
The ponies took a few seconds to look.
"Nope, just normal scary-as-heck lightning," Rainbow droned.
"Then I can't imagine what else would empower the Lounge to control a part of the Flurries!"
"We gotta find some way out of here," Ebon said. "What if pulled a sharp left or right and pierced through just like with the cyclone?"
"Is sailboat boomer a goldfish?!" Floydien said, "Nancy tried that minutes ago! Floydien is not about to tear beloved to scrap scrap!"
"Maybe if... uh... uh..." Rainbow Dash bonked her wet head several times, desperately trying to think. "Maybe if I got outside, stood myself on the bow, and spread my wings to break the airstream?"
"You really wanna die fabulously today, don't you?" Zaid said with a squint.
"Didn't you tell us earlier that your pegasus limbs can't manipulate this weather for some reason?" Elma said.
Rainbow's ears drooped. "Darn it, you're right. Just what is this place?"
"Uhhhhh... bestie friendsies?" Props' voice crackled over the intercom. "Why are we accelerating?!"
Ebon's face scrunched. "We're accelerating?"
"We totally are!"
"Impossible!" Floydien frowned. "Floydien didn't tell Nancy Jane to speed up!" He glanced down at the controls and did a double-take. "Nancy! Why do you speed up?!"
The ship started shaking—gently at first—then building up to a turbulent rattle.
"Uhhhhh..." Ebon squirmed, shuffling backwards as hard sheets of rain pelted the windshield harder and harder. "Guys? I don't like this..."
"What's going on?!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"The wind walls are closing in!" Elma Boreal gasped. "It's like we're being funneled somewhere!"
"Oh great," Zaid muttered. "A sky toilet—Whoadayum!" He suddenly fell back.
So did every other pony, for the Noble Jury was taking an inexplicable nose dive. Air howled through the seams of the bulkheads as the vessel approached incomprehensible velocities. Floydien tried grabbing his controls, but the sticks jerked and swayed away from him. Cursing under his breath, he tried zapping all manner of energy bolts into his console, but the ship refused to obey him.
"The steam pipes are doing a fireworks display down here!" Props stammered through the flickering intercom. "Unky Prowsie and I can barely hold them together!"
"Just don't panic!" Rainbow shouted above the rattling metal plates all around them. "There's gotta be a reasonable explanation for—"
The Noble Jury pulled up, evening out and veering slightly to starboard. As Rainbow Dash clamored for a hoof-hold inside the careening cockpit, she caught a swift glance of the outside world. Through the gray haze of the Flurries, she spotted a dark shape looming directly ahead.
A deep gasp escaped the pegasus' throat.
Before long, the dark shape spread, becoming several—like gigantic bodies looming in the mists.
"What..." Elma sputtered, her head cowardly peering from just beneath the lid of her shell. "What is that...?!"
Something flew past the port side at murderous speed. Rainbow's head swiveled to see it, but all she managed to spot was a hazy streak. Something else flew past the starboard side, but she was too slow to spot it. More shapes loomed. She looked ahead, spotting dark splotches like islands floating amidst the Flurries.
"Are they ships?!" Ebon breathlessly murmured. "The Lounge?"
"No..." Rainbow shook her head. "Too large! If I didn't know better—"
"Pressure's increasing! What in the soot is going on out there, you guys?!"
"Don't look now!" Zaid exclaimed, pointing ahead with a wickedly bright eyes. "But I think we're about to hit a wall!"
Gasps filled the cockpit... until the "wall" turned out to be simply a thick sheet of rain. Nevertheless, everypony braced themselves as the Noble Jury shot on through. And just like that, all of the turbulence and rattling ended. It was quiet enough to hear a pindrop. A coat of rainwater rolled over the windshield, and when it cleared—Rainbow Dash saw buildings, monoliths, temples, courtyards, marble plateaus—all floating like gray balloons in a drizzling pocket of air.
Rainbow Dash's jaw fell agape. Her eyes blinked, and in that blink she imagined sunny skies and a green Equestrian landscape below. When her eyelids reopened, she saw a massive building soaring past their starboard side. She squinted, making out ribbed marble columns and tattered banners. A sculpted figure dribbled with moisture, bearing a long snout, hooves, and a spread pair of wings.
And then Rainbow felt her pendant rising up against her chin. Not only that, but her rain-soaked mane was flouncing towards the ceiling.
"We're falling!" Elma shouted.
With a grunt, Floydien finally re-gripped the controls. He yanked back hard, wheezing into the intercom. "Blonde boomer! The engines—"
"Unky Prowsie! Hit it! Hit it—Scrkkk!" Props' voice was cut off by the incessant hiss of steam.
"Even us out!" Zaid shouted. "Even us out!"
"What does boomer think Floydien is trying—?!"
"Look out!" Ebon squeaked, for a giant marble temple loomed ahead.
Rainbow gasped, then pointed. "Aim for the center! There'll be a large open space! The Jury should be able to fit through!"
"How... d-does Color Wheel know—?!"
"Trust me! Glide us there!"
Elma hid her head in her shell while Ebon buried his face in his hooves.
Rainbow Dash braced herself against the cockpit's ceiling, watching with wide eyes as the dark structure loomed frighteningly close...
Rain pelted and charred in several places from the Lounge's energy blasts, the Noble Jury plummeted towards the large floating temple. Sure enough, in between two sets of four marble columns, a large gap loomed. The Noble Jury fit easily through it. The rest of the trip, however, was far less graceful. The vessel's upper skystone made contact first, spitting sparks and tiny chunks of red crystal in every direction. The ship jolted downwards, and the bottom hull of the gondola struck the marble floor.
The air filled with the ear-splitting cacophony of scraping metal. The Noble Jury gradually lost its momentum, careening towards its left side as it slid violently across the hollow temple and careened towards the open space on the other side. For a full thirty seconds, it scraped along, leaving a frictious trail of shrapnel and crumbled mearble bits in its wake. At last, well before it could emerge on the other side, the vessel finally came to rest against a pair of marble columns.
There, the crashed ship lay still, stuck in a forty-five degree lean. Its skystone shards flickered and died while every light on board the vessel shorted out. Everything was dormant, with the Jury's windshield and portholes reflecting lightning from afar.
Slowly, one by one, the ponies inside the cockpit stood up. Zaid helped Ebon to his hooves while Rainbow Dash knocked politely on Elma's shell. Miss Boreal stuck her head out while Floydien shook the cobwebs in his antler'd head.
"Everypony in one piece?" Ebon asked.
"I could do with a few less gray hairs, but otherwise I'm peachy keen," Zaid murmured, staring out the cockpit at the marble pillars looming on either side of them. "Yeesh. Who parked a vomitorium in the middle of birdspace?"
"Nancy Jane, Floydien loves you..." The elk muttered, rubbing his muzzle. "And one of these days, Floydien swears, he's going to buy you some airbags..."
Josho climbed up, sticking his fat head out of the crooked crawlspace below. "What in the Hell is going on here?! Did we make it to the Continent on the other side? Is this Alafreo?!"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Far from it..."
Josho squinted up at her. "What, you expect me to believe an island just appeared in midair?"
Rainbow bit her lip.
"Scrkkk! Guys? At least tell me one thing. Did we head south all of the sudden?"
Ebon tilted his head towards the console. "Why's that, Propsy?"
"Cuz it's really, really warm out there! The instruments are telling me that we're no longer in the arctic! But how's that possible?"
"The temperature..." Elma thought aloud. "Whatever that pocket of air is outside, it's... somehow self-regulated?"
Rainbow Dash was already scurrying down the crawlspace. "I have to find out something! Keep watch on the ship!"
Eagle Eye was just finishing with helping Pilate and his beloved to their hooves when he heard Rainbow Dash's flapping wings. He spun around, squinting across the gray spotlights that the portholes made through the dark interior.
"Rainbow...?"
"Stay here with Belle and Pilate, Double-E." Rainbow Dash stripped of her rain-soaked leather coat and trotted briskly towards the kitchen. "I'm going outside to investigate."
"Investigate what?! Rainbow, what's going on?!"
"I said stay inside! I mean it!" Rainbow flew on by herself.
"Beloved... I'm so confused..." Pilate muttered. "Where are we?"
Belle could only stare out the window leaning above them at an angle. She saw marble, gusts of rainy wind, and more marble.
With a loud mechanical whir, the hangar doors to the Noble Jury slowly opened. There was no gust of air pulling Rainbow out. Instead, everything felt very calm, moist, and humid. She stepped outside on gently padding hooves.
Standing upon the crooked plank to the hangar, she paused, glancing left and right.
The temple interior stretched before her, flanked by marble columns—beyond which nightmarishly chaotic gales of wind blew in every which direction.
Biting her lip, Rainbow Dash hopped out. Her hooves clapped as they made contact with the floor—a thing that startled her.
"That's... that's real marble..." She furrowed her brow as she shuffled forward. "Then... h-how in Celestia's name is it staying up?"
Nevertheless, she pressed forward, trotting away from the Noble Jury as she approached the nearest edge of the temple. As she came upon the precipice of the platform, she squinted, for a curtain of veiled sunlight bathed her through the gray malaise.
She looked straight up.
Dozens if not hundreds of identical structures loomed—many of them marble temples, some of them granite effigies of ponies... ponies with wings. She was too busy taking in the sights of floating domes and levitating obelisks to gasp at any single one detail.
Lightning flashed, and the resulting thunder echoed quadruply off the multiple, floating structures.
Breathless, Rainbow Dash leaned forward, tilting her head to look below. Through randomly jetting curtains of rain, Rainbow Dash saw more and more granite edifices. A virtual city loomed within the pocket of cyclonic winds, trapping the structures there... and the Noble Jury as well.
Shuddering, she leaned back, until she became aware of a structure looming directly above her. She turned around and glanced up. Her wings spread in surprise.
A sculpture of a mare was positioned at the peak of an arch. Her dark gray features were slick with perpetual rainwater, all dribbling off her muzzle, helmet, and trademark scowl.
"Commander... Hurricane...?" Rainbow Dash sputtered. She blinked, glanced out at the rain and lightning, and blinked again. A gasp escaped her lips, and she stumbled numbly back into the temple, taking a crooked path back to the Noble Jury.
There, she spotted several Jurists standing along the leaning entrance to the hangar. Among the crowd was a pale, red-bearded stallion, and he was jumping for joy.
"Och mah stars an' garters! it's real! it's real an' it's haur!" Grinning from ear to ear, Prowse hoisted Props up and spun around with her in his metallic grip. "Ah kent it! Ah kent eh'd fin' it!"
"Eeep! F-find what, Unky Prowsy?!"
"Whit else dae ye hink, lassie?!" He dropped her and shouted victoriously into the echoing marble chamber. "The Secret Lost Civilization of Zadubadabu! Haa haa haa!" He did a prancing jig, then leaned down to leer at a certain snapping turtle. "An' ye thooght it was aw a wild goose chase, Tankette! Weel, mince 'at in yer lettuce hole an' reek it! Professur Prowse has dain it! Noo an' forever! Hahaaaa!"
Rainbow Dash could only blanch. She plopped down on her flank and ran a hoof through her sopping wet mane.
Eagle Eye trotted forward to the hangar's edge. Gazing at the rain-slick temple, he gulped and rested a hoof on Ebon's shoulder to his side. Ebon tilted his head down and gazed earnestly at the pegasus. "Rainbow, I... I-I don't get it! What kind of a place is this?"
Rainbow swallowed hard and looked back up at them. "Mythological."
"I don't get it, Unky Prowsy!" Props remarked, tilting her goggles up over a scrunched face. "If this is the Legendary Lost City of Zadubadabu, then where are the streets of silver and abundant manacrystal trees?!"
"Ach, but thes is jist a piece ay it, lassie!" The red-bearded stallion smirked at her from where the two stood before the open hangar of the Jury. "Ye saw aw ay th' bloomin' buildings hoverin' it thaur! Fur aw we ken, thaur ur blocks upon blocks nae worn doon by th' elements! Aam tellin' ye, we're sittin' oan a bludy gauld mine!"
"We're sitting on a floating death trap, is what we're on!" Ebon exclaimed. "Just what the hay are these buildings flying by?!"
"There are many things older than written science," Pilate said from the shelter of the hangar above the rest. "Who's to know what some ancient civilization could have used to make this place possible."
"Yes, but floating buildings?!" Ebon sputtered.
"Gray Smoke's a bunch of floating buildings," Zaid said. "Were you this whiney about it when you lived there with Blondie?"
"I... it... n-no!" Ebon frowned. "But Gray Smoke was different! They utilized mana crystals and steam! What's this place got?!"
"Pure magic, aam tellin' ye!" Prowse hopped around with a victorious clatter of his metal limb. "An' beneath it aw, a glitterin' pot ay knowledge an' information! Ye eatin' yer words yit, tankette?! Coz th' fat quine has officially sung! Wooo!"
"Everypony just chillax!" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "This place is just a pegasus city. Nothing more."
"Rainbow..." Belle looked on from the hangar where she sat beside Pilate. "Are you seriously comparing this place to Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus?"
Rainbow Dash looked at her. She then turned and glanced the other way, eyeing where Josho's and Eagle Eye's hooves effortlessly trotted over the granite, rain-slick surface of the temple. Taking a breath, she said, "Okay, so it's different from any other pegasus city I've seen, or even heard about, but it's totally got my kind blood written all over it. I'd know it like the back of my hoof."
"Heh..." Zaid smirked. "You say that as if you were born in such a place."
Rainbow Dash sighed out her nostrils.
Zaid blinked. "Oh. No wonder you act like you're high all the time." Whap! "Ouch! Dangit!"
Josho lowered his hoof and glanced at the others. "As much as I'd love to sit, mingle, and do the whole tourist thing..." He turned and pointed at the body of the Noble Jury leaning at a forty-five degree angle against a series of columns. "The ship barely made it here in one piece, and we've got a friggin' typhoon making love to the atmosphere directly outside. Can we start a vote over how soon we can get the Hell out of Dodge? Because I'd like to officially shove my name so far down the hat that it'll poop out dead rabbits."
"I think it's no big secret that I'm not a fan of this place." Ebon gulped and raised his hoof. "Can we please... please find a way off it?"
"I share your sentiment," Elma Boreal said with a nervous nod. "But I don't see how we can."
"Why not?" Eagle Eye asked.
"The Flurries brought us here," the turtle explained. "Well, more like viciously dragged us here. If you were to ask me, I'd say that something about this place has... erm... m-mechanized the weather to bring us to where we are now."
"Mechanized it?!" Ebon stammered.
"She means that this place was built to draw us here in the way it did," Pilate remarked. "And it stands to reason that if we tried to leave, we'd only be drawn back just as harshly if not more so."
"It could destroy the Noble Jury," Eagle Eye said. "Even from here, I can see it." He gulped. "It's like a solid shell of dense winds is perpetually spinning around this place. Flying into that could rip us to shreds."
Props glanced nervously towards the ship. "Handsome isn't all that happy to be stuck here as is. I doubt he'd want to risk Nancy any more."
Josho shrugged wildly. "Then how in the Hell do we get out of here?"
"Ach, come off it!" Prowse pouted. "We jist got haur! We cannae pass aff thes opportunity tae explair!"
"You can explore your anus!" Josho spat. "I don't care how many explosions you can make with that boomstick crutch of yours! This place ain't for us! We need to hop off this cyclonic turd and make for the continent east of here like originally planned!"
"Bollocks to your plan! Ah sit it tae fin' Zadubadabu frae th' get-go!"
"Fine! Go ahead and merry it! I'm sure you'll have a bunch of handsome, red-furry, marble poop children together!"
"Guys! Please!" Eagle Eye raised his trembling hooves. "Let's not fight about this!" He turned towards Props' uncle. "Mister Prowse—"
"Professor!"
Eagle's lavender ears folded. "Pr-Professor." He cleared his throat. "I know how much this place means to you. But you gotta understand, the rest of us have been through a lot of straits as bad as this if not worse. And what we've learned is that it's not conducive to a healthy, long life to stick around one of these kinds of messes for very long!"
"Ach, yoo're jist a namby pampy sodder!"
"Well, maybe I am." Eagle Eye frowned. "But I care for these ponies, and if they all want to leave this place, then I am with them. There's more to life than pilfering from lost cities in the sky. You have any doubt of that, then ask our niece!"
"Dornt brin' 'er intae thes ye bapit coward!"
"Unky Prowsy..." Props rested a gentle hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "He's right. I-I'm glad that you found this place, but this isn't exactly the snazziest situation, ya know?" She smiled crookedly. "I barely got the Jury working in time for us to make it here. Our resources are limited. What's more, we've got those nasty-wasties on our tail!"
Elma's beak rattled. "Good heavens, you think the Lounge are still out there?"
"Goddess willing, we've scared them into adopting a better name!" Zaid said with a smirk.
"Unnnghhhh..." Prowse groaned into a metallic palm. "Ye aye ken th' way tae make yer auld uncle crumble, Propsicle." He reached out and patted her shoulder. "Eh'd gie everythin' tae hae thes city under mah hooves—everythin' but ye. If stayin' haur means tearin' ye apart, 'en i'll flin' aw th' dreams in th' naf bin."
She smiled at him with rosy cheeks. "No need to give up all hope, Unky Prowsy. At least you know the place exists, right? There's always a way to make an excursion back!"
"Perhaps, lassie. Perhaps..."
"One thing at a friggin' time..." Josho paced through the group. "How in the blazes are we going to fly away from this thing?"
"We could always try flying straight up or down!" Ebon courageously uttered. He twitched. "R-right?"
"Look, it's a masquerade ball!" Zaid reached over and squeezed Ebon's shoulders. "And chef here wants Floydien's Nancy Jane to dress up as a burning comet!"
"Well, I wanna see you come up with a better plan!"
"I could come up with a dozen that are sexier!" Zaid nodded, then blinked. "Too bad none of them would work." He turned about. "Rainbow?"
The pegasus looked over. "Hmmm?"
"You've gotta have a brilliant plan to all this."
"Pffft. You're looking at the wrong pony."
"You sure?" Zaid smirked. "Cuz you're the only mare around these parts with wings!"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, looking away from the group.
"Rainbow..."
She glanced up.
Belle looked over Kera's shoulder as she cradled the filly. "You... you know what this place is, don't you?" Her chestnut eyes glinted.
Rainbow sighed. She rubbed a hoof through her mane and muttered, "Everypony in Cloudsdale grew up believing in... in..." She mumbled the word out.
Elma leaned forward, blinking her reptilian eyes. "Whazzat?"
"Stratopolis," Rainbow grunted. "It was just a silly myth, an old mare's tale." She sighed and tilted her face up towards the rainswept heights of the temple above. "Until now..."
"I'm guessing where you come from, myths were made to be proven," Zaid said.
"Or broken." Rainbow kicked at the marble floor and paced slowly towards the nearest marble columns, squinting out at the gray and wet world beyond. "Every pegasus household in Equestria has this age-old story about the fate of Commander Hurricane."
"Commander who?" Ebon remarked.
"He sounds super brave to have a name like that!" Props bounced.
"Yes. She was," Rainbow muttered.
Props winced, blushing. "Oh."
"She was one of the six founding leaders of Pre-Classical Equestria," Rainbow Dash said. "If it weren't for the important decisions she and her fellow cohorts made, our civilization would never have gotten over their differences and come together. Before the founding of Equestria, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies lived in separate tribes, untrusting and wary of each other."
"What changed?" Elma asked.
"Heh. The weather did." Rainbow pointed at the drizzly nastiness beyond. "Imagine this, but colder than the Frozen Wastes, with never-ending snow." She turned and trotted back towards the group. "Turns out a bunch of nasty windigos were responsible for the blight."
"Windigos?" Eagle remarked.
Rainbow nodded. "And they continued to plague the founding ponies of Equestria until they got over their differences and joined under a courageous bond of love and commitment."
"I've read of such creatures before," Pilate said with a nod. "They're elementals in the form of equines who feed off the despondence and dissent of large populations."
"Could... could windigos be responsible for this place?" Ebon asked with a nervous shiver.
"Hard to say," Rainbow said with a shrug. "When Equestria was founded, all of the windigos were driven away." She squinted. "All except for in one place."
"Oh?" Eagle blinked.
"Yeah. Turns out there was a patch of snowy clouds far to the north that refused to dissipate. So Commander Hurricane led a batallion there to investigate. She claimed that she found a city roughly size the Pegasopolis, but with... with..." She gulped, glancing nervously about the temple. "With darker buildings and strange obelisks connecting the bigger structures."
Zaid took one glance out the temple, and then back at the pegasus. "You don't say...?"
"What happened then?" Ebon asked.
"Hurricane was almost certain that the windigos would return if the city was not dealt with. It was too big to destroy and yet too dangerous to invade. So, instead, Commander Hurricane and a choice group of elite pegasi flew towards the city with the intent of... taking it over."
"They were going to hijack a city?" Elma remarked.
"A floating city," Rainbow Dash said. "Commander Hurricane left General Pansy behind to take care of pegasus affairs in the new kingdom of Equestria. Soon after, all traces of the windigos disappeared, as did the mysterious cluster of clouds to the north."
"Whew..." Zaid whistled. "Sounds like she got the mission done."
"We can only guess..." Rainbow rubbed one forelimb with another. "The Commander... uhh... n-never returned."
Props' blue eyes sparkled. "She d-didn't?"
Rainbow shook her head. "It's one of the biggest losses in pegasus history. For decades after that, Equestrian pegasi broke off in small companies, flying east and west. They attempted searching for the fate of the Commander's expedition. As they did so, they did their best to describe the fabled city to every culture they met, using one name to describe the mysterious place."
Pilate nodded. "Stratopolis."
"Yeah..." Rainbow sighed. "And just now, after we landed, I saw a sculpture that looks like Commander's Hurricane's image."
"No way..." Ebon exhaled.
"For real." Rainbow nodded. "I'm guessing that she was successful with her mission. Maybe a little too successful." She looked up at the temple ceiling. "This place... this lousy place... it must have become her home."
"Well, there's no way in Hell it's becoming our little hole in the sky!" Josho frowned. "There's gotta be a way to shut down the typhoon... the windigos... the leprechauns—or whatever's keeping us landlocked on this floating turdipelago!"
"Gonnae-no pissin' aw ower thes place's braw nam, mucker!" Prowse frowned at the obese stallion. "It's got character! Antiquity! Grace!"
"It's got you by the balls! But not me!" Josho looked towards Props. "Yo, grease monkette, could there be something here—like some sort of crazy mana machine—that's controlling the weather all around us?"
"I suppose... some sort of machine could be responsible," Props said with a shrug. "Though it'd be some really fancy shmancy machine!"
"And what if that machine were to be turned off?"
Props blinked. "The wind could conceivably go 'bye-bye!'"
"That's a gross oversimplification if you ask me," Elma said.
"The way I see it—it's a start!" Josho grinded his hooves. "And I don't intend to stand around here and watch ourselves turn to prunes from all this damned rain!"
"First thing's first..." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and lifted up. "Let me go out there."
"Go out there?!" Belle stammered.
"Huh?!" Eagle Eye blanched. "Rainbow, no!"
"Somepony's gotta do reconaissance. Might as well be the only pony with wings."
"The wind will blast you to bits!"
"I've given the place a good long look. The air's pretty darn manageable for someone as fast as me—so long as I don't try to fly beyond the outer border. I'll be fine."
"But... b-but..."
"Look..." Rainbow sighed and gave the rest of the group a weary smile. "If I'm right about this lousy place, then this is something I gotta do." She gulped and gazed out past the columns. "I'm the only Equestrian out this far." She bit her lip. "This place was practically made for me..."
Eagle Eye finished fastening the saddlebag to Rainbow's flank while the two stood along the floating temple's edge. Tightening it shut, he looked over her shoulder with a compassionate expression. "You sure you don't want to be wearing that leather coat for this flight?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "It's not even remotely cold out there..." She bit her lip. "Er... in here, I guess."
"It could have something to do with rapid convection within the clouds surrounding us!" Elma Boreal said.
"Or maybe it's linked to the fact that we're stuck in the heart of a Spark-forsaken flying city from Hell!" Josho grunted. "Rainbow, wherever you go and whatever you do, could you go about it quickly? I wanna get off this flying vomit stain in the sky."
"What's th' matter, ye ben grease tyke?" Prowse stepped up with a bearded smirk, slapping the unicorn's shoulder with his biological hoof. "Dornt want tae check it th' sights fur fear 'at they micht be checkin' it ye?"
"A unicorn doesn't belong in the air."
Eagle Eye blinked. "But you've been riding with the Jury for months!"
"Yeah, well, the Jury feeds me!" Josho grumbled, leaning back and folding his forelimbs. "I don't see this flying sewer hole shoveling me fresh daisy sandwiches!"
"Hrmmf..." Ebon rolled his eyes as he trotted by. "You're welcome..."
"If ye ask me, lassie, tak' aw th' time 'at ye want!" Prowse pivoted to face Rainbow. "Somewhaur in thes place is likely th' key tae hoo we can gie it ay haur, but there're bigger an' brighter keys tae far mair sparkly opportunities, by aw!"
"What I'm concerned about is the whole group, Prowse," Rainbow Dash said, sliding a pair of goggles down over her eyes. "We've been through a lot, and I owe it to them to get us all out of here."
"Not like you made this city ensnare us to begin with, Rainbow," Eagle Eye said.
"No. But I feel a responsibility, Double-E."
"What for?"
Rainbow sighed. "There're so many nasty things in this world, and all of them felt foreign to me. But this place?" She tilted her head up into a gust of moist wind, squinting against the rain and drizzle. "It's been through Equestria before. And if the images of Commander Hurricane are any indication, then it's carried a piece of who and what my kind are out into the far reaches of the world." She gazed sadly at the unicorn. "It'd be really, really uncool to find out that something pegasi did is responsible for a lot of nasty crap out here in the Frozen Wastes, ya dig?"
"You're doing good stuff with each passing day, Rainbow," Eagle Eye said. "Fly safely, and know that we believe in you."
"Yeah, that's awesome enough." Rainbow flapped her wings and hovered up by a few feet. "For now. Soundstone?"
Josho tossed her one.
She gripped it in the crook of her hoof, slid it between her pendant and her neck, and nodded. "Well, here goes a super wet won." Holding her breath, she valiantly turned tail and soared off into the water-drenched hurricane force winds.
Eagle Eye sat back, shivering slightly. Ebon trotted up and rested a hoof on the young stallion's shoulder.
"She knows what she's doing." Ebon smiled nervously. "She's done the solo thing before."
"Yeah, but still..." Eagle sighed. "It's gotta be lonelier knowing your friends are just a sneeze away..."
Rainbow Dash flew against the blinding sheets of rain. Gnashing her teeth, she veered a little bit to her left, attempting to skirt around the jetting gale. In so doing, she nearly propelled herself into a hovering black obelisk.
Gasping, she twirled sideways just in time to avoid the structure. Its tall marble face blocked the wind, forming a tiny patch of still air. Rainbow Dash chose to hover there, breathing with relief. She stared at the structure, marveling at how it wasn't being swayed at all by the heavy winds. In fact, it seemed altogether impervious.
Staring from the base to the top of the slender structure, Rainbow saw thin lines glowing with otherworldly sparks of mysterious energy. Upon closer inspection, the obelisk's exterior appeared smoother than the marble surfaces of the temples and buildings levitating in every direction. Rainbow Dash ran a hoof along the black shell, her jaw agape in wonder.
"So pristine," she murmured. "Almost like... the machine world..."
Shivering slightly, she turned and looked over her shoulder. Through the swirling mists of the hurricane force winds, she spotted several more obelisks identical to this one, all hovering at equidistant points. The buildings of pegasus architecture floated in relatively close clusters to these curious towers, and Rainbow wondered if perhaps there was a connection of some sort.
Tilting about, Rainbow looked towards the center of the storm, forward and above her. About eight hundred meters skyward at a forty-five degree angle, the largest building of all loomed. It as built like a giant, stout cylinder, with the makings of a dome that flattened out towards the top. The entire circumference was lined with typical marble arches, but Rainbow couldn't make out any of the interior from the deep shadows that the pillars made.
Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash tightened her goggles, planted her hooves against the obelisk behind her, and kicked off. She shot like a blue bullet into the rain, knifing her way through the currents in order to approach the large building at maximum speed.
"You can go inside, you know," Elma Boreal said as she shuffled over to Bellesmith's side. "You and the filly don't have to be out here."
Belle sat on the bottommost corner of the leaning hangar doors to the Noble Jury. A gray haze of light cascaded over her features as she lay Kera by her side, gently stroking the sleeping foal's mane. "Kera's not a fan of pitch black darkness," Belle muttered. "I always keep a lantern lit dimly to soothe her. So, while Props and her uncle struggle to get the power to Floydien's ship back on, I think she'll enjoy being out here more."
Elma blinked. She gazed out at the rain-swept temple, dribbling with moisture, and then the swirling clouds beyond. She glanced back. "No offense, but... h-how can you tell?"
Belle merely bit her lip.
"I-I'm sorry..." Elma winced, squatting down beside the mare. "That wasn't a fair thing to say. But still, I must say I'm rather concerned. Did... did something happen to the filly to... to cause her to be like this?"
"Yes, you could most definitely say that," Belle said through a frown. She closed her eyes, shuddered, and straightened her bangs. "Forgive me. Things... j-just haven't been the same since a few weeks ago."
Elma smiled awkwardly behind her beak. "I couldn't help but notice. I've been on several airships in my time, seen several different crews. The ponies of the Noble Jury seem... decidedly on edge."
"Yes, well, we have good reason to be," Belle said. "There are dangers in this world that you simply can't walk away from without limping. There was a terrible tragedy in a town called Lerris where Kera, Pilate, and I attempted to settle. Kera was... f-forced to witness a lot of horrible things. She used to be talkative, playful, sassy... and h-happy... but now?" Belle sighed, stroking the filly's mane. "A foal her age shouldn't have to be subjected to such a nightmare. The last thing I ever want to do is leave her side."
"I do believe I can see that," Elma said, nodding. "Has she gotten any better since... er... the incident?"
Belle was silent.
The turtle shuffled where she sat. "Ms. Bellesmith, I am... well acquainted with the horrors of this world."
"Are you?" Belle flashed her a frown.
Elma looked back. Nevertheless, she smiled—gently. "Indeed. Just because I'm a talking turtle doesn't mean I haven't lived as extraordinarily long as tortoises that don't."
Belle blinked at that. Eventually, with folded ears, she gazed down at the metal plank of the Noble Jury. "How... h-how many years...?"
"I lost count at one hundred and twenty," Elma said. "Life has its joyous occasions, Bellesmith, but when you throw that many decades into the mix, it's inescapable to see loved ones die... and twice as many float away into the darkness unsung." Her reptilian eyes gazed towards the swirling mists beyond the temple's edge. "There's a saying amongst the turtles of Alafreo: 'Let shadows collect only beneath a crowd.' It means that while our many, many years go by, our only means of battling the darkness is to usurp it with the warmth and intimacy of each other."
"I... didn't realize that reptilian creatures were... uhm... capable of such—"
"Sincerity?" Elma chuckled. "Ms. Bellesmith, I am cold-blooded... not cold." She took a deep breath and said, "What's happened to Kera is most terrible, and I am very sorry to hear about it. But perhaps it would be a good thing for you both to mingle someplace that's warmer, rosier, even happier."
"I'm giving her everything, Miss Boreal," Belle said through a quivering lip. "Warmth, companionship, love... she's receiving all that I've got to give."
Elma's eyes narrowed. "And was Kera the... only pony who was damaged by the trauma of what happened in this 'Lerris' place?"
Belle stared blankly past her.
Elma slowly nodded. She reached over and patted Belle's shoulder. "Your loyalty to Kera is noble. But I do think the filly needs more than that. But, more importantly, so do you."
Belle gulped and murmured through a trembling muzzle. "Loyalty... is all th-that I've known as of late..."
"All that you know or all that you've chosen to know?"
The mare winced, shivering slightly.
Elma glanced at the few ponies gathered about the temple, then back into the hangar of the Noble Jury. "This place just... feels so unnecessarily empty." She smirked. "And from someone with a shell, that's saying something. If I were you, Miss Bellesmith, I'd take advantage of something that I personally haven't had in nearly thirty years." She stood up.
Belle glanced up at her. "And what's that?"
Elma paused, then turned back to wink at her. "A husband." And she shuffled off.
On her way to the super structure, Rainbow Dash found it hard to breathe. The constant jets of rain meant opening her nostrils—much less her muzzle—for a single second risked legitimate drowning. The fact that she was still airborne could be chalked up to her sheer strength and experience as a versatile flier. Nevertheless, the wear and tear of the inclement weather was having its toll on her, and she feared she couldn't made it to the building at this rate.
Luckily, something loomed towards her right. She shot a glance over, seeing a large wall of granite roaming in her general direction. Rainbow wasn't startled; instead she banked right, twirled, and glided towards the lower platform of the wandering temple.
Her hooves touched down on the granite balcony with a splash. She shuffled forward until she was shaded by two stories of polished rock and marble. Shaking the copious amount of raindrops off her body and saddlebag, she took a long, wheezing breath and relaxed her muscles. With a slight shiver, she turned about, tilted her neck, and gazed out over the edge of the temple.
She could see obelisks moving through the hazy precipitation, while the pegasus temples and buildings moved faster. This confused Rainbow Dash for a moment, until—after wincing from a flash of lightning—she surmised that the obelisks were, in fact, staying still. It was the temple she was on that was moving, along with the other pegasus structures themselves. The fact that the obelisks looked like they were floating about was simply an illusion brought upon by her perception. This contributed to her growing assumption that the obelisks were somehow responsible for animating the entire city.
Turning around, Rainbow Dash trotted into the dark depths of the small building she was in. Rubbing a hoof over her pendant, she summoned a ruby glow that cast a dull crimson glint off of every wet surface. She saw no signs of furniture, draperies, tools, or any sort of small movable items whatsoever. She guessed that untold years of being suspended in the belly of a hurricane had stripped the interiors of these buildings to their bare essentials.
Still, the eeriness of the whole situation was not lost to Rainbow Dash. Aside from the black marble and the barren decor, it undoubtedly felt like she was navigating the inside of a typical pegasus dwelling in Cloudsdale. The building was built without enclosed walls, so that air could breathe easily through the marble columns and cornerstones of the place. Even the steps—which stretched up in a pair of zig-zagging stairs in the center of the structure—were drawn apart with vertical spaces for the rain water to dart through.
Rainbow Dash reached the top floor with quiet hoofsteps. As thunder rolled in the distance, she stared out onto the bright gray sprawl of floating buildings. She could see the large cylindrical structure looming a little bit above her. She could tell at this point that the round building was undoubtedly the center of the storm, even though she couldn't spot any obelisks located around it.
Looking down, Rainbow spotted the temple where the Noble Jury had landed at a distance. From far away, it appeared so tiny and fragile, and its movement through the wind gusts looked decidedly weak and unpredictable.
Wincing, she forced herself to look away from where her friends were. Gazing up, she spread her wings and darted towards the building, holding her breath this time so that she could make the distance in one succinct glide.
By flickering candlelight, Ebon Mane shuffled across the leaning interior of the Noble Jury's kitchen. Muttering slightly to himself, he scooped several pots and pans and utensils from the floor, shoving them into their respective places inside cabinets with widely dangling doors.
The candle suddenly went out with a gust of air. Ebon cursed under his breath and fumbled blindly for the matches. Just then, a lavender light lit up the room four times as brightly as the single candle. Blinking, Ebon turned and looked up.
Eagle Eye stood within the open doorway leading from the stairwell. "Sorry..." He blushed a bit. "I-I guess I brought a bit of the hurricane inside with me."
"It's fine," Ebon said with a sigh, glancing lethargically at the kitchen floor. "I wasn't getting much work done anyways."
"What makes you say that?"
"Unnngh... I gotta wash off all these dishes and junk! The darn things have been lying on the floor ever since we did battle with the Lounge! But I can't very well scrub them when the power's out! Besides, even if we somehow took off from this thing and flew victoriously to Alafreo, there's no telling what amount of turbulence would just propel them back onto the floor in the end!" He groaned and pulled at his mane. "So what's the use..."
Eagle bit his lip. "I-I could help you, y'know!" He smiled nervously. "One horn is better than eight hooves, where I come from."
"The only thing I'd need help with right now is fixing a group salad with tomato slices..." Ebon grumbled. "That needs a lot more light than what you've got."
"Uhhhhh..." Eagle Eye turned, illuminated the breezy stairwell, and then pivoted to face Ebon once more with a crooked smirk. "Considering where we are n'stuff, I really doubt the Jurists have munching on their mind."
"Feh. Josho does. Don't deny it."
"Josho can jump off the edge of my tail!" Eagle winked. "Big fat old stallion only knows how to do two things: fart and complain."
"Then why do you love the moron so much?"
Eagle giggled. "Somepony that plushie is impossible to not hug."
"Grrgghhh..." Ebon kicked at a clattering pot and slumped against a slanted cabinet. "I'm just so sick of this!"
Eagle squinted. "Sick of what?"
"It feels to me that—like—ever since we left Gray Smoke, I've been fumbling and stumbling to do anything right around here!" Ebon sighed heavily. He slid down to the floor and hugged himself. His eyes softened as he murmured, "I just... I-I just want to be useful, that's all..."
"Ebon, buddy, you are useful!"
Ebon sniffled. "Then why is it that everypony on board seems to h-hate me! I'm just the 'Sailboat Boomer' who can't prepare a soup right, I swear..."
Eagle smirked as he shuffled over. "Ebon, you're the ship's cook." He sat down right beside Ebon, slumping against the same cabinet. "I promise, there's nopony on board who hates you." He finished with a giggle.
Ebon raised an eyebrow. "Floydien hates me."
"Yeah, well..." Eagle scratched his neck and shrugged "That elk hates everyone. But I think that's his only way of loving everyone."
Ebon's face scrunched. "That doesn't make any sense."
"So, what about the magic space antlers that shoot electricity into stuff?"
Ebon nodded. "You have a point."
"Yes, and it's a good thing that it glows," Eagle squeaked before letting loose another giggle.
Ebon glared at him, then leaned his head back against the cabinet as he stared at the slanted ceiling. "You're really nice to try and cheer me up and all, but you don't need to bother, EE. I just... get into these crazy funks and I can't really pull myself out of it. It can't be helped."
"Why's that?"
"I dunno..." Ebon shrugged. "I guess I just go with the crowd." He gulped. "I feel it in my gut that this ship has just... been so miserable as of late. It keeps me awake at night, and I feel powerless to change any of it."
Eagle Eye blinked. "What about Zaid? You think he's miserable?"
"Idiots don't count."
"Good point."
"I feel like there's something that I should be doing to change all of it, but I can't." Ebon bit his lip as his eyes watered. "More than anything, I hate just... feeling so useless."
Eagle Eye shifted, his eyes darting to the cluttered floor. "Would you... like to be useful to me?"
"Hmmm?" Ebon's ears twitched. "Yeah, how?" He felt a soft mane against his neck. Blinking, he glanced aside.
Eagle was leaning his head on the stallion's shoulder. His violet eyes reflected his burgundy muzzle like that of a foal's. "Try not to look so sad." Eagle smiled weakly. "I really, really hate it when you've got a long muzzle."
Ebon stared at him. His face twitched, and he broke out an awkward smile. "Thanks."
Eagle immediately said, "For what?"
Ebon's skin pulsed from a jerk to his heartbeat. "I... I-I'm not sure yet..."
Dead silence fell across the room, during which neither stallion said anything. Calming down, Ebon leaned his head to his side, so that eventually the petite bodies of the two ponies were peacefully supported by one another. The wind howled outside, but the stallions took no notice of it. Neither did they realize exactly when it was that Eagle's light went out.
Rainbow touched down at last on the edge of the large round building. She almost slipped immediately on the slick wet stone.
“Wh-whoah?!” She spread her wings for counterbalance, but this was nearly her undoing. Errant gales of hurricane force wind shoved her forward, nearly plowing the pegasus into a marble column. With expert agility, she flipped, contacted the pillar with her hooves, and bucked off of it. Gliding with the wind, she came to a stop under the large overhang that wrapped around the building’s circumference. Here, the bulk of the structure’s outer shell finally acted as a wind buffer, and she could actually walk evenly.
Panting, she picked a random direction and trotted it, shuffling counter-clockwise around the outer rim of the building. As she did so, she looked to her left, staring at the wall of marble that was perpetually slick with rain water.
She could see patterned tiles, forming a mosaic of an ever-evolving image. Squinting, Rainbow saw mountains, forests, trees--and above it all a blue and purple sky with swirling bands of cloud and nebulae. But that wasn’t all. There lay a foundation beneath it all, or at least there once was. From what Rainbow could tell, somepony or ponies had chipped away the tile pieces that made up an entire layer beneath the illustrations of earth. It looked too neat a cut to have been done accidentally by nature or the elements.
“Somepony didn’t like the machine world…” Facing forward, Rainbow Dash muttered against the howling winds. “Hurricane, just how much did you know, girl?”
She suddenly stopped in her tracks, speechless.
A large body was blocking her way--a hunk of rusted metal with splayed mechanical parts.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She looked to the left. The front of the huge bulky structure lay flat against the inner wall of the building. She looked to the right. A pillar or two had been knocked aside, careening on either edge of the slender metal object. If Rainbow didn’t know any better, she would have guessed that this thing had crashed into the building. How long ago, she couldn’t say.
With pensive steps, she trotted around the thing. In so doing, she saw the tell-tale signs of a gondola, complete with rudders, masts, and the skeletal remains of a support structure.
“A zeppelin…” Rainbow Dash muttered as she squinted through a shattered porthole, staring into a compartment full of waterlogged junk and moldy interior furnishing. “How in the heck did it get up here?”
Her voice had a strange, confined echo to it. So she turned around, staring further down the edge of the building’s curved wall. She spotted not one but two more structures, both having impacted the building’s inner face just like the zeppelin before.
In a brisk pace, she galloped towards the two objects. Sure enough, both were airships. The hulls were in various states of decay, and she had seen enough vessels to know that one used a different kind of propulsion than the other.
“Okay… getting weirder…”
Rainbow walked along, and as she did so, she found more and more airships, all having crashed into the building’s side--evidently bow-first. She also found spaces where the marble floor of the building’s outer rim had been scraped and damaged, suggesting that even more ships had crashed there before, but over time they had either fallen off the edge or disintegrated from decay.
This pattern continued and continued. To break the monotony, Rainbow Dash paused in her counter-clockwise trek to stare out at the floating “city.” It was then that she discovered that other floating temples--some large and some small--were littered with airships themselves--be they whole entire derelicts or just the pieces of old metal carcasses.
“Luna Poop…” Rainbow Dash winced. “The Noble Jury isn’t one in a million after all…” She turned to gawk at the bulk of the structure she was traversing. “How long has this friggin’ place been gobbling up ships?”
It was then that Rainbow noticed a space of open stone to her left. She suddenly realized that the wall stopped curving, giving way to a wide partition that stretched nearly sixty feet across. Curious, she trotted past an inner layer of pillars and approached the chamber, surprised to see that no vehicle parts littered the space.
And then her hooves came to a scuffling stop. She looked straight up at the dead-center of the wall. Her mouth hung agape, and after a good solid minute, she lifted her rain-slick goggles to stare at the thing unimpeded with her natural born eyes.
“Huh…” Her expression hung between a grimace and a smirk. “Well that’s different.”
"What I'm trying to tell you, handsome, is that it's not a matter of Nancy's womb being fried!" Props gulped before speaking across the cockpit. "If we were to take off right now, we'd fly directly into a mess of howling winds! I'm afraid the steam ports aren't enough to stabilize us with that degree of turbulence! All we could do is circle around with the skystone engine at suicidal speeds! And I don't think Nancy Jane's lucky enough to crash land twice in a row without going kersplodey!"
"Well, Floydien isn't a fanatic addict for sitting here and collecting glimmer dust!" Floydien grumbled. "Color Wheel isn't here to help blonde boomer's uncle with an excursion diversion! Floydien needs to get Nancy and the rest of the boomers out of this mess!"
"I'm all with you, but you gotta understand..." Props smiled awkwardly. "Until we can figure out what makes this place tick, there's no sense in making the Nancy Jane tock, ya feel me?"
"Mah niece has got a point, ye hyperactife space elk!" Prowse remarked from where he leaned against the rain-drizzled doorframe to the leaning ship's top deck. "Yoo've got a mighty braw ship haur, but dashin' it tae bits jist coz ye feel a tooch ay th' cramps abit thes waterlogged place doesnae make much sense."
Floydien's red eyes narrowed. "How is it possible for a boomer to exist that spits more sideways than Floydien?"
"Crkkkkk! Hey, guys?!" The sound stone in Props' possession crackled.
"Oh jeezies!" Props hopped in place. "Dashie's calling!" She bellowed out the doorframe. "Hey guys! Dashie's got something to say!" Hoofsteps galloped closer as the mare leaned back against a crooked wall and spoke into the stone being cradled between her hooves. "Rainbow? Propsy here. What's new?"
"I wouldn't call it 'new,' exactly. But old. Super... super old..."
Josho trotted up with Pilate leaning against the stallion's side. "Go on ahead, Rainbow," he said with a slight shudder. "We're all ears."
"Well, for one thing, I've found a bunch of crashed ships."
Josho's face scrunched. "Like what kind of ships?"
"Everything you can imagine. Steam-powered, skystone, regular zeppelins. A whole bunch of them look smashed to all heck, not to mention pretty dang old. I think this floating city's been collecting aircraft from the Flurries for a crazy long time."
"Ah kent it!" Prowse sneered through clenched teeth. "Zabubadabu isnae naethin' tae play aroond wi'! It explains wa sae mony ships disappeared in th' depths ay these bludy freezin' cloods!"
"I didn't find any ponies, though. I mean, with that many ships, you'd think there'd at least be some bodies lying around."
"In an environment as inhospitable as this, I highly doubt any ponies would have survived for long," Pilate said in a cold tone. "The same could be said of their corpses."
Props shuddered at that.
"Other than that, I've seen more evidence of Commander Hurricane having lived here. Granted, that would have been several thousands of years ago."
"Astoondin', isnae it?" Prowse grinned. "Thes place was ance a haven fur flyin' ponies! Aam tellin' ye, we've struck gauld!"
"Yes, and we've got the proverbial concussion to prove it!" Josho frowned. "Say, Rainbow, have you found any thing that can get us off these floating sky turds?"
"No, but I have found a bunch of murals that must have once illustrated the world from the perspective of those who built this place. A lot of the images are missing. I've got a theory or two behind that, but nothing to go on. Oh, and I kinda sorta found something else... something big..."
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. "What kind of something?"
Rainbow Dash stood before the large wall, staring up at the intricate lines forming the circular patterns above her.
"It's a very large pattern," she said. "Imagine a large circle, only it's sliced up into twelve pieces. And—like—there are two smaller circles just like it, one inside another. Three large segmented circles total. And between the joints of the twelve different plates, there are these small spheres, set on the inside curve of the broken circles."
All was wind and howling...
And then Pilate's voice replied, "Twelve segments to each circle, you say?"
Prowse's voice crackled on the other end. "Is thaur supposed tae be some sort ay bloomin' significance tae 'at?"
"It falls into a pattern that we've observed since our journey from Blue Shelf began. Rainbow Dash, it would seem, has ties to a long-forgotten history that is stored within the machines that lay hidden in the belly of this earth. Both Rainbow and my beloved have experienced visions of a world—far larger than the one we live in—that is made up of twelve separate parts, like portions of an enormous ring."
"Bludy heel. ur ye tryin' tae suggest 'at thes city is a key tae a prehistoric genesis?"
"Well, you could argue that Rainbow herself serves such a purpose. I can't possibly comprehend what connection this floating city might have."
Props' voice lit up. "Maybe it was built by flying ponies, much like Dashie and the old Equestrians who apparently found it once upon a time?"
"I've got an even stupider question," Rainbow Dash said, eyeing the circles within circles. "Given what you, me, and Belle have learned so far, Pilate, just why would I be looking at three broken rings inside of one another?" She gulped. "I was only ever aware of one ring."
All was silent on the other end.
"I do not know, Rainbow," Pilate's voice said. "We have to consider the likelihood that, in spite of all the visions and truths we have encountered, there is still a great deal we have yet to learn and understand."
"I didn't fly all this way to get another migraine."
"Neither did any of us. I must admit that my curiosity abounds, but I suspect we have more pressing concerns."
"I couldn't learn much on my lonesome anyways," Rainbow Dash said, squinting at the wall between the spheres and lines. "I see a whole bunch of words carved into the stone here."
"What kind of words?" Josho's voice said.
"To be perfectly frank, they look... Xonan," Rainbow said. "Or Xonanese?"
"Better yet, perhaps the same ancient language that the Xonans based their dialect on," Pilate said. "Belle and Phoenix witnessed that when they first met Kera and she saw the book of runes you found."
"Yeah..." Rainbow sighed. "Too bad the poor scamp's on the fritz. I wouldn't mind having an adoracute living cheat sheet in my pocket."
"Yes, well..." Pilate's voice took a breath. "We must make do with what we have..."
"Or what we don't have," Rainbow muttered quietly.
"Hey Dashie!" Props' voice chimed. "Not that we're in a hurry to get out of this scary mess before we all die of drowning, aphyxiation, or madness... but any chance you can try and find the energy source of what's keeping us here in the eye of the storm?"
"Right..." Rainbow Dash nodded and turned away from the wall of carvings. "I saw some corridors leading into the heart of the largest building where I'm at. I'll go do some exploring and keep in touch."
"Just be careful, ya paint bucket!" Josho's voice grumbled.
"Heh... you know me..." Rainbow's nostrils flared as she trotted back the way she came. "Of course I won't..."
As Rainbow Dash entered one of several corridors leading to the center of the large round structure, the hiss of wind and rain dulled to a low roar. All had become darkness and echoing hoofsteps. After a brief pause, a ruby beam of light emanated from her pendant, illuminating the narrow marble walls on either side of her. She glanced left and right, her blue hooves splashing in tiny puddles as she made her way towards the far end of the passageway.
She came upon a junction of tiny intersecting hallways. She sniffed the air with her fuzzy muzzle, squinting left and right across the shadows. Muttering under her breath, she took a pensive left turn and followed a long, curved corridor. As a minute limped by, she judged that this hallway followed the generally circular shape of the building's outer walls. On her left and right, doorframes opened to small, cramped corridors. She took a moment or two to glance in, and for once she saw some semblance of former civilization. Broken pieces of old pottery and delapidated furniture littered the floors and corners of the cramped compartments. Curious, she wandered into one, picking up a piece of curved plaster that must have once been an urn of some sort. Across its dusty surface, she made out the faded images of winged ponies in pre-classical Equestrian armor.
"Hmmm... Pegasopolitan..." She stared up at the ceiling, spotting cracks where streams of moisture bled through, trickling noisily to the floor. "I bet Twilight would have gotten a real kick out of this place, the friggin' egghead." She paused for a moment, and her mouth hung between a grimace and af rown. "Heh... bet she'd get a real kick out of me."
She dwelled on that for a little too long. With a barely audible grunt, she taused the piece of pottery uncaringly to the floor. Turning away from the shattering noise, she trotted back into the curved hallway and resumed her slow, exploratory journey.
It wasn't long until she came upon a hallway to her right that was significantly bigger and significantly longer than the compartments she had stumbled upon previously. Judging that it must lead towards the center of the building, she proceeded on through. She sniffed the air, noticing a staler smell than in the previous interior sections. The deeper she traversed towards the heart of the building, the colder and deader the atmosphere felt. She felt a sharp chill run across her body, and she wrapped her wing feathers around her sides for a smidgeon of added insulation.
"Brrrrr... no way in heck Commander Hurricane could have been in charge of this place," Rainbow Dash muttered aloud. She glanced back at the darkness behind her. "Any self-respecting bird-brain woulda piloted this rainy hunk-a-junk to the tropics where it would have warmed up."
She bumped into the pointy end of a spear.
"Ow!" Her voice cracked. She turned and stared down the hollow nostrils of a horse skull. "Gaaaah!" Hopping back, she shielded her wincing face with her wing, then nervously peered over her feathers.
A pony skeleton lay, its spine and ribcage propped up against a stack of moldy, imploded wooden crates. Several sharp pikes lay in a solid barricade along with the body. The equine's forelimbs faithfully held a staff at a forty-five degree angle to the ceiling, pinned against its decayed frame.
"Uhhh... h-hey there..." She craned her neck and blinked with wide eyes. "...sister."
A pair of pegasus wings dangled from the skeleton's sides.
"That's not crazy or anything." Rainbow leaned closer, squinting through the ruby haze of her lit pendant. "It... it couldn't possibly be the Angels that Khao yapped on about, could it?" She tapped her chin, then glanced aside at a second pegasus—then did a double take.
Much like the previous skeleton, this pony's remains were situated along the front end of a crumbled barricade. Not only was it equipped with a jagged spear, but rusy bits of armor lay around its decrepit side. Rainbow's eyes traced and re-traced hauntingly familiar helmet motifs.
"So, Commander, you weren't alone." She gazed at the barricade as a whole, spotting three more skeletons, frozen forever with gaping jaws. "Your batallion followed you to the bitter end." She took a deep, proud breath. "Talk about loyalty." Squinting, she peered down the far end of the corridor. "Just what were you guys all protecting...?"
Her murmuring voice echoed across the dark walls.
Curious, Rainbow Dash crept forward. Her muscles strained harder to trot, and that's how she knew that the floor was tilted upwards at an incline, like a ramp. As she moved along, she became aware of a faint light straight ahead of her. She heard a pitter-pattering sound, like that of rain cascading across thick glass. Eventually, the light was strong enough that she could dim the glow of her pendant.
Right about this time, the ascending hallway ended, and it opened up to a massive, massive chamber. The tiniest of shuffling hoofsteps sent frightful echoes across the place. Rainbow Dash saw curved walls with segmented columns and arches, all surrounding a spacious interior filled with scattered stone-like structures about the height of an average pony. But the most noticeable detail was the granite ceiling—or rather a lack thereof.
Upon entering the room, Rainbow realized that the very center of the building formed a shallow dome, and the innermost circle was comprised of an elaborate stained glass window with several circles within circles of panoramic designs. It was difficult to make out any of the jagged illustrations, on account of the gray light of the world outside being refracted by copious ribbons of rain water sloshing all across the outer shell.
Rainbow squinted, her face bathed in the prismatic kaleidoscope of waterlogged light. Determined to see better, she flapped her wings and hovered up until she was a spit's distance from the stained glass ceiling. Here, she spun in slow, slow circles, taking in as many details as her beleaguered mind could.
The outermost rim of the circle showed a starry expanse. Comets and nebulaic bodies and constellations filled up the long curved panels with translucent purples, blacks, and violets.
The next circular panel looked as if it had been blacked out, until Rainbow looked harder and realized she was seeing a pure ring of metallic browns and grays.
Next, she saw what must have been the "machine world," complete with its gold and platinum platforms, sweeping pendulums, rolling conveyor belts, and endless streams of gears and levers.
The layer within that is what caught Rainbow's attention the most. Here, she saw landscapes, clusters of earth, forests and valleys, seas and deserts. Not all of it was green—some landscapes were brown, gray, blue, and even odd colors such as purples and yellows. But what made Rainbow Dash gawk in confusion was the nature of the illustrated creatures living within this layer of the window. She saw quadrupeds, to be sure, but also bipeds, simeons, reptiles, and some creatures with limbs she couldn't even recognize. What was more, each of these creatures congregated around one particular section of the panel, corresponding to a different landscape. Rainbow counted, and she ultimately discovered twelve distinct sections.
Strangely enough, none of these sections depicted ponies—or at least that's what she thought at first. Hovering higher, she studied one part of the panel that was considerably darker than the rest. It wasn't until closer inspection that she realized the panel wasn't dark—but rather it had been damaged in such a way that the light from outside was too scattered to properly break through. She flew until she was within a breath's distance, studying the cracked parts of the glass from the uncracked. Drops of moisture dripped through from the rain outside, and after a few flashes of lightning, she finally spotted something that caught her eye. She saw feathers, and wings, and the flanks that they were attached to.
"Pegasi..." Rainbow Dash muttered, then gulped. "The angels."
Sure enough, that part of the panel was populated by winged ponies. Why it was damaged, Rainbow couldn't properly guess, until she surmised that the cracks could easily have been formed by one or two well-aimed Pegasopolitan spears.
"Guessing they weren't all that they were cracked up to be, eh, Khao?" Rainbow Dash ran a hoof through her wet mane as she glanced down. "Hurricane, what did you figure out about them...?"
From this height, Rainbow could spot several clusters of delapidated junk cluttering the room's otherwise pristine floor below. She glanced out towards the perimeter, and thus discovered twelve passageways total, all leading out from the large chamber. Each passageway was barricaded with all manner of junk, pikes, and rusted chunks of armor. No small amount of pegasus skeletons dotted the "bastions." They all faced out, armed to the teeth, fending off some invisible foe into eternity.
"This was a last stand," Rainbow murmured aloud as she descended on limp wings. "They all died holing themselves up here." She perched on one of the stone structures, giving the walls a cockeyed glance. "But wh-what?"
Her cracking voiced echoed against the dusty granite lengths of the place, accompanied by the dull pitter-patter of rain against the glass above. Rainbow Dash glanced straight up, studying the very center of the stained glass ceiling from below.
Set within the center of the dome beyond the "surface world" were two final panels. One, a swirling effigy of clouds and skies—both sunlit and moonlit. Then, within the very center, she spotted what looked like a ruined panel of stained glass, until she realized that the small circle was nothing more than a ribboning spiral of prismatic colors, occupying the entire spectrum from red to green to violet and back.
"Hrmmmf... Rub it in, why don'tcha?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head back down with bored eyes. It was then that she noticed an equine shape to her far right. Jumping a bit, she pivoted to face it directly. A statue of a horse's head loomed above a marble slab—only the slab was considerably different than all the rest. It wasn't part of the room's structure, but rather a neatly arranged pile of rectangular stones fastened together like an ark.
Trotting towards it, Rainbow took notice of the horse head's features. The muzzle was curved and the neck was slender—the tell-tale traits of a pony mare. What's more, her determined face featured undeniable battle scars.
"Commander Hurricane..." Rainbow muttered aloud. Her eyes fell to the slabs beneath the effigy. She bit her lip. "Are... are you in there?" She turned to look back at the skeletons guarding the twelve entrances, then at the tomb once again. "Ah jeez. And I thought I lived an awesome life." She gave a bittersweet smirk, then blinked...
For there was a series of black staves sticking out of the ground not that far away.
Curious, Rainbow Dash trotted past the tomb and approached the forest of slender vertical rods. There were dozens of them, and all situated around a circular stone in what Rainbow Dash realized was the very center of the room. Sure enough, as she stood upon the stone and gazed straight up, she saw the rainswept center panel of the stain glass domed ceiling. Glancing down at the base of the rods, she saw long deep grooves in the floor, all pointing towards the centermost stone. Looking at the rods' tips, she saw black shards, lock vulcanic obsidian. As a matter of fact, from the slender crystalline structure of the shards, they almost exactly mimicked the—
"Obelisks..." Rainbow Dash breathed. "Just like the big ones floating outside." She squinted. "That couldn't possibly be a total coinkydinky." She reached a blue hoof towards one. "Pffft. That would just be plain stupid—"
Flash! The obelisk glowed to the touch, then slid slightly away from her. Rainbow Dash gasped, instantly hovering on twitchy feathers. She heard a grinding noise, then glanced down to see dust flying out of the groove as the entire staff traveled slightly towards the center stone.
Not long after, there was another grinding noise—two, actually. Rainbow Dash spun around to see two of the stout granite slabs moving towards her and the center of the room.
The entire thing lasted for about five seconds. As soon as Rainbow removed her hoof from the shard at the top of the staff, the staff itself stopped moving. In turn, so did the two slabs behind her.
All was silent once again, save for the hush of rain and the muffled rolls of thunder.
"Hmmmmm..." Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. She pivoted towards the staff yet again. She touched it. The crystal glowed. Gripping the shard in her hoof, Rainbow looked behind her as she pulled the staff back.
The two slabs moved in perfect sync.
Rainbow pushed the staff forward.
The slabs approached her and the center of the room.
Licking her lips, Rainbow Dash flew forward, pushing the staff the rest of the way.
With a noisy grind, the two slabs swam past their siblings and came to a stop just outside the ring of vertical staves. This happened at the precise same time Rainbow found that she couldn't push the rod any more; it had reached the very end of its groove, stopping just short of the circular stone in the very center of the chamber.
Rainbow Dash released her hoof from the horn. She rubbed her chin in thought. "Wait a second..." Her eyes brightened. "Wait a second... wait a second!" Breathless, Rainbow Dash darted out of the chamber, flew past the collapsed skeletons, and zig-zagged her way through the shadowed corridors that led to the outer ring.
Emerging once again in the sheets of rain and howling wind, Rainbow Dash perched sideways on one of the circular balcony's many-many pillars. She squinted, staring out into the thick precipitation and stormy haze. Undaunted, she flew sideways, darting over and under crashed airships until she found what she was looking for.
One obelisk was suddenly levitating so close to the large building's edge that Rainbow Dash could practically kiss it. What's more—it wasn't alone. Two temples of varying sizes hovered along with it. She judged that any pony with a lick of athleticism could easily jump the tiny, rainy gap that now loomed between where she was and the edges of the two temples.
Blinking, Rainbow gazed out at the hovering depths of Stratopolis. She spotted each obelisk, and she now realized that they numbered just the same as the rods that stood in the center of the room. With a gradually growing smile, Rainbow Dash flew towards one edge of the building until she looked out onto a particular section of the floating city. She spotted the temple where she knew that the Noble Jury and its beleaguered crew were quietly waiting. Counting the obelisks between it and the one she had just "pulled," she immediately flew back into the heart of the large round building behind her.
"I'm telling you, man." Zaid grinned, leaning casually against a tilted mast on the Jury's top deck. "Just grab an open jar of mayonnaise, sandwich it between a pillow and your bed mattress, and then go to town. Best thing ever, guaranteed."
"Uhm... er..." Eagle Eye stared at his own hooves, blushing furiously.
"Heh... I know, right?" Zaid yawned and closed his eyes shut. "You can thank me later, dude."
Just then, the entire ship shook... along with the temple around it.
"Whoah whoah whoah!" Zaid gasped, flinging his eyes open. "Not now, you stud!"
"Something's h-happening!" Eagle Eye stammered.
Ebon Mane galloped out of the stairwell, breathless. "Are we f-falling?!"
"Hold on, boomers!" Floydien shouted from the cockpit as he fired an array of sparks into the control instruments. "We're getting off this evil rock of float float!" He spat into the intercom. "Blonde boomer! Give Nancy power—"
"Scrkkkk! Don't you sweat your antlers off, buddy. I've got this..."
"Blonde boomer?" Floydien's brown muzzle scrunched. "Why so crack-a-squeak?"
"Because this is Rainbow, you red-nosed-reindork! Pay attention to the sound stone and take a good long look! Port side!"
"Ehhh?" Floydien craned his neck to see. Around this time, Josho and Prowse climbed up to the cockpit to look as well.
The temple, an obelisk, and another building in the distance were all coming together, hovering towards a fixed spot of rainy air alongside the edge of Stratopolis' largest building. As the temple housing the Noble Jury cruised to a slow stop, a blue figure darted out, hovering between two pillars and a crashed zeppelin as she spread her forelimbs victoriously.
"Tadaaaaaa! Neato keano, isn't it?" Rainbow's teeth grinted in a flash of lightning.
Eagle Eye and Ebon cooed.
Meanwhile, Zaid spat out the edge of his muzzle. "Pffft. Hax." The temple jolted to a stop, throwing him into the Jury's mast. Thud! "Crackapoop!"
"A control room?" Josho shouted across the wind and rain.
"Yup!" Rainbow Dash jumped the gap between the circular building's balcony and the adjacent temple. She landed a few feet in front of the Noble Jury's dormant bow. "In that it seems to control the buildings that are floating around here."
"And..." Belle squinted from where she stood with Kera alongside Elma. "...the core that runs this place?"
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "I... haven't had quite as much luck finding that," the pegasus muttered.
"Hrmmmf..." Floydien rolled his red eyes. "Assuming such a glimmer wad exists."
"Hey!" Rainbow frowned and pointed a hoof. "I'm gonna find it! Okay? I've just got... y'know... more places to search."
"Seems like an awfully large building," Eagle Eye said, squinting through the constant drizzle. "Could take hours to explore... days even..."
Ebon blinked. "What if we split up?"
Zaid scowled at him. "Were you friggin' born yesterdouche?!"
"I was j-just suggesting something!" Ebon bit his lip with folded ears. "In the interest of time..."
"If ye ask me, aam raither glad tae hae aw th' time in th' warld tae explair thes magnificent waterlogged bungaloo!" Prowse said with a bearded grin.
"Yes, we all know that," Rainbow Dash muttered. "But we've gotta set our priorities."
"The faster we get out of here, the safer we'll all be," Belle said.
"An' jist whit makes ye certain ay 'at, Miss Paranoia?!" Prowse barked.
Belle frowned across the way at him. "You're not the only pony here with a doctorate."
"Let's all try to calm down and not bite at each other," Pilate said, his voice raised above the thunder. He waved his forelimbs as he spoke towards the hissing weather. "Rainbow Dash, you've found evidence of mechanical purpose to this place, yes?"
"Right." The pegasus nodded. "There're a bunch of poles inside the centermost piece of the place that control the floating obelisks. It seems as though two or three temples are—like—somehow magically attached to these dark structures. When I move the poles, I move the obelisks, and then the temples float along with them."
"So you have access to the entire city?!" Props remarked, bright-eyed.
"Seems like it."
"Hrmmmm..." Prowse rubbed his fuzzy chin with a metal prosthetic. "Main be some sort ay prehistoric leyline aura manipulation buffer...."
"Or just a bunch of fart physics," Josho grumbled. "I, for one, say that we go in search of the core."
"Would we even know what to look for?" Ebon asked.
"Rainbow, this place with the levers that manipulated the floating buildings," Props spoke. "Where were they inside this big-big building here?"
"In the center..." Rainbow jolted and pointed. "T-towards the top! Like, it's right beneath this glass dome thing."
Props glanced at her uncle. "If I was an ancient race of mysterious sky ponies..."
Prowse nodded back. "Eh'd fancy buildin' mah energy cair in th' huir uv a center ay th' most important structure."
"Seems kind of presumptious, don't you think?" Belle said.
"If I can make a suggestion," Pilate said. "Perhaps if Rainbow Dash led a group back to the control room beneath the glass ceiling, everypony can work together to find evidence of where the central energy core of this Stratopolis is."
"What's the point in doing that?" Zaid asked.
"Whoever built this place must have exhibited a great deal of intelligence and creativity," Pilate said. His ears twitched in the wet wind. "It stands to reason that there would be patterns interwoven in their work," he remarked. "If you look in one important control room, you'll likely find evidence for where to locate another important energy junction."
"Makes a big auld buckit ay sense tae me!" Prowse smirked. "Ah loch ye, zebra! Yoo've got iron an' brains in atween them stripes!"
"I... dunno if I can recognize any such patterns," Props said.
"But I know somepony who can." Rainbow Dash smirked. "Pilate? Feel like coming along?"
Belle did a double-take. "What...?!"
"I..." Pilate gritted his teeth, fidgeting. "I would just be a burden. I mean, without O.A.S.I.S..."
"But you can still envision stuff in your head, now can't you?" Rainbow Dash flew towards him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Blinders on or off, you're the sharpest knife in this zany little drawer of ours. So how about it? We could really use your pointers on the inside."
Pilate stammered. "You... y-you really think I can be useful?"
"Dude, when haven't you been?" Rainbow Dash smirked.
"Striped boomer is the best compass Floydien's ever had," the elk remarked with a nod. "Nancy Jane would approve too."
Pilate took a shuddering breath. Clenching his jaw shut, he nodded. "Alright. Count me in."
"Wicked sweet!" Rainbow Dash helped Pilate towards the edge of the temple. "I'll be having to fly us over one at a time. Might as well give you a lift, first..."
"Rainbow, w-ait!" Belle exclaimed.
Pilate jerked to a stop. Rainbow stared over the zebra's shoulder. "Something the matter, Ding-Dong?"
Belle's muzzle hung open. She twitched... twitched again, then drew back into the temple's shadows, holding Kera close.
Rainbow blinked, then turned to face the rest of the group. "Anypony else wanna stretch their legs in a super creepy building filled with ancient skeletons and surrounded by rainstorms?"
"I bet I could be of some help," Props said, trotting forward. "You've seen one smexy machine, you've seen them all!"
"An' there's nae way in bludy heel aam sittin' thes a body it!" Prowse reached back and tugged a certain snapping turtle along with him. "Hop along, Tankette! It's Zabubadabu or bust!"
"Wh-whoah! I... uhm..." She gulped. "Do I have a choice, Professor?"
"Please. yoo're a livin' sheel, lassie. Whaur arenae ye safe? Hmmm?"
Miss Boreal sighed long and hard. "Just don't use me to bash any doors in."
"Ew, he does that?" Zaid remarked.
"Only one time!" Prowse frowned, then fidgeted. "Hoo was Ah tae ken Mintian monks locked aw ay their oothooses?"
"Guess I'd better haul my butt with you guys too," Josho grumbled, shuffling forward.
Eagle Eye did a double-take. "What?! Old stallion?! Why?!"
Josho swiveled around, levitating his shotgun. "Just because." He shrugged. "After all, you never know when or if a water golem or Ledo knows what else might decide to spring out of this place's ancient butt cracks and give us all a headache."
"Two glasses of shotgun keeps the doctor away, huh?" Zaid asked.
"Just be glad that I've not yet used you for target practice."
"Right. Erm... shutting up now."
"So it's settled, then?" Rainbow Dash asked. "If so, then let me start flying us over there one at a time—"
Pilate suddenly gasped.
"What?" Rainbow looked at him. "I know it's a little rain, but I can manage!"
"Do you h-hear that?" the zebra stammered, his ears twitching. "Rising slowly in pitch from the distance?"
"The heck are you even talking about?" Josho throated.
"No..." Ebon Mane winced. "I hear it too..."
"Guysies!" Props gasped, pointing straight down into the lightning-riddled clouds. "Looksies!"
Everypony (and elk [and turtle]) craned their necks to see. It looked like a dark splotch at first, like a thundercloud bubbling with extra dense precipitation. But then it shot out of the mists like a cannonball, spinning with a high-pitched whistle. With random pulses of yellow light, the Lounge's ship spiraled out of control, flew into the heart of Stratopolis, and crash landed deep into a large temple several hundred meters below. Dust flew, and chunks of marble fell into the gray expanse below. But then all of the chaos of the impact was swiftly swallowed by the rolling thunder of that dank, dank place.
Belle bit her lip, hugging Kera hard. Ebon and Eagle Eye exchanged glances.
"Hmmmf..." Zaid gulped. "Bummer."
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash grimaced.
Floydien glanced at the assembled group. "All of the time in the world, bearded boomer says?"
The petite stallion kept his expert gaze trained on a distant temple hovering through Stratopolis below. He levitated a sword and shield on one side of his body and a sound stone on the other. Wiping the rainwater off his muzzle, he took a step back beside the Noble Jury and spoke into the enchanted shard.
"Not a thing. If I didn't know better, I'd say they all bought it."
"We can't know that for sure, kid."
"I know..." Eagle Eye sighed. "But here's hoping." He turned and glanced at the large round building hovering in front of the Noble Jury's temple. "That room you're in has control of the obelisks floating these buildings around, right?"
"Yeahhhhh..." Josho said from where he paced with the levitating shotgun and sound stone. "What you getting at?"
"Well, maybe you could give the lever controlling the Lounge's crash site a good shake. It could toss their ship loose, y'know?"
"Or send them all running, scurrying, or flying towards us," Josho said. "As much as I don't like those creepy-masked dudes, I'd rather keep them at leg's distance."
"Right," Rainbow Dash said from where she floated over the heads of the group. Her voice echoed across the domed chamber. "Besides, from the look of the rods here, the obelisk connected to their crash site is at its furthest distance from the heart of Stratopolis. I don't wanna bring them any closer to where we are or—more importantly—where the Noble Jury is."
"That works for me."
"Keep an eye out, fruit basket," Josho said. "If you see any weirdness, give us a shout, and we'll come running."
"Will do. You try not to get yourself hurt too badly, old stallion."
"Yeah, yeah." Josho dimmed the soundstone and shuffled back towards the center of the room. "Yeesh, that prima donna worries too much about me."
"I think it's a charming trait," Pilate said.
"Go soak your head in charm for all I care, braymeister." Josho rested the shotgun over his flank as he nodded towards the array of rods. "What's going on here?"
"Apparently, a whole lot ay bludy naethin'," Prowse said. He squinted at his neice. "Propsicle?"
"Mmmnnnghhh..." Props licked her lips and tensed her forehead as she stroked and rubbed her hooves around one of the many black-spiked staves. "No luck! It won't budge!" She turned to gaze up at Rainbow Dash. "It won't even glow!"
"How about you give it a go once more, Miss Dash?" Elma said.
"Uh huh." Rainbow Dash flew down and lightly tapped the edge of one shard.
With a loud grinding noise, it shifted ahead, causing two slabs of granite to slide along with it. Rainbow Dash stopped moving the staff before a dim glow could shimmer across the room.
"Yeesh!" Props slumped back on her haunches, her ears folded. "It does it for you almost right away!"
"Well, I think the reason is rather obvious," Elma said.
"And what's that, Tankette?"
"It must respond to winged ponies," the snapping turtle explained. She turned to blink at the others. "This is a city built and run by Rainbow's kind, is it not?"
"That remains to be determined," Pilate said, leaning against the reptile. "From what Rainbow's discovered, her ancient native ancestors occupied this place, but it doesn't seem likely that they built it."
"What about the 'Angelic Host' crap?" Josho stated.
"The What Crap?" Prowse squinted.
"Pilate," Josho said. "Tell 'em about all the Herald junk we ran into."
"What my colleague is referring to is a group of modern day zealots who are of the firm belief that an ancient race of pegasi acted as the founders of the known world," Pilate explained. "Or, at least, this part of the world..."
"This... part...?" Prowse blinked awkwardly.
"There's a big ol' machine dwelling beneath all of us, Unky Prowsy!" Props giggled. "Smexical, isn't it?"
"From the evidence that Rainbow has gathered throughout her travels, and from visions my beloved has shared with the knowledge gained by Nightshade Industries, it would seem there's plenty of data to support this fact," Pilate said.
"Don't forget the book I got from that skeleton in the... erm... giant centipede hole..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. "Or was it a millipede?" A sigh. "Meh, whatever. I kicked its thorax either way, I'm sure."
"Ye mean techt 'at glowin' lift book 'at ye hae caged up in th' heart ay th' elk's skystain ship?"
"Yup yup up!" Props proudly chirped.
"Weel i'll be bloon tae blaze's bathroom!" Prowse smiled wide. "Zabubadabu gits snazzier by th' minute!"
"Yes, a regular vacation spot," Josho droned.
"Perhaps this city floated over Rainbow's homeland in the past," Elma Boreal thought out loud. "And her ancestors—being pegasi—piloted it far away so it wouldn't rick the local populace."
"You're saying Commander Hurricane and Company sacrificed themselves to escort Stratopolis out of Equestrian airspace?" Rainbow remarked.
"That makes some squeaky sense!" Props said.
"I wish there was a way to test that hypothesis..." Elma spoke aloud.
"There may in fact be a way," Pilate said, pacing in a tight circle. "Rainbow Dash. You said that there are several pegasus skeletons in here? Scattered abroad?"
"Er... yeah...?"
"Being the only pegasus in the room, might you take offense to us... erm... borrowing a bone or two?"
Rainbow Dash blinked, then shrugged. "Knock yourselves out. I'm pretty sure after so many dang centuries, the spooky scary pony ghosts are too flippin' bored to be disturbed."
"So what do we need, Pilate?" Josho asked.
"I suspect a single legbone will do."
Prowse was already trotting over towards a decayed body lying beside a barricade. With a shuddering breath, he converted his metal left leg into a thin blade. "Nopony e'er said archaeology was clean as a whistle..."
Props gulped and stammered, "Sorry about this, Mr. Skeleton Buddy."
Crackkk! With one fell swoop, Prowse lopped a legbone off. He passed it to Props who nervously trotted across the room and shuffled to a stop beside Pilate.
"Now..." The zebra motioned in a vague direction with his head. "Have it make contact with one of the rods."
Props did so, wincing slightly.
Tap.
The bone was resting against the black shard on the top of a rod. Silence ensued.
"Nothing's happening," Props murmured.
"Huh..." Elma squinted her reptilian eyes. "So maybe it doesn't work with all pegasi."
"Or, more logically, it only works with living ones," Pilate said.
"Or maybe it only worked with Commander Hurricane," Rainbow Dash said.
Everyone turned around.
"Huh?" Josho blinked.
Rainbow pointed towards the granite slabs lying beneath the stone effigy of the battle-hardened mare. "Check this out. This is the tomb that I told you about."
"And..." Props shuffled closer, eyes bright and blue. "You think your beloved Hurricane is sleeping here?"
"In the only sleep she'll never wake up from," Rainbow said with a nod. "I mean, it totally matches the way tombs are set up in the old, old districts of Cloudsdale. You see, Pegasopolis no longer exists," she explained with a shrug. "Many of its temples were absorbed into the bodies of newer and younger cloud cities. The remnants of Commander Hurricane's military base are part of Cloudsdale today. But there's one thing that's not to be found there."
"A sepulcher," Pilate said.
"Right. Besides..." Rainbow Dash pivoted around, gesturing towards the corridors on the far ends of the room. "All of the pegasi here look like they were really, really desperate to defend this spot until they kicked the bucket."
"That's rather honorable," Elma said. "To protect the remains of their leader far beyond her death."
"Yeah, but for how long?" Props said.
"They had a lot of pegasi guarding this place when things went down," Josho said. "And they were still in formation when they dropped. Whatever killed them, I think it was sudden. What's more, I'm pretty sure they had no friggin' expectation of it."
"Loch a bludy gas barrage?!" Prowse remarked.
"It could have been anything," Josho said. "Maybe they were here for weeks after she died. Maybe years. Maybe whole friggin' generations..."
"Whoah..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her scalp, shuddering. "That's crazy."
"Assuming that was the case," Elma said, "Why entomb Hurricane here? And in this room? I mean, it doesn't seem to make too much sense, unless—"
"—both the room and Commander Hurricane were super important!" Props remarked, blinking. "Like, perhaps they were inseparable for some reason!"
"Whit in th' cruddy boomsticks ur ye ramblin' abit, propsicle?"
"Rainbow Dash...?"
Rainbow spun about, realizing that Pilate had trotted halfway across the room on his lonesome.
The zebra was feeling up the statue above the tomb, touching Hurricane's stone features with gentle hooves. He gazed into nothingness as he said, "This is the effigy in question, I presume."
"Right on the money, Stripesy."
"I can't help but notice..." Pilate rubbed his hooves together, then furrowed his brow. "...there seems to be a fine layer of sediment over this."
"Well, yeah, Pilate." Rainbow fluttered over him. "I know you can't see it, but this place is old as all friggin' get-out."
"I think this is important," Pilate said. He leaned forward, rubbing his hoof across the very front of the tomb just beneath the statue. "I sense that there's something beneath the surface... like fine impressions..."
"You mean like engravings?" Josho said.
"Perhaps. Do you see what I'm talking about?"
"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash squinted. "Barely."
"There's too much dust on it," Elma said. "It's impossible to read."
"Hauld oan, wee jimmies an' burds." Prowse stepped forward, cracking his living joints. Clak-clak-clak! His left limb turned into a metal cylinder. "Ah hink i've got jist th' solution we need. Propsicle? Coods ye support th' wee statue oan th' other side?"
Props rushed up, gripping the muzzle and ear of Commander Hurricane's effigy. "Got it, Uncky Prowsy!"
"Micht an aw dae yerself a favur an' cowre yer gob while yoo're at it." Prowse's eyes narrowed with concentration. His forelimb vibrated with a constant, steady hum. Props swiftly slid her goggles over her eyes and tilted her wincing expression away. Elma, Josho, and Rainbow Dash watched as the stallion's instrument shook the excess grime and sediment of time off the statue's surface. A fine cloud of dust rolled across the room in a invisible breeze.
"Yeesh..." Josho exhaled, his eyes narrow. "That's a lot of words."
"There we go..." Prowse stepped back, converting his limb into a normal brace. "'At shoods be clear as day, noo."
"Are the words legible to you, Rainbow?" Pilate asked.
"Uhm..." Rainbow Dash hovered until she was barely an inch off the floor. She blinked at the engravings. "Believe it or not, yeah! This is some crazy-old form of Equestrian Basic! But the words totally make sense to me! Huh... imagine that—"
"Uhmmm..." Props fidgeted. With an audible gulp, she trotted back, pointing at the effigy. "Dashie?"
"Hmmm?" Rainbow glanced at her, then at the statue. "What—?" Her ears instantly drooped.
With all the dust cleared off, the statue had exposed its true colors—complete with a faded paint job across Commander Hurricane's muzzle, eyes, and ears. The most noticeable detail was the granite mare's mane, more specifically its different hues—all seven of them.
Elma's beak hung agape. She glanced at Josho, and then both of them stared at Rainbow Dash. Everypony but Pilate was staring at Rainbow Dash.
"Huh..." The pegasus blinked. "...well that's groovy."
Josho shuffled closer to the grave of Hurricane. He squinted at the effigy, turned to blink at Rainbow, then stared at the statue again. “Looks like you two dipped your heads in the same toilet.”
“Derm…” Rainbow Dash fidgeted.
“I do not understand,” Pilate murmured aloud. “What’s just been revealed?”
“Dashie and Hurricaney totally have the same maney!” Props exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the spectral arrangement of the granite equine’s hair. “They’re practically sisteroos!”
“The resemblance is certainly uncanny,” Elma Boreal said. “And that’s not just my personal bias as a talking snapping turtle. Heh.”
“Whit ur th' odds ay thes sort ay guff unpeelin' itself frae th' proverbial wall, lassie?” Prowse remarked.
“Hey, don’t look at me!” Rainbow Dash grunted. “I just fly here!”
“Listen, Paint Bucket.” Josho pointed at the statue with a frown. “You can’t just ignore this shiznet!”
“Considering everything we’re learning about this place, I think it begs the question, Rainbow Dash,” Pilate said. “How much do you know about this… Commander Hurricane?”
“Dude, what is there not to know?!” Rainbow Dash tossed her forelimbs as she hovered before the tomb. “She was the leader of Pegasopolis! She helped found Equestria back when windigos ravaged the landscape! She fought griffons and wyverns and cyclopses and all manners of bad dudes across the pre-classical skies of my homeland!”
“Yes, but what her specifically?” Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “Did she have any physical descriptions? Any relations? Heirs? Descendants?”
“I… uh… I’m afraid I can’t h-help you there,” Rainbow said with ears drooping.
“Pffft. Terrific.” Josho rolled his eyes. “The one pegasus from Equestria and she sucks at her history lessons.”
“Choke on your own fat, lardo!” Rainbow frowned at him. “Hurricane’s a friggin’ household name where I was born! Every pony with an ounce of feathers knows all about her legacy and career! Her private life, however, was hers and hers alone! She disappeared in obscurity, and the whereabouts of her final resting place has been a huge mystery in Equestrian society!” She sighed, staring dully at the tomb. “Until today…”
“So there’s no description at all about her physical traits?” Pilate asked.
“Or that she looks just as adoracute and colorful as Dash-Dash?” Props asked.
“Hey, don’t push it,” Rainbow Dash grunted, pointing at her. Rainbow turned towards the tomb once more, shrugging. “There’ve been statues of her, but all of the ones that survive to this day were built well after the Pre-Classical era. There’s no written records of--like--what her mane looked like.”
“Alright, Rainbow, then perhaps I have a more appropriate question for this situation.” Pilate fumbled a bit before he blindly paced towards her side. “How many… uhm… pegasi are born like you?”
“Pfft. Never.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Come on, Stripesy. You can do better than that.”
“Please, Rainbow, be a bit more receptive here.” Pilate leaned closer. “Your mane color. Is it a common trait in Cloudsdale? Or in all of Equestria for that matter?”
“Jee, I dunno.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I never given it much thought…”
“Given what much thought?” Josho asked.
“Well, I mean… no. There aren’t any other ponies in Equestria with my mane color. None that I’ve seen, at least. With one exception, of course.” Rainbow Dash fidgeted. “My dad. But… uhm… I b-barely have any memories of him. He didn’t exactly hang around much.”
“Drap them an' lae them, huh?” Prowse remarked.
Rainbow’s eyes sliced his way like ruby daggers. “He died, ya beardborg.”
“Oh…” Prowse rubbed a flesh leg with a metal hoof, avoiding her gaze.
Sighing, Rainbow looked towards the others. “And don’t get me started on my mom, cuz I’ve honestly got nothing to go by. I kind of… grew up on my own. I really didn’t like attention at first--at least not the kind everypony gave me. Tons of ponies were gushing all over me, full of pity n’crap. I think that’s why I decided that the only way to live was awesomely, cuz then I could earn everypony’s praise, y’know?” She smiled awkwardly. “Boy, did I tick a lot of pegasi off in those days. But it was worth it. I stopped being a charity case and became a legend pretty darn quick, y’know?”
“What a pleasant life story,” Josho droned. “Can somepony tell me where we’re going with this?”
“Do you remember any striking details ponies gave you about your mane color, Rainbow?” Pilate asked.
“Ugh. Please. I grew up with older mares wanting to turn me into a diva left and right!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “They said that I had ‘the most beautiful and rare mane in all of Equestria’ and that ‘it was a shame for me to not go into modeling’ or some junk. Brbrbrrbrbrbbrrr.” She shivered from head to tail. “Even Rarity gave me a bunch of that same crap. I just did my best to ignore it.”
“Any doctors or physicians state that there was legitimacy behind the rare trait?”
“So maybe at a physical or two I was told that I was a one-in-a-gazillion case! What’s the big deal?!” Rainbow Dash flung her hooves towards the tomb. “What’s this got to do with anything?”
“Rainbow Dash, let it not be denied that you exist for a purpose,” Pilate said. “It would go against everything you, myself, and Bellesmith have discovered to ignore the ramifications of Austraeoh and being Austraeoh. Now, I am a scientist at heart, and yet I’ve given into believing the elements of prophecy we have extracted throughout our journey due to sheer exposure. But, pragmatically speaking, if there was an actual empirical explanation for what you are and what you’re destined to do, then it’s safe to hypothesize that you’re not the first one equipped with the faculties to do it.”
“The hay are you getting at, buddy?” Rainbow’s voice cracked. She pointed at the tomb. “That Hurricane was… was…another me?”
“Or vice versa; you are another her.”
“Pffft. Come onnnnn…” Rainbow smirked. “True, so maybe I’ve always fancied Hurricane the most whenever I was forced to watch a Hearth’s Warming pageant, but that never meant we were anything alike!”
“Aren’t you?” Pilate faced the pegasus’ general direction. “You both ended up flying east, did you not?”
“Yeah, but--” Rainbow Dash froze, blinking. She turned towards the tomb, fidgeting in midair. “...balls.”
"Look, Ah enjoy a guid roon ay 'guess th' rainbaw pony's genealogy' as much as th' next stallion," Prowse rambled. "But woods ye kindly fancy lettin' it drap fur a moment an' insteid tak' a gander at these words engraved reit haur?" He pointed a metal hoof at the carvings just beneath Hurricane's effigy.
"For once, I'd say Beardo's making perfect sense," Josho said. "Rainbow?"
"Uhm... right..." Rainbow Dash touched down, squinting at the chiseled characters. "Just gimme a sec. This stuff is pretty archaic..."
"Assuming that all of this speculation about Commander Hurricane is correct," Elma Boreal spoke, "Then what kind of implication does it have about what brought her from Equestria to here?"
"Undoubtedly she had the best interests of her kingdom in mind," Pilate said. "Although, if it stands to reason that what drew her this far east is the same as what's driven Rainbow Dash this far east..."
Props finished the thought. "It couldn't be a total coinkydinky that Dashie's here!"
"Precisely."
"Unnngh..." Boreal rubbed her scaled head. "And here I thought it was the fluctuating barometric pressure getting to my skull..."
"Hmmm..." Rainbow Dash hummed, her brow furrowing.
Pilate tilted his head about with twitching ears. "What is it, Rainbow?"
"Lemme see if I can break it down to ya guys..." Rainbow took a deep breath, then spoke while scanning the carved lines with her ruby eyes. "'Here doth lie the Wings of the Three Tribes, brandishing the Sword of Solstice, Her Majesty's burning gift of righteousness, that the vile phantoms of the sky may forever be vanquished. Commander Hurricane liveth forever in spirit, while her body and her children's children remaineth faithful to her cause, dwelling within this forsaken city's...'" She blinked hard. "The last word's kind of hard to make out."
"How do you mean?"
"Wait, I got it. 'Hold,'" Rainbow Dash said. "'This forsaken city's hold.'"
"What made it so hard to read?" Props asked.
Rainbow shuddered, leaned back, and pointed at the last word. "Take a look for yourself."
Props leaned in, blinking through her thick goggles. "Is that... red stuff...?"
"It's blood, alright," Josho said with a nod.
"Yoo've gotta be pullin' mah leg!" Prowse exhaled. "What's left ay them!"
"I'm no stranger to evisceration, buddy," Josho muttered. "I've seen my fair share. And not only is that blood..." He pointed, speaking in a low tone. "But that stuff is pretty fresh."
"Fresh?!" Pilate remarked.
"At least a damn sight fresher than hundreds of years, or whatever the Hell we're dealing with when it comes to Rainbow's ancestor here."
"She's not my ancestor," Rainbow grumbled.
"Ya sure about that, bright eyes?"
Rainbow said nothing.
"Whit in th' nam ay hay stalks coods hae leaked bluid oan th' ootwith ay thes tomb?!" Prowse exclaimed.
"I've got an even better question," Josho said. "What would have bled on only one word and one word in particular?"
'You're certain of that, Josho?" Pilate asked.
"I wish you could see it for yourself, buddy," Josho grunted. "It's that last word—'hold.' The thing's practically soaking in it, almost as if it's highlighted."
"Perhaps..." Elma fidgeted as she thought aloud, "Perhaps there's a purpose to that."
"Like what?" Props asked.
Rainbow Dash was already hovering higher from the tomb, rubbing her chin. Blinking, she pivoted about and faced the center of the large, round room. The floor was covered in wavering light from the refracting rainwater against the glass dome above. In the very center was the round stone, surrounded by the many vertical rods with black shards on their ends.
Narrowing her eyes, Rainbow flew over, staring straight down at the round stone.
Elma shuffled past Pilate and stood beneath Rainbow. "It's... it's the same shape as this building," the turtle said. "The stone, that is."
"Right... Which makes sense," Rainbow said. "'Cuz all of the rods around it control the obeslisks floating throughout Stratopolis."
"But... why is this so important at the moment?"
Suddenly, Rainbow smirked. She pointed at one spot on top of the circular stone. "That's why."
Elma Boreal squinted. She blinked in surprise. Meanwhile, Josho shuffled over, staring at the same spot. "Blood," the old stallion said. "Just as bright as the stain on Hurricane's tomb."
"Ew, really?" Props remarked, squirming.
"Whit dae ye suppose 'at means?" Prowse asked.
Rainbow glanced at the others. She smirked. "Wanna bet that's where a certain pegasus 'hold' is located?"
Everyone exchanged glances, save Pilate, of course.
"What are you suggesting, Dashie?" Props asked.
Rainbow Dash was already counting the number of rods between the stained part of the circular stone and the staff that had been pulled all the way towards the center of the room. "I'm suggesting..." She flapped her wings harder and flew towards the corresponding corridor leading out of the chamber. "...that we go see what happened to Hurricane's 'children's children...'"
The trip through the heart of the building took a great deal longer than Rainbow Dash had anticipated. The temple suddenly felt ten times larger on the inside than it looked on the outside, and with each twist and turn that the group made, their ears constantly popped from the varying pockets of pressurized air being funneled in and out by the turbulent weather outside.
"Forgive me for voicing my pessimism," Elma murmured. "But is there even a point to this venture?" She fidgeted, her shell rattling. "This place departed Rainbow's homeland eons ago. What are the chances that any of her pegasus forebearers would still be alive, guarding this place?"
"You saw the blood on the tomb and the rock," Josho said, walking at the head of the group with his shining horn. "Whatever left that marker for us had to have been here recently."
"How recently would you estimate?"
"Recently enough to make me believe we're not the only ones holed up in here," Josho said. "Wouldn't you agree, Pilate?"
"To be honest, Mr. Josho, I'm rather lost." The zebra gulped and leaned on the obese stallion in mid-stride. "Rainbow? What are you thinking of this moment?"
"I'm thinking that whatever's in this 'Hold,' alive or dead, it's the next best way to getting answers about this place." Rainbow took a deep breath. "If Commander Hurricane chose to die here, it had to have been for a darn good reason. She likely brought a bunch of important secrets to her grave. Such as what she was truly guarding. And—more importantly—how to get rid of this place once and for all."
"'Get rid of this place?'" Pilate stammered. "Why, whatever for, Rainbow?"
"I know you can't see this place with your own eyes, Stripsey, but trust me. It's bad news. All of it. Between all of the crashed zeppelins and the creepy murals and the plain deadness of each and every hallway..." Rainbow Dash shuddered, her teeth showing.
"Something the matter, Dashie?" Props asked.
"Yeah..." Rainbow muttered. "I haven't felt this creeped out about a place since Silvadel." She gulped as she down the tight hallway. "Hurricane's stone isn't the only burial site. I think this whole city is one giant floating tomb, and we all flew right into the heart of it. I wanna get us out of here. But, more importantly, I wanna make sure that I make it so that no more ponies—or even Lounge—get stuck here ever again."
"How do you intend to do that?" Elma asked.
"I'm not sure. One thing at a time, Myrtle."
"Ah keep thinkin' an' thinkin'," Prowse muttered. "Whit dae ye suppose 'at 'Sword ay Solstice' is 'at th' grave's words spoke abit?"
"Beats the heck out of me," Rainbow said.
"Yoo're th' a body pony 'at knows anythin' abit commander hurricane," Prowse remarked. "Yoo're tellin' me yoo've nae scooby abit thes bludy 'gift ay righteoosness' naf?"
Rainbow squinted aside. "Why's it a big deal all of the sudden?"
"Everypony, head's up!" Josho exclaimed, holding a hoof out as he stopped in his racks. "Something's in front of us!"
"Wh-what is it?" Pilate remarked.
Rainbow Dash hovered in place, squinting ahead. She brought a hoof up to her pendant and gave it a circular stroke. A ruby spotlight formed in front of her, illuminating the jagged edges of a thick barricade constructed out several random zeppelin parts and metal engine chunks.
"Holy sprockets..." Props exhaled out loud. "Take a look at that, Unky Prowsy!" She glanced aside, smiling a dumb smile. "It's like an airship vomited all over the place!"
"Mair loch a dizzen different airships, Propsicle," Prowse remarked. "An' gantin ones, tae bit."
"I..." Josho blinked, wincing in confusion. "I-I don't think pegasi did this."
"Me neither," Rainbow Dash said. She flew towards the wall of junk and gave it a light shove... then a strong, budging shoulder. "Nnnngh..." She leaned back, panting. "The stuff is packed dense. Whoever did this, they wanted to keep us out."
"Us?" Pilate asked. "Or something else entirely?"
Silence.
"Well, what now?" Elma asked.
"I don't know about you guys, but I didn't come down all the way here just to bump my head against a wall of turds." Josho cracked the joints in his neck and glowed his horn brighter. "I say we make ourselves at home."
"Ponies, please..." Pilate shifted nervously. "There's gotta be another solution."
"Just what, exactly?" Rainbow Dash smirked. "I'm not a fan of being stuck here forever, Stripsey. If there're answers to this place in that 'Hold,' then I'm all for kicking the door down. Whatever it takes to get us out of here."
"Remember..." Elma gulped. "We've got the Lounge on our tails."
"Perhaps, but—" Pilate began.
"No more horsing around." Josho gently pushed the zebra back so that he had a clear view of the barrier. "Let's get this over with."
"Fancy tearin' 'at wall doon oan yer lonesome, buddy?" Prowse asked.
"I could certainly use a hand, if you catch my drift."
"Consider it caught, locked, an' loaded." Clak-clak-clak! Prowse converted his left metal prosthetic into a cannon and aimed at the barricade. "Oan yer mark."
Josho's horn glowed brighter and brighter as he braced himself beside the bearded stallion. "Three... two... one... Shoot!"
KAPOW! A fiery salvo was launched at the barricade, a projectile accelerated by Josho's thunderously powerful telekinesis. In a bright burst, the discharge utterly obliterated the thick layer of metal bits in front of the group. Josho's telekinesis switched on, sheltering the group from flying bits of shrapnel.
At last, as the dust and thunder cleared, Rainbow Dash flew ahead, shining beams of ruby light through the settling haze. Not far beyond the blasted chunk in the metal wall, the thin corridor opened into a wide chamber with a low ceiling. It felt as if they had descended into the basement of the round structure, and the marble walls were suddenly replaced with craggy brick and ancient mortar. What's more...
"Light..." Props murmured allowed. "I see torchlight!"
"Torchlight?" Pilate remarked, hobbling after Josho.
"What in heaven's name is this place?" Elma asked.
Rainbow gulped, flying slowly, cautiously ahead of the group. "Uhm... h-hello?" Her voice echoed ahead of their trotting limbs. "Hello?! Is anypony there?" She fidgeted in midair, feeling her heartbeat in her neck and mouth muscles. "Any... fly-flying ponies, perhaps?"
"Rainbow..." Pilate breathily murmured.
"Don't..." Elma winced, reptilian eyes darting back and forth against the brick walls. "D-don't like this..."
"Rainbow, I-I think maybe we should—"
"There!" Josho rasped.
Rainbow turned to look. A shadow had darted in the torchlight from around the corner. It was swiftly followed by two more shadows, then the sound of limbs splashing in shallow puddles. Then silence.
Rainbow Dash hovered in place, holding her breath. She held a hoof out, signaling mutely for Josho to hold his position.
He nodded, levitating his shotgun by his side. He kept it trained on the corner while Rainbow Dash hovered slowly around, eyes locked on the turn in the mortar-constructed partition. At last, she entered an adjacent temple, eyes squinting.
Several metal barrels were lit with continuously flickering flames. What's more, tattered canvas tarps hung over rusted aluminum lean-tos. There were metal chests spilling over with moldy rations, engine pieces, and blunt weapons. In a far corner—smelling with a rank stench—was a makeshift lavatory.
Rainbow's lips pursed. She turned and looked towards another part of the chamber. She saw several sleeping mats lying back to back. "Just... h-how many ponies are holed up in here—?!"
P-Pow! A crossbolt ricocheted off the wall to her side.
She spun, dove low, and skidded to a stop on grinding hooves. Less than a second later, several bright beams were being projected across her muzzle. She gritted her teeth, squinting into a series of bright lights.
"Hold it right there, monster!"
"Rekkha mensruhmmen trenna drawlt!"
"Hranna thiul drenna dien!"
"That's as far as you go!"
Rainbow became vaguely aware of equine shapes pouring out of the darkness with every manner of weapon trained on her petite figure.
"Look!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "We got stuck here! We just came to figure out what's going on in this place—"
A metal weapon cocked loudly. "A likely story! Back to the shadows, shape-shifter!"
Rainbow blinked into the blinding light. "Shape-shifter?!"
"You heard me!" One shadow moved closer, the blinding light staring Rainbow down. "If you came here hauling more victims in, you'd best toss them into the Wastes! It'd be doing them a favor!"
"The heck are you even talking about—"
Bl-Blam! A blast rang out from behind Rainbow Dash, followed by two more successive shots.
One by one, the bright beams broke off from Rainbow as Josho charged in, expertly blasting the weapons out of the ponies' grips. Rainbow saw haggard stallions and mares stumbling in the muzzle flash. Two squatted low, firing levitating crossbows in a return volley.
Josho ducked, rolled to the side, and fired at a metal shack besides the pair. The structure shattered, spilling over the gasping duo as they succumbed to the weight.
Three tattooed ponies galloped up with levitating scimitars.
"Uh uh!" Josho swiveled, cocking his shotgun with a menacing glare. "Any closer and you'll be drowning in mana!"
The warriors skidded to a stop, gritting their teeth and hyperventilating. Their limbs were thin, their faces pale and emaciated beneath their swirling coat patterns.
"Friggin' Xonans..." Josho sneered, stepping closer to Rainbow Dash's side while keeping his weapon trained on the mysterious group. "Why does it always have to be Xonans?"
"Thanks for the save, big buddy," Rainbow muttered as he flapped her wings and hovered again. "But let's take a moment to survey the situation..."
"What's to survey?" Josho grumbled. "It's a den of snakes. Plain and simple."
"Look, will you friggin' put your testosterone on the shelf for a single Celestia-bucking moment?!"
"Mehkshuul thiul rannadren, Ledomulien trenna tanne!" one warrior spat.
"Rainbow?! Josho?!" Pilate hobbled in with Props and Elma. "What's going on here?! And..." He gulped. "...did I just hear what I thought I heard?"
"How many are in this place?" Elma murmured.
"I..." Rainbow stammered, her eyes widening as more and more bodies shuffled out of the shadows. "I-I can't tell. Dozens? A hundred?"
"Everypony, just calm down," a stallion's voice said from where he trotted into the torchlight, helping ponies up to their hooves—tattooed and not. "Look, they can't all be shape-shifters! Look, one of them's using telekinesis!"
"Hey!" Josho shouted at the pony in question. "I'm the one with the shotgun here! Stop moving, dammit!"
"Don't you get it?!" the stallion shouted back. "We're on the same side!"
"How do you know that?!" sputtered a shivering mare from the shadows. "It's a trick! Just like before!"
"They're trying to ensnare us!" another stammered.
"Menna'sethulienna masta'ranna drenna'dennu trenna'sien," spoke a rather large Xonan in the center of the group, frowning. "Feluusen mara'ttan clennu Lasairfion Xon-Nagu'n."
"Will you relax, Arcshod?! They're not here for her! Can't you see they're just as confused as we are?!"
Rainbow's head jerked at that. Her mouth hung agape as she stared at the tall Xonan currently scowling at her. "I've... I've seen him before... but..." Blinking, she glanced towards the very rear of the room. A tall, slender mare with a pronounced horn and a flowing mane peered out from the shadows. As soon as Rainbow's eyes made contact, a thick line of tattooed ponies formed a tight, protective circle around her. "No friggin' way..."
"Please, everypony just calm down..." The stallion stepped away from Arcshod, waving his forelimbs. He was an earth pony with a shaved mane and a dirty blue coat covered in several places with dark spots. "There's no need for all the gun-waving. Let's just have a talk and—" He froze in place, gawking at Rainbow Dash's wings. "A... fly-flying pony?"
Several ponies murmured in the distance.
"Rekkha seniul brenna surumm threatta!"
"She's one of th-them! She has to b-be!"
"The storm brought her to finish us all off!"
"I didn't come to finish anypony off!" Rainbow shouted.
"For Ledo's sake!" Josho hissed, staring down his shotgun. "Will somepony just tell us what you're all doing here?!"
"That's a very good question, old friend."
Josho twitched, his pupils shrinking at the very sound of the voice. His head cocked to the side.
A frail figure limped out of the shadows. "Just what are you doing here?" An old stallion stood, his thin face squinting under a fine mane of silken gray hairs. "Of all the places for you to show up after all these years—a forsaken city of floating death traps in the middle of the frozen wastes?" He slowly shook his head. "It's far too great a coincidence. Arcshod's right to be paranoid. You're nothing but imposters."
Josho's mouth hung agape. "Secchy...?!"
Seclorum breathed melancholically. "If only it were truly you, old friend."
"This is bullshit..." Josho snarled, then shouted, "I watched you die!"
"How dare you." Seclorum's eyes narrowed over a frowning muzzle. "You've used fascimiles of my very own soldiers against me. But this?" He shook his head. "This is simply pathetic." He glanced aside at the other ponies. "Go ahead and shoot them."
"No!" The blue stallion shouted at his cohorts before they could scramble for their makeshift crossbows. "No more blood! Let's try to make sense of this!"
"Enough talk, Aatxe!" Seclorum growled. "You're a nice kid, but not a very bright one! Can't you see they're spitting in our faces!"
"We're not trying to spit at anypony!" Props exclaimed, stepping ahead of Elma. "Honest! Trust a mare who's worked alongside a handsome elk! We're totally and utterly spit free!"
"Pr-Propsicle...?"
Props gasped sharply. Her goggled eyes blurred towards the side.
A frail shape hobbled out of the shadows. Coming into the light, a stallion with a pale coat and scarlet stubble stood before her, leaning on a crutch. "Is... is that you, m-my niece?"
Rainbow Dash blinked, then glanced down at Props.
The blonde mare peeled her goggles up, staring wide-eyed. "Unky Prowsy...?"
The stallion blinked blearily at her across the torchlight, his eyes glistening.
Gaping, Props mewled, "But... but..." She spun around, shivering.
Elma, Josho, and Rainbow spun with her.
"... ... ..." Professor Prowse stared back at the group. He was silent and still... until a wicked grin flashed across his face. "Hnnngh!" With a flash of green fire, he jumped backwards, tossing his metal prosthetic like a club. It rattled on the floor in between everypony, where it proceeded to emit a high-pitched whine beneath the sound of retreating dragonfly wings.
Before Props could shout, Seclorum was dashing forward, grabbing her in two forelimbs and tossing the two of them behind a stack of metal crates. "Everypony, get down—!"
"Crud—!" Josho plowed into Pilate's and Elma's sides.
The chamber filled with flame and shrapnel. Ponies screamed in various tongues, diving out of the way of the concussive force of the exploding prosthetic. Rainbow Dash's wings caught the full brunt of the vaporously heated air. She flew backwards, breathless, and slammed hard into a brick wall. When she collapsed, layers upon layers of stone crumbled along with her, utterly blocking the hallway they used to get there and filling the entire interior with soot and dust.
A dull bass reverberation boomed across the windswept air. Ebon Mane's and Eagle Eye's heads instantly turned from where the two ponies had set up a bonfire on the temple floor alongside the Noble Jury. Floydien peered curiously through the cockpit while Bellesmith and Zaid rushed up to the edge of the ship's tilted upper deck.
Rainwater was rolling off the balcony of the large round building immediately facing them. The heavy vibrations continued, culminating in a stream of dust that fell from one particular spot along the big structure's underbelly, followed by a column of loose bricks that trickled towards the distant temples hovering through the storm below.
At last, the rumbling ended, and the Jurists heard nothing but the consistent howl once again.
"Was..." Ebon stammered. "Was that thunder just now...?"
"No..." Floydien said, trotting out from the cockpit and peering over the ship's edge for a better look. "That was a different kind of glimmer."
"It came from inside the central temple," Eagle Eye thought out loud. He turned and glanced worriedly at the others. "I could have sworn..."
Belle's pupils shrank as she held Kera tighter. "Pilate..."
"Oh jeez..." Ebon Mane hissed through clenched teeth. "What could they have gotten themselves into?"
"Zaid?!" Eagle Eye exclaimed in a panicking tone.
The lanky stallion was already speaking into his sound stone. "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash, this is the Noble Jury! Come in!"
Belle's eyes wandered twitchingly towards the temple floor as her blood went cold. Her breaths came in shallower and shallower bursts.
"Rainbow?! This ain't funny, girl! Say something!"
The sound stone broadcasted Zaid's voice in distorted waves, on account of the fractures that had formed in the enchanted shard's surface. The weight of several layers of mortar was crushing down on it, and Rainbow Dash wasn't any luckier.
"Nnnngh..." The pegasus stirred, opening her eyes to dust and dimness. Her ruby pendant illuminated a claustrophobic grave of bricks and ancient rock.
"Come on! Give us something! Let us hear your sexy voice!"
"Snnkt..." Rainbow inched forward, squirming through the rubble in a trembling attempt to reach the sound stone. She stretched a tender hoof ahead of her. "Don't... leave the Jury..." She wheezed and hissed. "Changeling... Prowse is... a ch-changeling..."
"Rainbow?! Is that you?! We can barely make out what you're saying! What was that loud noise just now?!"
"Darn it..." Rainbow growled. She stretched her wings, stretching the space out a bit more so she could have room to shimmy upwards. "Just st-stay where you are and don't... d-don't trust—"
A strong hoof suddenly reached down and snatched Rainbow by her forelimb.
The petite pegasus gasped, feeling herself yanked out of the rubble and into the hazy torchlight. Rainbow wheezed for breath, teetering with the weight of her pendant and saddlebags. "Unnngh... Thanks. Where're the others? Is anypony hurt—?"
The hoof immediately reached back, produced a tiny shiv, and sliced Rainbow across the fetlock.
"Gaaaah!" Rainbow immediately jerked back. Half a second later, she savagely bucked whoever it was in front of her. "Friggin' melon fudge!" She clutched her sliced forelimb, hissing like a kindergarten foal. "What was that for?!"
Seclorum stumbled backwards, catching his breath. He gripped the dagger while battered ponies helped each other to their hooves behind him. "Show us your hoof," he said.
"I'll show your muzzle your own sphincter, you dirty sonuva—"
"Show. Us." He glared while two stallions stood alongside him—a Xonan and a Ledomaritan. "Your. Hoof."
With a perplexed frown, Rainbow held her bleeding limb out. "There! For Luna's sake! Feast your eyes!"
Seclorum squinted at the blood leaking out of her wound, then stared closely at the red liquid on the edge of his shiv. His nostrils flared. "She's clean." He turned to look across the rubble-strewn interior. "Check the others."
Rainbow's mouth moved. "'Check... the others?'" She turned and instantly gasped. "Hey!"
Arcshod was levitating a tiny Xonan ceremonial dagger beside himself as he helped Pilate up.
"R-Rainbow?! What's going on? Where did Prowse—?" The zebra's face contorted in pain as he felt the cold kiss of a knife across his forelimb. "Aaaugh! Spark alive, that hurts!"
"Hey!" Rainbow rocketed across the compartment and rammed into the Xonan's side. "Buzz off! What's the big idea?!"
Arcshod fell on his flank, stunned and blinking. He snarled Rainbow's way and stumbled back up with a glowing horn. "Suliu'enna drennalakkan dressul thien, trenn'tessa!" Seclorum and another warrior held him back before he could charge the pegasus.
"Easy there, numb tongue," Seclorum muttered, his eyes glancing between Arcshod's dagger and Pilate's wound. "Also clean." He turned his head. "The rest?!"
"Secchy," Josho grumbled, shrugging off a pair of ponies as he stood up with a glare. "You'd better have a good explanation about this, old friend."
"All in good time." Seclorum motioned with his hoof. "The blonde one."
"For the love of soot, Seclorum!" An awkwardly familiar voice exclaimed. Rainbow Dash turned to see a thinner, weaker Prowse leaning his stub of a leg against a crutch. "She's my bloody niece!" the stallion snarled.
"That remains to be seen."
"Please, everypony..." Aatxe shuffled up to Props, snatching the shiv from a pony in front of her. He glanced back at the huddled equines with a sympathetic expression. "It's not like we have to butcher them." Sighing, he grasped Props' hoof and held the tip of the blade to it. "Sorry, sweetie. This will hurt a bit." He slashed swiftly.
Aatxe stared closely at the blade, his breaths coming and going quickly. After the blood stayed red, he exhaled with relief. "She's exactly who she looks like." He backtrotted and motioned towards the pale stallion behind him. "Congratulations, Prowse, on your happy reunion."
"Oh, bless my blighted beard..." Prowse lurched, limped, lunged forward, dropping his crutch and sweeping Props into a deep hug with one forelimb. "I never th-thought I'd see you again, lassie! You're a sight for this stallion's sore eyes..."
"I... I..." Props stared at him, lips quivering. "But, Unky Prowsy, I don't understand..."
"I imagine you don't..." He leaned back, smiling. But that grin soon faded. "The fact that you're here means that you've been deceived." He gulped, and frown hardened across his emaciated face. "And in the worse way."
"That..." Props gazed at the pile of rubble that the exploded prosthetic had made. "That other you was... was..."
"I never wanted this sort of rubbish to befall you, Propsicle." He caressed her mane as his eyes glazed over with tears. "What are you even doing out here?! Why didn't you stay home in Gray Smoke?"
"The shop was closed, Unky Prowsy!" she exclaimed, blue eyes wide. "Everything was cleared out! The ponies all around said that you had gone off on your long-awaited expedition! You..."
Prowse slowly, slowly shook his head.
Props blinked, her breath thin. "Y-you never meant to leave Gray Smoke, did you?"
"I went on a trading errand, Propsicle," he said. "I was captured, robbed of all my tools, and throttled unconscious. The next thing I knew—I was on a derelict zeppelin with several other ponies... most of which you see here." He gestured towards far ends of the firelit chamber. "We crashed into this bloody nightmare in the sky before I had a chance to take over the ship's controls. A lot of us didn't survive..."
"All this time..." Props winced. "I thought that he was you!" She gritted her teeth. "He looked like you... smelled like you... even talked like you!"
"Was he really me?" Prowse narrowed his eyes. "Or something that made you think he was me?"
Props blinked. "I... I..."
"Propsicle, lassie..." He smiled slightly as he caressed her chin. "'Th' lest time Ah talked loch thes was when Ah needed tae squeeze it a wee bit ay profit each week tae compete wi' th' bapit sooters frae th' Roost District'" He took a deep, deep breath, then said, "You were always, always proud of my salesponyship." He gulped. "Maybe a little too proud."
Props shivered, then hung her head, striking it several times with a hard hoof. "Unnngh! I'm such a stupid Props! Stupid stupid stupid stupid Props!"
"Shhhh-shhh..." Prowse shoved one of her forelimbs down and hugged her once again. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Propsicle." He sniffled, looking wearily over her shoulder. "You're not the first one to be fooled by these merciless tykes..." He shuddered. "And you won't be the last."
"Josho?" Seclorum marched firmly across the room. "Old friend? You're being awful hesitant..."
"Because I don't like being sliced and diced up outside of battle!" Josho stood his ground before the many ponies, folding his forelimbs with an angry expression. "Ledo's toilet, Secchy! Only time you ever drew a blade on me was during shore leave in the Blue Bordello—"
"I don't care what you remember and how detailed those memories are," Seclorum said, his eyes hard like the daggers the ponies were holding. "Until you show me a sign of trust, you are no trusted companion of mine."
"Don't push him too hard, Seclorum," Aatxe said.
"Bite your tongue!" Seclorum sneered aside, his eyes continually trained on Josho. "You know as well as I do that some of them are more ignorant than us."
"Oh, I get it alright!" Josho frowned. "This whole 'blood-runs-red' thing: it's to make sure we're not changelings. Doesn't take a tubeworm to understand that—"
"You don't get anything," Seclorum grumbled, shaking his head. "I can make you bleed in a hundred different ways, Josho." His horn levitated a crossbow by his side. "And over half of them from long range."
"Unnngh..." Josho rolled his eyes. "For the love of—"
"Josho..."
Josho looked over.
Rainbow Dash stared at him from where she supported Pilate's trembling body. "Just get it over with."
"Rainbow, we just found these creepazoids! You can't honestly expect—"
"Josho." Rainbow stared icily.
The stallion blinked, his lips pursing at that. Frowning, he flashed his horn and yanked a blade out a gasping mare's grip. "Fine. At least let me do it myself." He sliced across his upper forelimb, then turned his shoulder into the firelight for all to see. "There. Red. You happy?"
Seclorum's nostrils flared as he lowered the crossbolt by his side. "Always the drama queen, Josho."
"Buck you." Josho flung the knife forward.
Clank! It embedded into the frame of Seclorum's crossbolt. "Wonderful." The Ledomaritan looked up with bored eyes. "I actually found the world a lot more comfortable with the thought of you actually being dead."
"Likewise, ya gray-assed mule." Josho shrugged the ponies around him away as he marched over towards his companions. "At least you're not magicless and locked up in a friggin' fetish cage."
"Huh...?!"
"Long ass story." Josho stood by Rainbow's side. "Maybe you'll hear it, seeing as we're trapped down here with you and all."
"Belusuu'naa rekkharasso fem'keema thiulen ranna'theem," Arcshod muttered, glaring daggers over his shoulder at the group.
Aatxe sighed at the Xonan. "They're no more guilty of 'stupidity' than the rest of us that got stuck here, Arcshod!" The stallion frowned. "And the same can be said of your Princess!"
Arcshod snarled at him, having to be held back by his fellow warriors. "Fe'mulien restro trenn'ett!" he spat.
"Wait, so if that dude is here..." Rainbow Dash pointed at the ponies as she squinted at them from a distance, one after the other. "And Lasairfion is here... and Seclorum and Prowse are here..." She winced as if from a resounding migraine. "...then what brought them all the way east from the main continent?"
"Are you asking me?" Josho huffed, his eyes rolling. "Or the 'freakish shapeshifter Josho who can somehow still perform magic and wield a shotgun before your bird-brained eyes?'"
Rainbow retorted, "Look, will you get over that?! Something big is going on here!"
"Uhm... everypony?" Pilate's muzzle scrunched as he tilted his ears about. "What ever happened to—?"
"The only big thing I see is the doofuses who have been cooped up here for so long that they think they run the place!" Josho grunted. "I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want a second chance to speak with my long-lost friend, but I'm not down with Secchy being part of the Spontaneous Hoof-Slicing-Club!"
"I'm not too keen of it either, boyo," Prowse said from where he hugged Props close. "But, as you can imagine, it's our only way of testing ponies to see if they bleed the real thing or the juice that runs through an imposter."
"Yeah, and I get that!" Josho hoarsely replied, leaning in. "But why hole yourself up in here to rot away in the dark?!"
"You really don't understand, do you, old friend?" Seclorum trotted up, squinting. "What brought us here wasn't a small group of shape-shifting freaks. Oh no..." He pointed back at the regal unicorn standing at a far distance with her loyal protectors. "If they could bring the Spark-forsaken Queen of Tattoo-Land to this place, then we're dealing with a full-fledged army of monsters!" He frowned. "Spark only knows what they'd be capable of! They could restructure the entire political structure of the world! They could even change the war in Ledomare!"
"Secchy, the war is over!" Josho shouted.
Seclorum doubled-back at that. A shrill gasp flew through the crowd.
Arcshod blinked, his tattooed face stretched in shock.
Ledomaritans exchanged awkward glances while Xonan warriors gazed in stunned silence at their Princess.
Josho took a fuming breath. "These so-called monsters that brought you all here have already done their fair share of damage, but we stopped them before they could do the absolute worst!"
Rainbow Dash hovered forward, acquiring everypony's attention as she spoke. "Lasairfion was replaced with a version of herself that took power and started a Xonan civil war." She raised her voice over the ensuing gasps. "Seclorum was replaced with a crazed general who held a suicidal line along the eastern front of the Ledomaritan conflict! During all of this, the shapeshifters must have somehow weaseled their way into the Xonan high command, 'cuz they took advantage of a Divine, a powerful dragon named Nevlamas, who had been corrupted throughout the ages by chaos magic! They convinced masses of eastern unicorns that Nevlamas was actually the Goddess Nagu'n and attempted to corrupt the very heart of this world! Everypony on either side of the war was nearly wiped out in a single day!"
Ledomaritans muttered in shock, meanwhile most of the Xonans broke out in shivers and sobs. Arcshod stared numbly into torchlit space, his lips hanging open. "Haranna thiulen res'trunnul messu, Xon-Nagu'n..."
"But... but it's okay!" Rainbow Dash said with an awkward smile. "I mean..." She instantly winced. "No, tons of ponies lost their lives on both sides. I'm talking about thousands of Ledomaritans and Xonans alike. But... but..." She gulped and said, "The war is over. Nevlamas was defeated; the shape shifters were exposed. The battle stopped just before everypony had the opportunity to wipe each other out. And now—from the last we've heard—there's a permanent cease-fire. Don't you get it?" She grinned hopefully. "Your continent's been saved!"
Silence.
Then, a series of graceful hoofsteps.
"Ehm... excuse it, for it is most full of the curious," spoke a velvety soft voice, in spite of the thick accent.
Rainbow jerked her gaze aside.
Lasairfion was trotting forward despite the insistence of her closest subjects. Her eyes pierced across the darkness, resting on Rainbow's hovering face. "It speaks of the salvation of a land covered in blood. Might it ask of it... who was the savior?"
Rainbow opened her mouth, hesitated, then glanced aside.
Josho and Props nervously fidgeted. Pilate, despite his blindness, almost appeared to be looking straight at the pegasus.
"Uhm..." Rainbow gulped and looked towards the regal Xonan. "I... I guess you could say I was."
Lasairfion's eyes narrowed. "And yet... is has somehow arrived here... in this place with so many children of loss and woe..."
Rainbow was silent.
With a melancholic breath, Lasairfion said, "Does it think this is of the pure and coincidental?"
Pilate bit his lip.
Rainbow's wings stopped flapping. She touched down on numb hooves, her face blank.
"It's simple, guys," Eagle Eye said. "We have to get over there."
"Get over there?!" Ebon Mane stammered, squinting across the rainswept space between the edge of their temple and the round structure. "How?!"
"Yeah..." Zaid nodded. "Rainbow's not here to carry us. And I mean that in the most literal way possible."
"A good running leap should just about do it," the ex-mercenary said. "And if that fails, I know of at least a dozen ways that my telekinesis could provide a boost."
"For what—yourself?"
"I'm sure I could bring another pony with me," Eagle said. "But... no more. That'd be risking too much."
"You're risking enough just by suggesting you even leave this spot!" Ebon Mane said. "I won't let you do it!"
"Won't let me?!" Eagle Eye blanched at him. "Ebon, you heard that noise just like the rest of us! Something terrible happened across the way! An explosion or a collapse or something even worse! And now that we try to get through to Rainbow Dash's party, nopony answers! They're our friends and they deserve to have whatever happened investigated!"
"I know that, but—"
"Floydien agrees with lavender lumps," the elk said from where he stood close to the ship's hull. "Striped boomer is over there, blind and weak, and yet he is just one of many boomers that need the fetch-fetch."
"I just don't like the idea of splitting us up any further!" Ebon said, then struggled to squeak forth, "And I d-don't want you to be galloping into blind danger?"
"Why not? Striped boomer did."
Ebon stamped his hoof. "That's not the point! Rainbow Dash is with them! Who knows! Maybe they're safe!"
"As awesome as that may sound, buddy, we know that not everypony is perfect."
"How about we pilot the Noble Jury closer so that all of us can drop down onto the building's balcony and look as a larger group?"
"In these winds?! Floydien's Nancy Jane would be lucky to fly in circles without kersplodey pops!"
"Well, there's gotta be a better idea! Let's think of something!"
All this time, Belle had been staring into the rain-swept vistas of Stratopolis. Her ears twitched to the sounds of the stallion's rising voices. At last, she took a deep breath, and spoke firmly. "I'll go."
Everypony looked at her.
"Belle...?" Eagle Eye blinked.
"My beloved's in there. If he's in trouble, then I want to make sure he gets out of there safe." Belle took a deep breath. "The same can be said for Rainbow Dash and the rest of my friends."
"Belle, please, you don't have to—"
"Yes, EE. I do." Belle stroked Kera's mane a few more times. "Please, let's not wear out what everyone here is already thinking. I can only take so much in a single week." She gazed down at Kera, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. When she reopened them, she was staring at Zaid. "Zaid..."
"Erhm... Hello, gorgeous?" The stallion smiled nervously.
She gulped and trotted towards him. "I... I-I'm going to need you to take care of Kera while I'm gone."
His jaw fell open. "Buh?"
"Yes, yes... I know..." Belle muttered as she gently raised Kera and cradled her limp body in his forelimbs. "You're crude, tactless, and you possess an unhealthy obsession for needless junk." She sighed, her glossy eyes cherishing the foal's placid face. "But, more than that, I know that nopony else could better take care of her."
"I... uh..." Zaid chuckled drly as he held the foal to his shoulder, rocking her slightly. "Eheh... I didn't realize you felt that way about me."
"That's because I didn't," Belle said, frowning. "And in a lot of ways, I still don't. But... I can't let that get in the way of what needs to be done right now."
"And... that is...?"
"Pilate, my beloved." She gulped. "And Rainbow Dash. I need to have faith that they're okay..." She shuddered as she finally turned towards Eagle Eye. "And I need to have faith that they can still need me. EE, I'll join you. But I'm going to need your help in getting over."
Eagle Eye nodded with a soft smile. "You know you can always depend on me, Belle. All you gotta do is ask."
"Well, that's what I'm doing now. Asking." Belle turned to glare at Zaid one last time. "If I come back and she has one single mark on her beautiful tattooed body—"
"Hey! Heyyyyy..." Zaid chuckled, waving a forelimb. "I get it. You don't have to make it any clearer." He patted Kera lovingly as he smirked. "Believe me, bunking with the Herald? Khao threatened me tons of times about spontaneously becoming a eunich."
"Bouncing boomers better hurry," Floydien said, nodding with his antlers towards the large structure ahead of them. "Who's to know what manner of bleed bleed threatens Floydien's friends."
"Right..." Eagle Eye levitated his sword and shield over from the campfire. "Belle, I'll hop over first. Then I'll help pull you over with my floating shield. Trust me. It'll be a lot simpler than it sounds."
"That's okay, EE. I have full faith in you."
"Likewise."
"Eagle Eye..." Ebon winced, staring down at his squirming hooves. "I..." He winced. "Please forgive me. I didn't want to sound like a coward. It's just that—"
"Shhhh..." Eagle Eye was suddenly in front of him, resting a hoof on the earth pony's shoulder. "It's okay. I get it. And besides..." He smiled. "Nopony elects himself as the ship's only cook and pretends to not be brave."
Ebon smiled awkwardly. His eyes fluttered, and his head drifted forward—only to jerk back suddenly. "Erm... ehhh..." His muzzle flushed a deeper burgundy. "That... uhm... th-that totally wasn't... wh-what it looked like it was about to be. I was just—" His lips stopped moving. It may have had something to do with Eagle's muzzle locking suddenly with them. Either way, he froze in place with an inward squeak.
Floydien raised an eyebrow.
Zaid blinked. Quiet as a rock, he covered Kera's catatonic eyes.
Eagle Eye leaned back, smiling warmly at Ebon. "It takes a lot to be brave," the petite stallion said. "Trust me. I'm learning with each and every day."
"It's alright." Eagle Eye winked. "When we get back with our friends, you can test your bravery too." He patted Belle's shoulder. "Okay. You ready?"
"Uhhhh..." Belle's chestnut eyes darted between the two stallions. "Are you...?"
"Figure I could do with a cold shower," Eagle sing-songed, and skipped out into the streaming rain. "Wait for my lead, girl!"
Belle nodded. She trotted after him, but not without pausing to pass a sly glance Ebon's way, and then both were gone.
Ebon plopped down on his haunches besides Floydien and Zaid, his chest palpitating.
"I know this might be weird timing and all, but..." Zaid leaned in, cradling Kera. "Think you can make us both some brunch?"
"I'm sorry, but..." Seclorum looked across the torchlit space with jaded eyes. "I'm not convinced that you actually saved anything, bird-pony."
"Unnngh!" Josho groaned towards the ceiling. "Secchy, old friend! Did you hear a single word that she said?!" He frowned from where he stood by the fresh rubble. "She single-hoofedly stopped a freakin' chaos dragon! Her actions exposed the shapeshifters and put an end to their plot!"
"That's simply too good to be true," Aatxe said, staring lethargically at the group. "These monsters have been planning their subterfuge for far too long and on such a grandiose scale that all that could have been accomplished on your end was a minor setback."
"How do you know that?" Pilate asked.
"Because I've been here a long... long time," the stallion said. "My name is Aatxe. I was once the captain of a large manaship, the Tarkington, that crash-landed into one of the lower temples of this storm. Our ship remained in one piece, but the engine had died out. So myself and at least a dozen of my surviving crewmmates went looking for materials to salvage the core. We made it to this structure through much trial and error. It was then that these... changelings ambushed us and whittled our numbers down to three. The transports that brought us here were wrecked, and we had to escape to these lower corridors in order to form a last stand. We were the first ponies of this group to end up here in living condition. As time went by, more and more joined our sides—those who spoke our language and those who didn't. Eventually, we ran into ponies who shared the same calendar with us. That's how we've come to realize that we've been marooned here for at least seventeen years."
Rainbow Dash's jaw fell. "Seventeen years...?"
"And believe me, if the changelings wanted to finish us off, they would have," Aatxe said. "But, for some reason, they kept us alive... even going so far as to leave us food for sustenance. At first we rejected it, but time and hunger does a number on one's pride. Still, we never hesitated to murder a shape-shifter as soon as we figured out who was who underneath the fake skin."
"And even after they lost their own kind to you..." Pilate tilted his head aside. "...they still didn't murder you senselessly?"
Aatxe shook his head. "They don't think or act like you or me. They have no love for single individuals among their brood. They'll gladly sacrifice massive numbers of their own kind just to accomplish their putrid will. Sometimes this sacrifice means sending their drones to slaughter. At other times, it means something much... much more sinister."
"Like what?" Props asked.
"Selective brainwashing, lassie," Prowse said to her with a sad expression. "While some of their kind impersonate us on purpose, it's not always enough to get the job of deception done."
"So they make a select few of their drones forget who and what they are," Seclorum muttered. "And in exchange for being part of the hive mind, they take on the full consciousness and personality of the pony who's form they've taken."
"Their drones have no idea that they're not really changelings," Aatxe said. "Maybe now you all can understand why we... wh-why we had to forcibly 'test' you."
"That..." Josho's brow furrowed at the thought. "That explains why the Seclorum we killed was so surprised..."
"Wait..." Seclorum blinked. "You killed the other me?"
"Was that not clear?" Josho droned.
"Heh..." Seclorum folded his forelimbs. "No wonger you're so far from the Queen's country. You should be a regular fugitive by now."
"Sorry to break your bubble, but it wasn't from slaughtering you. You're just not that important."
"Tell that to the changelings."
"So wait..." Props squinted into the torchlight. "So if these nasty wasties knew that they might be losing control of Nevlamas and all that jazz way back west in deathland..." She glanced up at Rainbow Dash. "Then why go through with it to begin with?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes darted about. She thought out loud, "'Hate is just another form of love...'"
"Huh?" Aatxe glanced over.
"It's something that the changeling posing as Lasairfion said to me," Rainbow Dash uttered. "Or else... something like it." She glanced up. "And I had posed her a very similar question. 'What was she expecting to accomplish?'" She paced about, her pendant rattling around her neck. "According to Princess Celestia, ancient changelings were empathic, and they feast off of emotions—most commonly love. But... but what if hate and love could feed a modern changeling all the same?"
"All of the dying and the bleeding," Lasairfion's voice drifted sadly from afar. "Ha'lanna siulen trennadren Xon-Nagu'n. The blessed children of Nag'un..."
"If what you're trying to say is that pain and devastation is right up these creatures' alleyway, then you'll hardly find us surprised," Aatxe said. "This place is practically a monument to their malice."
"No... It's not a monument. It's a prison," Rainbow Dash said, swiveling to look sharply at the group. "They brought each and every one of you here so they could study you, impersonate you out in the field, and then accomplish some stupidly crazy master plan!" Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth as she punched one hoof against another. "The question is—just what's the big picture?! And how's it going to help their Queen Chrysalis?!"
Seclorum did a double-take, his eyes wide. "Where did you hear that name?!"
Rainbow Dash blinked. He squinted back at him. "Where did you?"
The room fell deathly silent.
Just then, a mountain of rubble shifted towards the side.
"Eeep!" Props jumped into Prowse's embrace as both shifted away from it.
"What in the...?!" Josho spat.
"Nnnngh..." A beak emerged from the shifting debris. "Thank goodness I was born with a hard shell!"
"That..." Pilate shifted. "That sounded like..."
"Elma!" Rainbow Dash darted down, grabbing the turtle's legs and hoisting her out of the mess. "OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh! Speak to me, girl!"
"Unnngh..." Elma wheezed. "Do I have to?"
"I'm so, so sorry! Are you hurt?! Things got heated and there were knives involved and... and..."
"It's okay... r-really..." Elma waved a scaled hand, reeling dizzily. "I've been through rougher straits, believe me. Especially while surviving alongside the Professor—" Her eyes widened as she gasped at Rainbow. "The Professor! What happened?! One moment, he was tossing his metal leg, and then the next—!"
"Whoah.... whoah... easy, Elma," Rainbow Dash said, patting her head and smiling. "We're still trying to figure it all out ourselves. The bad news is—we're kind of stranded here cuz the creep posing as him caused the hallway to cave in."
"Really?! No way..." Elma stammered. "How could none of us have seen it coming?"
It was around this time that Props realized she was suddenly standing alone. "Unky... Prowsy...?" She turned and looked over her shoulder.
The thin stallion was leaning over towards Arcshod and Seclorum, whispering something lightly. Arcshod's eyes widened while Seclorum gravely nodded. While Rainbow and Elma spoke, the three shuffled stealthily towards the scene.
"Something big is going on here, Elma," Rainbow Dash said. "But don't you worry. We're going to get to the bottom of it... right after I find a way to get us out of here." She glared at the rubble blocking the entrance way. "Somewhere out there, the Noble Jury is waiting to hear back from us. And pretty soon, they'll have no choice but to—"
"Excuse me for interrupting," Seclorum said as he trotted right past Rainbow Dash. "Ma'am, what's your name?"
"Uhm..." The snapping turtle glanced up. "Elma. Elma Boreal."
"You don't look like you're from around here, Ms. Boreal."
"Joshooooo...?" Rainbow droned, her eyebrows dead straight. "What's your worst-best-friend doing?"
"Uhm... Secchy...?"
"I..." Elma squinted. "Why, I'm from..."
"Alafreo?" Prowse remarked, hobbling back by Props' side. "Born and raised in the eastern continent?"
"Why..." Elma nodded. "Yes."
"And do you know where it was that you died?" Prowse asked, his eyes hard.
Elma's beak hung open. "...what?" That's when Arcshod grabbed her from behind. "Aah!"
"Hey!" Rainbow darted forward, only to be yanked to a stop by Aatxe. "Lemme go, creep!"
"I'm so sorry," Aatxe stammered.
"For what?!"
"Tell me, old friend," Seclorum spoke to Josho as he marched forward with a levitating dagger. "When was the last time..." He cave a massive scrape to the turtle's backside. "...that you saw a turtle's shell bleed?"
"Augh!" Elma yelped in pain.
"Seclorum!" Josho snarled. "For Ledo's sake, stop—!" His voice stopped as soon as he saw the blade floating before his eyes. A dollop of viscous green liquid dribbled off the shiv's pointed end. "...mother of Spark."
"Oh no..." Pilate muttered blindly, his ears drooping.
Rainbow flashed the zebra a look, then gaped at Elma.
"What...?!" Elma struggled in Arcshod's grasp. "What... is everypony... looking at..." She stopped in mid-speech, feeling a warm liquid running down her shell and over her head. It ran between her eyes, sticking to her beak like emerald tree sap. "What... where did that...?"
"It's just like we said, old friend," Secolrum droned.
Arcshod dropped Elma to the rubble and galloped aside. He let loose a shout, and a line of Xonans rushed up, crossbolts trained on the "turtle."
"The worst weapons of the changelings are, in fact, victims themselves."
Elma brought a foot up to her head, dipping it into the hot colored slime. She stared in horror, her breaths coming in quick pants. A flicker of light darted through her eyes. Suddenly, she could see through her limb, for it had turned thin, porous, with a glossy black exoskelton. "This... th-this isn't..."
"They're planted among us—inside and outside this place—to study us closely and figure out what makes us tick. Then, once they're returned to the hive mind, they pass on the knowledge of how to become us." Seclorum turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "You haven't saved anything, my dear. So long as these monsters are in the world, everypony that exists is in a prison."
"Elma...?" Props mewled, her eyes misty.
"No... it's not... I'm not..." Elma hyperventilated, her voice wavering, shrinking, suddenly accompanied with a deeply resonated buzz, like a pathetic purr. Her beak was replaced with fangs while her wounded shell shrank into thin haunches with folded gossamer wings. "I... I-I've laid eggs..." She shrieked; she sobbed. "I have ch-children!"
"This is worse than I thought," Aatxe muttered. "Two shape-shifters planted in one group?" He glanced aside at Arcshod and Seclorum. "What could they have wanted so bad that they would have steered this winged pony and her friends here?"
"R-Rainbow..." The bleeding creature curled into a fetal position, staring up with quivering green eyes. "Rainbow... please... h-help me...!"
Rainbow grimaced. She looked at her hooves, and she gasped. Wincing, she darted over towards the survivors. "How long would it take for these creeps to copy your body?! Your inner essence?!"
"I... I..." Aatxe shook his head. "I don't—"
"You've been stuck here for seventeen years, pal!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Don't tell me you haven't gotten a clue!"
"Honestly, they could make themselves look like anything they want! But to literally become you?" Aatxe shrugged. "They would have to have been exposed to you emotionally and mentally for a prolonged period of time! Then, theoretically, that information would be channeled into the hive mind! Into all of them!"
"Then... then all of Chrysalis' brood could become me." Rainbow Dash blinked aside. With a look of horror, she turned towards a certain zebra. "Pilate..."
He was already speaking the same thought. "The control room."
Rainbow's ears folded. "Oh Luna poop..."
Inside a vast chamber illuminated by refracted rivulets of rain water, a dark shadow flitted over the tomb of Commander Hurricane.
In the center of the room, a body hovered low over the many-many rods sticking out of the grooves in the granite floor.
A black, porous hoof descended upon a dormant shard at the top of one staff. Then—with a band of emerald fire—that same black hoof turned fuzzy blue. It lowered and contacted the shard, which illuminated immediately upon touch. With unimpeded ease, the rod was shoved across its groove and towards another staff.
"Nnngh!" Eagle Eye landed on the balcony of the round structure. Almost slipping on the water-slick surface, he caught his breath and spun around, facing the temple floating just a few naked feet away. "Alright, Belle! You ready?"
The mare stood precariously on the temple's edge. She winced against the pelting wind and rain. "Ready as I'll ever be!"
"Good!" Eagle floated his shield alongside himself and held it high for the mare to see. "I'm going to toss you my shield! But don't worry! It's still in my levitation field! Grab onto it and make like you're jumping the gap! I'll carry you the rest of the way! Got it?!"
"Got it!"
"And a one... and a two... and a..." He held his breath as he tossed the disc towards her.
Lifting herself up on her rear hooves, Belle effortlessly caught the thing. She exhaled with relief, gripping on tight. "Okay! Here goes!" Biting her lip, she courageously kicked off the temple's edge. Stifling a shriek, she drifted forward, being carried by Eagle Eye's enchanted shield.
The stallion licked his lips, concentrating hard as he brought Belle across the gap. In less than five seconds, she joined him on the balcony's edge. "Gotcha!" He grabbed her by the forelimb and hoisted her onto an upper level besides a collapsed zeppelin. "There!" He smiled. "Now that wasn't so bad, was—?"
One of the floating obelisks pulsed brightly.
Belle gasped. Eagle spun about, blinking. "What in the Spark...?"
The temple with the Noble Jury was floating away, and at an alarming speed. The obelisk that brought it there was retreating towards the rainswept depths of Stratopolis.
"It's moving..." Bellesmith said, then repeated her exclamation with a loud shout. "It's moving!"
"Hey! Heeeeeey!" Eagle Eye waved his forelimbs and shouted towards the temple. "Guys! Your temple! It's floating away!"
Three bodies congregating around the Noble Jury glanced awkwardly at the two ponies.
"Why is this happening?!" Bellesmith stammered breathlessly. "Why would Rainbow Dash be moving our platform further back?"
"I don't know, but from the looks of it—" There was another pulse of light. Eagle craned his neck to the right, and instantly his ears flattened. "Oh heavens, no."
"What?" Belle turned to look. Her eyes widened.
"What in the spit?!" Floydien growled, pacing back and forth. "What in the spit—What in the spit—What in the spit spit?!"
"Just calm down!" Ebon exclaimed. "There's gotta be a reasonable explanation for this!"
"Reasonable?" Zaid cackled from where he stood on the Noble Jury's top deck, cradling Kera. "More like ridiculous! Seriously, Rainbow Dash picked a bad time for granite musical chairs—" He caught a flash of light in his peripheral vision. Spinning about, the stallion blinked, then hugged Kera tighter. "Ohhhhhhhh crikey."
"Huh?!" Ebon craned his neck to look.
While the Jury's temple was flying outward, the next two closest obelisks were traveling inward, and they were carrying large buildings along with them... buildings that were hurling in a crash-course straight for them.
"Get in Nancy!" Floydien shouted, already galloping towards the rear hangar, his cloven hooves splashing through the shallow puddles. "Get in Nancy!"
"Oh crud oh crud oh crud!" Ebon squeaked, stumbling after him. He would have heard himself shrieking next, if it weren't for the explosive sounds of two random temples colliding a hundred meters off their left side, hurling stone and granite debris into the murderous winds of Stratopolis... and sailing towards them.
"Elma...?" Pilate stammered, his face tilted in the direction of the weeping changeling. "Elma, wh-what's happening to you?"
The shape-shifter choked on a sob, burrying its fangs in a pair of black-webbed forelimbs. Nothing but indecipherable squeaks came out.
"Please, speak to us—" The zebra took a step towards her, only to be yanked back by a pulse of telekinesis.
"Pilate, give it up!" Josho exclaimed. "She's nothing like she seemed! She's worse off than Prowse!"
"But... but she couldn't possibly have known that—"
Rainbow Dash flew in, inadvertently knocking Pilate to the ground as she gripped Josho's shoulders. "Josho! You gotta teleport us out of here!"
"Huh?!" Josho exclaimed.
"Wh-what?!" Seclorum stammered from a few feet away. Arcshod and Aatxe glanced over in concern.
"Don't you get it?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "There's another me out there—a false me—and she's gonna be trashing the Noble Jury the first chance she gets!"
"Rainbow, even if that was true, I can't just randomly port us out of here—"
"Yes you can!" Rainbow shouted. "You have to! As long as we're stuck here, our friends are screwed!"
"I have no clue how this whole stupid place is built!" Josho roared. "We could materialize in pure rock or in a bolt of lightning—"
"Dang it, Josho!" Rainbow Dash growled. "Think of Eagle Eye! You want him being torn to bits while we wait here, arguing!"
Josho's teeth clenched tightly as he anxiously contemplated that.
"Old friend..." Seclorum stumbled forward, squinting. "Don't tell me that you're thinking of—"
"Alright, but if we explode into pony oatmeal, I'm putting the blame on you!" Josho exclaimed. He gripped Rainbow's forelimbs while his horn started to glow.
"No!" Seclorum shouted, rushing forward. "Don't do it! Don't separate from us! That's exactly what the changelings—" A peach-colored hoof tripped him. "Gaaah!" The stallion fell hard to the ground.
"Propsicle!" Prowse gasped.
Props pulled her hoof in and spun towards Rainbow and Josho. "Go, Jurists! Work your magic! Snappity snap!"
"Hold your breath," Josho wheezed as his horn glowed to a blinding degree. "There's no telling how much this is going to suck—"
FLASH! Before the survivors shocked faces, the two ponies disappeared...
...and materialized upside down in a mess of stormclouds.
"Gaauchkkkt!" Josho hissed, sputtered. He fell instantly, along with Rainbow Dash. Lightning struck, throttling their ear drums as they plummeted through the hurricane winds and rain.
Rainbow Dash shouted something, but couldn't hear over the ringing of her ears. Rolling about, her eyes settled on a dark circular spot above them—when in fact it was below them. Wheezing, she spun around, spotted the flailing figure of Josho in her peripheral, and propelled herself directly towards him. The winds tore at her feathers and a consistent gale shoved her sideways.
Nevertheless, with tearing eyes, she sliced the air sideways, diving towards Josho's figure as it flew like a living anvil towards the largest building's rooftop.
"Hurry hurry hurry!" Ebon Mane's voice rattled down the rattling bulkheads of the Noble Jury. He clamored after Floydien as the elk made his way towards the front crawlspace. "Mr. Floydien, we gotta take off! We're seconds away from turning to dust—"
"Sailboat boomer means Floydien has to get out of here!" The elk shouted as he threw himself into the vertical crawlspace. With strained hooves, he pulled himself towards the cockpit above. "Get to the womb of Nancy Jane with the sailboating!"
"Wh-what?!" Ebon skidded to a stop, wheezing. "The engine room?! But... wh-why me—"
"If some boomer doesn't fire up the glimmer shimmer, Nancy Jane dies, and Floydien's friends along with her!" Floydien glanced down once to shout, "You are blonde boomer now! Make with the quick quick!"
Hyperventilating, Ebon dashed forward, kick-slid along the floor, and dropped like a stone down the crawlspace opposite of where Floydien was climbing. He nearly slammed into Zaid while scrambling to gallop down the belly of the ship towards the stern.
"H-hey! Are we taking off or what?!" Zaid exclaimed above the rattling noise of the bulkheads.
"What!" Ebon shrieked, then flung a hoof towards him. "You find a secure place for yourself and Kera and hunker down! This is about as bumpy as it's ever going to get!"
"Wait, are you the engineer now?!" Zaid wheezed, hugging Kera close.
"M-maybe!" Ebon was already tossing himself into the engine compartment.
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww boogers." Zaid flung open the curtain to the observation room and practically tossed Kera into one of Rainbow's hammocks. Next, he gathered all the pillows from every netted bed and piled them around the filly.
"Oh blessed Spark..." Belle sat on her haunches atop the round building's balcony, chewing on the edges of her hooves as she watched two looming buildings soar towards the temple where the Noble Jury was. "Oh please... oh please oh please oh please!" Her voice wavered, on the virge of tears.
Thoroughly rain-soaked, Eagle Eye squinted through the howling window. Above the thunder, he heard a high-pitched whistle. Nervously, he wrenched his eyes off the doomed Jury and blinked skyward.
Through the swirrling eddies, he spotted two tiny dots—a pair of flailing bodies that plummeted through the storm.
He sucked his breath in. "Rainbow...?"
"Josho, hang on!" Rainbow Dash finally resorted to coiling her wings at her sides and aiming her body like a living torpedo. She plummeted at a diagonal angle, plowing into Josho's belly with a full-on tackle.
"Ooomf!" The unicorn grunted.
Rainbow Dash twirled with his weight. She saw the world spin, and in a blink spotted the domed roof of the circular structure. The pegasus hugged her friend tighter and dragged a wing out. She gave the two of them last-second lift, so that they approached the rooftop at a nearly-even angle.
Wh-Whud! The two bounced off, flew, came down again, and slid across the water-slick surface. Rainbow gnashed her teeth and grunted from the careening movement. There was little friction, so when the two reached the building's edge, they shot off like cannonballs. Rainbow gasped, helpless to slow their descent.
That's when Josho's horn glowed. In desperation, he telekinetically tugged at the first thing that he could reach with his magical grip. It turned out to be the rusted chassis of a crashed zeppelin against the far side of the building's round balcony.
The two braked in mid-air like a ball tethered to a rusted pole. Josho's horn started to short out, and Rainbow saw it. With a grunt, she flapped both wings, shoving against the hurricane winds. Before Josho's telekinesis could wear off, she succeeded in shoving the two of them onto the precarious edge of the balcony.
"Ooof!" Rainbow Dash grunted as she landed, sprawled out onto the water-soaked ledge. She barely had a moment to breathe when she heard an obnoxiously loud grinding sound. The pegasus looked up to see that the hulking piece of aircraft had cracked down the center from Josho's anchoring tug. Before her ruby eyes, the thing split in two, and a large chunk of rusted metal inevitably plunged off the balcony ledge... and towards them.
"Josho, roll!" Rainbow kicked him in the fat flank. The two tumbled in opposite directions, avoiding the grinding chunk of metal by mere inches. With a brief vomit of sparks, the wreck slid past them and plunged violently into the depths below, where it eventually collided with two buildings that were already smashing into each other on account of their converging obelisks.
Breathless, Rainbow Dash stumbled up to her hooves and sprinted towards Josho. "You okay?! Speak to me!"
Josho hissed, gagged, and curled up.
"...Josho?" Rainbow Dash shook his shoulder.
"Hrgghghhllllghl!" The stallion hurled, vomiting up a bucketload of rainwater. His eyes rolled back as he let loose a low, sickly grow. "Ledo's scrotum, I hate blind teleports—"
"Just hang in there! I'll get you someplace dry—"
"Balls to that!" The stallion snarled, shoving at her hoof. "Get your ass to the control room! Save our friends! I didn't throw myself into vomitland for nothing!"
Rainbow nodded... then nodded again. "R-right. Right!" She spun and took off in a burst of air, hurling herself down one of the corridors beyond the balcony's edge. "Try not to get washed up!"
Josho wheezed, crawling limply towards dry cover. "A little... t-too late..."
Ebon panted and panted, rushing from instrument panel to instrument panel in the lavender-glowing engine room. "Come on, Ebon. Come on..." He gulped and trembled, fiddling with a dozen levers every ten seconds. "You've seen Propsy do this a million times! What turns the whole thing on?! What?!"
"Scrkkkk! Sailboat boomer?!" Floydien's voice echoed from the nearby intercom.
"I'm working on it!" Ebon growled.
Floydien stared out the wind-swept top deck of the Noble Jury. At an angle, his red eyes spotted the approach of two massive temples as they converged on the floating building where they were stranded.
"Now would be a good time!" the elk throated, his expression wincing.
Just then, the temples struck. A crumbling wave of imploding stone rippled towards the Noble Jury. Floydien's cloven hoof slapped a button, shutting the cockpit's rear door to the deafening thunder and wall of destruction. He spun about, hopped the vertical crawlspace, and gripped the controls.
"Come on, worthless sailboat! Spark the Nancy! Spark the Nancy!!"
"Hey, uh, Ebon?!" Zaid's voice rang down the bottommost corridor as the entire ship shook like the heart of an earthquake. "Now might be a good time to rethink your cooking career!"
"Got it!" Ebon shouted through a grinning muzzle. "I found what switches on the skystone!" He clamped his hooves over a lever and gave it a crank. "Hnnnngh!" The lights along the rim of the engine room flickered on and off. "Come on! Hrrrghh!" He yanked and yanked and yanked and—
A tongue of flame erupted around the caged tome, then shrunk back into the runic pages. A loud hum erupted through the ship's manaconduits.
Up in the cockpit, Floydien saw his instrument panel light up.
"The skystone drive...?!" He gritted his teeth. "It's not the steam thrusters, but it'll do!" He shoved a throttle forward. "Hold on to boomer butts!"
Sparks splashed across the leftover granite floor as the Noble Jury rushed forward in a scraping burst, outflying the wave of crumbling devastation behind it. The temple lost cohesion, plummeting into the thunderous clouds. As a result, the Noble Jury spat out the far end, launched from the thin space of the collapsing building like a limp bullet from a lopsided gun.
When it emerged into open space, the vessel had lost much of its acceleration. It twirled, toppeled, and drifted sideways with chaotically sparkling skystone bits. Then, to add insult to injury, the temples behind it exploded from the cores of their weighted bodies colliding in bulk. Chunks of debris flew outward in every direction, including one massive chunk that struck the broadside of the Jury.
CLANKKKK!
"Graaaugh!" Floydien shouted, his antlers sparking at random while the heavy impacted jolted him off his hooves. His grip slipped from the controls as the Noble Jury spiraled out of control. Feeling weightless, the elk toppled backwards... and plummeted down the crawlspace.
Whud! His body slammed against a ladder... Th-Thwack! and then pinballed off the wall on the other side of the narrow passage.
Zaid was leaning over the hammock where he had laid Kera, covering the filly with his trembling body.
Thud! A brown figure collapsed like a huge chunk of meat on the bulkhead directly outside the observation room.
Zaid spun to look, breathless. "Mr. Floydien...?"
The elk lay dead-still, his antlers dim, his limbs limp.
Zaid panted, eyes widening. "Elkster?!" He gulped. "Buddy—?!"
He could only gasp, for the unpiloted Jury was instantly swept up in a hurricane force gail. Zaid's body rolled away from the hammock and collapsed hard against the opposite bulkhead.
"Oh no..." Eagle Eye stammered, his eyes locked on the plummeting image of the Jury as it disappeared in the thundering mess below. "...Ebon..."
Bellesmith hyperventilated. Her eyes teared against the wind as a growing grimace consumed the golden contours of her face. "I left her... I... I-I abandoned—"
"Bellesmith!"
The mare jerked in place, feeling the warm grip of Eagle's hoof on her shoulder. Both ponies looked up.
More and more temples collided, their obelisks flinging them into suicidal paths. With each successive explosion, a broader and deadlier array of stones were being shot skyward. Suddenly, a merciless rain of rocks and granite chunks were plummeting their way, accelerated murderously by the hurricane winds of Stratopolis.
"Quick!" Eagle Eye shouted, pulling at Belle's forelimbs. "Inside! Run inside—"
But it was too late. The rocks rained down, thunderously pelting the balcony of the round building in dozens of different places. Columns shattered. The crashed shells of airships imploded. Rivulets of cracked fissures formed everywhere, spreading the stone platform beneath the ponies until—
"Gaaah!" Belle tripped, as did Eagle Eye. Gripping on for dear life, they watched in horror at the ground beneath them split apart, breaking off into the chaotic winds beyond...
Rainbow Dash skirted around the balcony of the large structure. Twirling about, she dashed low and threaded through the columns and airship parts blocking her way towards the building's interior.
Right as she was about to enter the depths of the structure, she heard loud whistling in the air. Glancing back, she gasped.
Several chunks of shattered temple parts were flying in her general direction.
Beating her wings harder, Rainbow Dash rocketed herself into the nearest corridor, evading the impacting pieces of granite by a hair's breadth.
Bellesmith and Eagle Eye weren't quite so lucky. They clung precariously to the balcony's ledge, a ledge that was growing increasingly fractured with each millisecond. Several hulking bits of granite struck all around them, causing the cracks and fissures to spread further.
Belle's grip was slipping. Her rear legs dangled into the rainy air. "EE...!" she began shrieking.
Breathless, Eagle Eye glanced at the fractured chunk of marble beneath them. With a grunt, he stabbed his sword straight into the material, anchoring himself in place. "Grab ahold of me!"
The mare complied without hesitation. Within two seconds of hugging him from behind, the piece of granite they were on cracked completely, breaking off from the rest of the structure. With a combined yelp, the two plunged loose into the deathly winds with Eagle Eye clinging to the shard with his one sword.
"Unnngh!" Ebon Mane tumbled across the engine room floor and slammed into a wall for the umpteenth time. The Noble Jury had finished another plummeting rotation. "Grnnngh... Floydien! There's gotta be a way to fly us straight!"
Silence came from the intercom. All was rattling bulkheads and sparks.
Ebon's sweaty face glistened in the lavender light. "Mr. Fl-Floydien...?!"
More silence.
Panicking, he crawled across the turbulent aircraft's interior and fought to swing the door to the navigation room open. "Zaid! I-I think we have a problem—"
"Scrkkkk! Don't I know it, Burgundude!""
Ebon's eyes twitched. He tilted his ears towards the intercom. "Zaid...?!"
"More like Scaredy McCrapMySaddle at the moment!" The ex-cultist grunted, his hooves gripping the cockpit controls tight. "Do a sexy bachelor a favor and rush into the observation room and make sure Kera's still doing the Safety Swing!"
"What happened to Floydien?!"
"Oh, y'know..." Zaid stammered, his wide-eyes locked on the chaos in front of him. "What spits up must spit down. As for me..."
Beyond the windshield, all was tornados and loose building shrapnel.
Zaid whimpered, "A little glad you didn't cook me brunch like I asked earlier." Gulping a dollop of bile down, he clenched his jaw and swerved hard with the controls. "Hold on! Things are about to get really kaizo!"
Caught in a murderous clock-wise spin through the maelstrom, the Noble Jury nevertheless managed to gain altitude under Zaid's novice ministrations. It was a good thing too, for it narrowly threaded between two halves of loosely twirling temple parts before veering its way around a pair of shimmering obelisks.
A trio of temples collided overhead, sending waves of dust and gravel into the air. The rocky pits violently pelted the ship's bow, covering the front face with dents and cracking the windshield in several places. Gnashing his teeth, Zaid guided the rocking ship along its cyclonic path, mindful of three ginormous boulders sailing down at him from the lofty collision.
With a burst of steam, the Noble Jury twirled, its hull and crimson skystone gleaming with rain water. Against the backdrop of lightning flashes, its sleek body plowed through the dust and spiraled safely around the three huge shards falling towards it. As thunder rolled, the vessel ascended briskly through the cacophonous tempest, leveling out to a considerably less hazardous altitude, and yet still forced to orbit the heart of the chaotic storm.
Far down below...
...Belle and Eagle Eye plummeted through the flickering squall, surrounded on all sides by rain, temples, and the scattering pieces of temples. In the haze of an enchanted obelisk streaking by, they saw swirling bands of debris knifing their way directly below. The rock that they were on plunged on a suicidal course towards the mess.
"Eagle—!"
The stallion was already jerking his head about. He saw a large structure looming to their right.
"Hold tight!" Eagle shoutted, then gritted his teeth while his horn shimmered like a beacon.
Belle's wet mane flounced. She gasped, realizing that they had slowed in their descent. She looked down to see that the rock they were on was encased in lavender energy.
Eagle hissed, his forehead scrunched in agony. Nevertheless, he succeeded in forcing the rock's fall into a diagonal glide, headed straight for the solid two-story platform to their side.
"Almost there, EE..." Belle sputtered against the rain and thunder. She wrapped her forelimbs around him while he clung to the embedded sword. "Just a little f-further..."
"Ghhnngh... mmmff..." Eagle Eye's face contorted in pain. Blood trickled out of his ears as his entire body trembled beneath Belle's grip. His horn flickered, starting to short out.
At last, they were so close that they could hear the rattle of hailstones against the temple's roof.
"Guhhh!" Eagle's body went limp—so did the rock they were on.
Th-Thud! The ponies' rock collapsed on the edge of the roof and went sliding across the wet surface. The couple slumped like ragdolls in opposite direction, catching their waterlogged breaths while the storm raged above them.
"Eagle Eye... that was incredible..." Belle stood up on weak knees. "Are you okay?!" She flashed him a worried look, having to speak below the booming thunder. "Your leylines would have fried your nervous system at the rate that you were—"
Eagle Eye couldn't hear her; he was too busy gasping. Behind Belle's figure, an obelisk glided icily donwards from the storm's heights. It carried with it a massive temple on a collision course with the structure they had landed on.
"Eagle Eye...?" Bellesmith stammered, her face full of concern. Th-Thap! A shield flew into her chest and she grabbed it with two forelimbs. "Ooof!"
"Nnnngh!" Eagle Eye rushed forward, spun, and bucked her clear off the rooftop with two rear legs.
Belle fell back into the hurricane winds, shrieking.
Eagle twirled and flung his forehead over the roof's edge, aiming his horn at her body. With adrenalized concentration, the petite unicorn enchanted the shield in her grasp, pushing it—and her—in a cascading glide towards a lonely temple floating safely below.
Once he had pushed her with enough force, Eagle backed up, his lavender body covered by the shadow of the immense temple plummeting towards him. Panting, he limped towards the opposite end and yanked his sword out of the loose rock along the way. Eagle then broke into a desperate gallop, sliding at random as his hooves fought for traction on the roof's slick service.
Seconds later, the gliding temple struck, tearing the second story of the platform into shreds, five meters per second. A wall of sundered rock and debris trailed Eagle Eye, catching up to the unicorn with murderous speed. With nowhere else to go, the ex-mercenary scampered towards the end, eyed a flimsy platform hovering far below, and jumped with a desperate shout.
"Ooommf!" Bellesmith landed atop the temple where she had been heroically thrown. The shield slipped from her grasp and rattled to a stop in the nearby puddles. Grunting, the mare stirred in pain, attempting to push herself back onto her hooves.
She heard a loud blast—but it was too close and localized to be thunder.
With wide eyes, Belle swung her watersoaked head skyward. All she saw of the two colliding temples was an explosion of gigantic rock chunks—the largest blast since the chaos began. Violent granite projectiles flew in every direction, carried aloft by the winds to the furthest parts of the maelstrom.
"Eagle Eye!" she howled, tearful and shivering.
Up above, three or four of the loose temple parts sailed like cannonballs towards the circular structure at the heart of Stratopolis.
Inside the survivors' hold, the many ponies wobbled on their hooves. Distant explosions sent deep reverberations through the building's frame, causing the bricklaid corridors to quiver, raining dust down on Xonan and Ledomaritan skulls alike.
"What was all that?!" Props squeaked. "Are we being fired at?!"
"That's not cannonfire," Seclorum muttered, his graying face hard and grim. "This whole floating city is going to Hell."
Aatxe shuddered. "Then she was too late. She couldn't get to the control room in time..."
"Let's not give up hope!" Prowse exclaimed with a frown. "She and the fat horse went off to do something about it, didn't they?! Have some bloody faith!" He turned towards the rubble. "Mr. Zebra sir..."
Pilate was limping across the shaking floor, feeling with his hooves until he found a pair of curled forelimbs. "Elma...?" He crawled over, shaking her exoskeleton. "Miss Boreal, please, you have to calm down..."
"Nothing..." The changeling whimpered, its eye sockets fuming with tiny puffs of green smoke. "It's all n-nothing..." Fangs clattered as it hid its face from the blind stallion. "I loved them... I loved them all... m-my children..."
"Then focus on them!" Pilate insisted, shaking her frame. "Find your center! Don't slip any further!"
"What's the p-point...?!" Elma squeaked. "None of the memories are real! I'm... I'm useless..."
"You're real!" Pilate snarled. "And nopony is useless, do you hear me?! Don't give into the pawn they made you to be!"
"But... but..."
"Listen!" Aatxe gasped, bracing himself against a torchlit wall. "Do you hear that?!"
Everypony froze in place, craning their necks to the air. Lasairfion tilted her horn about while her close subjects shivered.
Arcshod was the first to gasp. "Xon!"
"Incoming!" Seclorum shouted above the sound of a rising, deathly whistle. "Brace yourselves—"
Less than a second later, the floor exploded with a splash of bricks. A chunk of granite ripped its way through like a giant dagger, piercing the ceiling above. Before anypony could register the sound of their own shrieks, a second chunk of granite impacted a few feet away, knocking ponies onto their flanks.
Then, with horrific swiftness, those same chunks of temple-rock receded, flooding the compartment with howling wind and rainwater. The low pressure sucked air out from the hold, and all manner of objects flew into the gaping, gray-lit abyss. Stallions and mares shrieked as they slid helplessly towards the new opening. Earth ponies grabbed whoever they could while unicorns telekinetically tugged the remaining victims. With manic teamwork, everypony was successfully whisked away from the calamity, everypony except—
"Pilate!" Props shouted, clinging to a column of brick and mortar.
The zebra in question clung to a chunk of debris from where the hallway had collapsed earlier. He wasn't alone. The shapeshifter-that-was-Elma huddled beside him, its gossamer wings beating in the billowing vacuum of air. With a resounding cry, the changeling tried climbing further up the damaged wall—but failed. It slipped, tumbled backwards, and plowed into Pilate's side.
"Ooof!" The blind stallion's grip broke off a chunk of debris. He tumbled once, rolled twice, and fell straight through the hole, disappearing like a striped pebble into the hurricane winds below.
"Pilate!" Props screamed, her eyes streaming with tears. She lunged forward, only to be pulled back by Prowse's one-legged grip. "Nnngh! No! Unky Prowsy! Not h-him!"
"I'm so sorry, Propsicle!" Prowse held her tight while Seclorum and Aatxe yanked the two of them back to safety, away from the gaping hole. "I'm so sorry..."
Props struggled and fought, ultimately lying limp in her uncle's grip as she sobbed indecipherably against the deafening gale.
The large building shook, throwing Rainbow's flight off course.
She grunted as her body was thrown into one wall and then another. Flapping her wings, she struggled for balance, then continued her speeding flight up the zig-zagging hallways.
Frowning into the glow of her pendant, she ascended the final granite slope. The gray light of the central control room loomed ahead. With rigid feathers, she angled her wings and sped forward like a bullet towards her destination.
Hard raindrops. Knifing from every direction.
Pilate's flesh was too numb to register the pain. Once the blood rushing through his head had localized, he realized he was still alive. The sensation was brief, replaced instead by the altogether vomitous sense of weightlessness.
He was still falling.
"Gnnngh... Sp-Spark...!"
His hooves bucked and thrashed, as if searching for an earth to gallop on.
"I c-can't... I don't..."
Images flashed through the darkness, visions of a life lived before the veil. Sunny skies and desert plains and purple twilight lingering beyond propeller blades of a Ledomaritan airship.
But none of these sights warmed his cold, panicked heart. His ears twitched against the lull of gravity, and for the briefest of moments he felt the warm breath of her once-loving voice.
His gray eyes closed, squeezing tears out into the wind and howl.
"...I love you so much..."
Almost instantly, a whistling noise shot straight towards him.
Pilate gasped, for he was no longer falling. He was dangling. Blood rushed into hanging legs, then rolled back into his upper body. He felt a cold pair of hooves around his upper shoulders. Trembling, Pilate reached one hoof up and felt the shell of his savior, feeling the porous holes collecting rainwater.
"...M-Miss Boreal?"
Right then, he was dropped.
"Gaaah!" He fell again—but this time for three feet. "Ooof!" He rolled across what felt like a water-slick surface.
Rainwater pitter-pattered on all sides of him. The thuds of colliding temples lessened and lessened, giving way to the calm roll of distant thunder.
Pilate pushed against the smooth granite surface, standing up straight as he felt the wind shifting around him. The sound of dragonfly wings flitted in a curved path, then settled to a stop just a few feet ahead.
"Elma...?" He gulped and fumbled forward, slipping almost immediately on a shallow puddle. "Unngh! Guh..." Panting, he nevertheless stood up once more. "Elma... please..."
A shuffling noise. Then silence. Then the dragonfly wings flitted again.
"Elma!" Pilate yelped. He shuffled forward, galloped forward. "Elma! Don't leave! You helped me! Let me help you!"
It was too late. The sound was gone, swallowed up by cyclonic noise and precipitation.
Pilate realized there was no telling when the platform ended. He skidded to a stop, slipping and falling on his haunches. He sat—hyperventilating—in the wet, wet darkness. "Elma...?!"
Nothing.
"R-Rainbow?! Rainbow Dash?!"
More nothing.
Pilate gnashed his teeth, collapsing on bent knees as he sputtered and howled, "Somepony! Anypony! Please...!"
His voice took on a growling tone, then collapsed into angry, frustrated bellows as he collapsed in the rain water, lost in the storm.
Useless.
Swooosh!
Rainbow Dash flew the last few meters between her and the innermost control room of the building. When she emerged upon the refracted light of stained glass dome above, she came to a stop in mid-air, gasping.
Beyond the tomb of Commander Hurricane, the floor of the compartment was littered with broken staves. What's more, the black enchanted shards on their tips had been smashed to crystalline dust.
Flying in the center of the room was a blue pegasus with a spectral mane, and she was presently in the process of moving the last remaining rod, then bucking it down the center. Crack! She immediately plopped down and crushed the very last glowing shard with her hooves. Once that was done, she tilted her face up, staring across the room with ruby eyes.
Rainbow's muzzle hung agape.
The doppelganger gazed back. Its eyes scanned Rainbow Dash up and down, before narrowing in concentration. Then, with bursts of green flame, a Loyalty Pendant and a midnight blue saddlebag appeared on its body. The pegasus smiled.
Rainbow gritted her teeth. She flapped her wings and angled her body to tackle the imposter from afar. However, at the last second, something moved in her peripheral vision. Rainbow froze in place, then tilted her head to the side.
There were twice as many pegasus corpses lying at the barricade behind her. In a blink, the bodies leapt up, gliding towards her on dragonfly wings.
"Ooof!" Rainbow Dash was speared from behind. Two changelings shoved her to the control room floor, shoving her past shattered granite blocks that had collided during the time it took for her to speed her way there. "Grrrr-Raaaugh!" She bucked the shape-shifters off of her and kipped up to her hooves.
More and more bodies flew in, dropping camouflage as they leapt off the walls, ceiling panels, and barricades of the place. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash was surrounded by no less than four dozen changelings, all of them slashing at her with jagged forelimbs and nipping with glistening fangs.
"Hnnngh! Grnngh! Get off! Get off, you smelly jerkroaches!" Rainbow bucked and thrashed and shook with all her might, but they had effectively piled up on her, converting their forelimbs into long segmented pinchers that bound her limbs in place. "Guhhhhh! Hrkkk!" She panted and sweated, pinned helplessly to the floor. The veritable shell of insectoid equines buzzed all around her with intermittently flitting wings. She felt a shadow looming over her exposed face, and she looked up.
The other Rainbow Dash hovered low, the shadows of its fuzzy face darkening as it sneered at the captured prey. "Shhhh... Mother needs her secret weapon delivered to the Twilight Lands..." It converted its right forelimb into a razor-sharp scythe of curved ivory. "...and you're going to be its key, even if we have to carve it out of your chest."
Rainbow Dash's lips quivered. "M-Mother...?"
"Don't worry," the other her said, lowering the blade to Rainbow's chest. "Your consciousness will rest lovingly in her embrace forever, as will the memories of your dead friends—" This sentence came to an abrupt end, as did the changeling's skull. A bright yellow beam sailed in from the room's edge, instantly decapitating the shape-shifter with a splatter of green slime. The rest of the thing's corpse fell to the ground, twitching and writhing until its onyx legs curled up to its glossy chest.
Rainbow sputtered, her eyes darting to the far edge of the room.
Six figures in dark robes and silver masks stormed in from a barricaded hallway. At the front, Razzar scurried on four limbs, then purched atop Hurricane's tomb. The thin spaces around his mask and sleeve glowed with amber light as he shouted, "Neutralize and contain, brothers!"
The air lit up with yellow manafire.
Shrieking, the ball of changelings leapt off Rainbow's body like baby spiders fleeing a nest. Over ten of them dropped instantly, their bodies blasted to slimy ribbons by the Lounge's gunfire. The rest scattered in every direction, flying too swiftly for even the expert agents to target. Spreading apart, they fled down separate hallways, disappearing into the depths of the building.
"Nnnngh... mmmff..." Rainbow Dash stood up on wobbly legs, rubbing the shallow cut the doppelganger had started to make in her sensitive chest. "Holy crud on a crud bike..." She panted and panted, smiling nervously in the Lounge's direction. As Razzar walked over, she smiled awkwardly. "I never thought I'd be happy to see you guys—"
Razzar flicked his wrist. A five-digit hand produced a yellow rod which he shoved straight into Rainbow's Neck. The mare's rainbow mane stood on end as she experienced a severe electrical shock.
"G-g-g-g-g-grkkk!" Rainbow's ruby eyes rolled back, and she fell hard to the ground. Whump! She twitched, her vision growing fuzzy upon the virge of unconsciousness.
"Check her," Razzar's voice hissed through his mask. "If she's one of them, you know what to do. The rest of you, secure the perimeter. Lay out manaflares and shoot anything that moves."
"Guhhhh..." Rainbow twitched once, twice, then saw nothing but black.
Struggling to catch his breath, Ebon Mane trudged out of the Noble Jury's engine room and limped through navigation. He had to hop over a flood of books and maps that had fallen off their various shelves from the ship's numerous rolls. At last, he made it to the base of the vertical crawlspace right before the observation room.
"Floydien!" As the ship veered at a slight angle with regular turbulence, the earth pony knelt low and stirred the elk's upper body. "Mr. Floydien, say something! Anything! 'Spit this' and 'spit that!' Come on!"
The elk lay silent, his antlers dim and his limbs still.
"Nnnngh..." Ebon hissed through clenched teeth. "Darn it... darn it!" He leaned over, pressing an ear to Floydien's chest. After a few blinks, he exhaled with relief. Nevertheless, he sat up and muttered in a low tone, "He's out cold. Worst timing, too..."
"Scrkkkk!" The intercom in the observation room crackled to life. "Where the heck are ya, Burgundbro? Did the engine room blow up or something?!"
With a gasping breath, Ebon tripped over Floydien, floundered through the doorway, an entered the gray-lit chamber. The bubbled windows splashed refracted light all over his body from the waves of rain pelting against the glass. "Gnnngh!" Lunging forward, he slapped his hoof towards an intercom hanging high along a bulkhead. "Wish I was flippin' taller... or had wings." At last, his hoof made contact. "Hello?! Zaid?!"
"Hey! You're alive! Zippo! Where in the heck are you?"
"Uhm... the observation room!" Ebon shouted. The stallion stared pensively out the windows, watching as waves and waves of obelisks and temple debris streaked past the port and starboard sides of the cruising manaship. "How'd you get us flying even?! That's incredible—"
"Crkkk! Never mind that crap! Check on Little Comatose Annie!"
"Huh?!"
"Kera!" Zaid's voice barked. "Is the little squirt still squirting?"
Ebon rushed towards a thick hammock. His eyes bulged, for the thing had twisted around itself four times. Nervous, he unraveled the thing and spread the pillows piled within. Kera's limp figure lay inside. Her nostrils flared while her eyes twitched somewhat.
He exhaled with, "She's okay!" A gulp, and then, "As okay as ever, I guess."
"Hot damn! I told Bellesmith I'd kinda-sorta keep her alive. I'd hate for my track record as a nanny to be ruined on day one."
"Zaid, I... I think Mr. Floyd is hurt badly," Ebon said, glancing nervously at the elk as the ship continued its speeding course. "It's hard to tell, exactly. He's lying dead as a doornail."
"But is he deader than a doornail? Or, y'know, dead—dead?"
"No, thank goodness!" Ebon nodded, then trotted out to shout up the crawlspace. "And thank goodness you took the controls of the ship!"
The stallion tilted his sweating face up towards the hurricane mess beyond. He winced, having to jerk the controls slightly left and right to avoid bits of floating and wind-blown debris along his cyclonic path.
"We're caught in a crazy-ass circle! It's taking all of my concentration just to avoid crashing into something!"
"Well, how about getting us out of this 'crazy-ass circle?'"
"Are you kidding me?!" Zaid shouted once more over his shoulder. "I was never allowed to pilot any of the Herald's ships! All I know from airshipping is from watching other ponies do it—and only half the times sober!"
"Well, what can you do?!"
"Keep us alive by flying at this regular velocity!" Zaid exclaimed. "Landing on one of the surviving temples? That's a whole 'nother situation altogether. I mean, I could try, but odds are we'd all blow chunks out our stomach after the hulls of Floydien's Nancy Jane blow shrapnel chunks into us!"
"And if we slow down..."
"...then we become mince meat in these winds! I dunno how much you can see from the observation room, but this is like trying to swim a fly—" He had to grunt and jerk the controllers in time to avoid a flying piece of a shattered airship. With a shudder, he exhaled, "—through an alphabet soup of death!"
"Well, with Floydien down for the count and the others unaccounted for—"
"Look, all I can do right now is keep us in one piece!" Zaid exclaimed. "Whatever went down in that doom-and-gloom temple, we owe it to the rest of the Jurists to keep our one single piece of transportation intact! Maybe—I dunno—they can shut the magic wind muscle down from the inside out or something! Whatever the case, I'm sure it's going to involve Rainbow Dash and a whole lot of flank kicking!"
"What if she's dead?!"
"Then, buddy, I hope you can cook a good last meal."
Ebon Mane sighed, bowing his head towards the floor of the crawlspace where Floydien lay.
"Right... read you loud and clear," the earth pony mumbled.
"I'd rather you read Rainbow Dash loud and clear!" Zaid's voice rang down. "I've got my hooves full! I need you to—"
"Keep an eye on the Engine Room?"
"You've been around Blondie long enough to know a lick of sense in that department, sure, but couldja at least try spamming our friends' sound stones?"
Ebon nodded and galloped briskly back towards the stern while the ship veered and rattled. "On it!"
"Try and get them to respond!" Zaid's voice rang. "I'd give everything to know that they're still sexy! Also alive! But mostly the sexy part!"
Meanwhile, Ebon scrambled his way back into the engine room. Keeping an eye on the flickering lavender tome, he slapped a hoof over Props' communications array and spoke into the quivering mic. "Rainbow Dash! Pilate! Josho! Is anypony there?!" He fidgeted, bit his lip, the stammered, "Eagle Eye? If you can hear me... we'd really like to hear back from you right now..."
The Noble Jury glided in and out of cloud cover, hurling itself against the howling winds.
Josho saw this from a distance as he struggled to slide his obese self down the sloped rooftop of the circular building.
"Hey..." He waved his forelimb. "Hey!" He waved both legs. "Heeeeeeeeeey! Crack a window and take a look, ya melon fudges! We need some pick-ups!"
The stallion's cries were left unheard. The familiar skystone ship blurred on, stuck in its clockwise rotation as it disappeared beyond the frames of half-destroyed temples and obelisks..
"Hrnnngh..." Josho's nostrils flared. Using his shotgun like a staff, he slid himself the rest of the way down the domed roof. "I swear, I need an airbag for how many dayum times my life hits the bedrock of Hell."
Something soared straight past him, too quiet to be a granite shard, too light to be a normal pony. Josho heard the flitting of gossamer wings, and then wind once more.
He paused, looking up the roof from which he came. Rain pelted his coat, sending rivulets of water dribbling off his horn and muzzle.
After a sputtering breath, he returned to his task. "One of these days, I wanna have a death-defying adventure at a beach resort." And, with a grunt, he jumped down to the rubble-strewn balcony below.
“Mmmmfff…” Rainbow’s muzzle stirred as she lay on her side across the granite floor. “Gnngh… don’t… d-don’t stick around here for too long… it’s t-too dangerous…” Her tail flicked as her eyelids stirred. “Mmmmff… so what? Leave the hair clip on, Gold Petals. It looks fine…”
A five-finger’d gloved hand raised her hoof to a blade, then sliced a tiny slit in her flesh.
“Aaaaugh!” Rainbow Dash shot up, bucking the cloaked body off her. “Friggin’ stop it, ya melon--Oh.” Her ears drooped from where she hovered. “It’s you guys.”
Razzar stared at the red blood dripping off his blade, then tilted his mask up towards her. ”Do you realize what you’ve done?” his voice crackled through a grimacing mouthpiece.
“Ugh… yeah…” Rainbow Dash brought her hoof up to her mouth and suckled on the shallow cut. “Had another friggin’ dream about a blonde.”
Other Lounge members strolled behind him, examining the lengths of the rubble-strewn control room while their leader leered up in her face. ”Well, this is no ordinary nightmare you’ve caught us all in! Because of your arrogance, you’ve endangered your crew and mine! Now we’re stuck in a purgatorial place with no chance of--”
“Whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah!” Rainbow Dash frowned, waving her hooves. “Hold the sound stone, buddy! All I wanted to do was protect my friends--”
”From what?!” Razzar’s suit glowed brighter in the seams around his mask. ”You had an imposter with you the entire time! A treacherous fiend whom you should have given up to our custody when we asked--”
“You knew, didn’t you?!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “The way you came rushing in, zapping all those bug-ponies off my back like it was regular hunting season?! You knew that Prowse was a changeling the whole time!”
“It did not change the fact that he was wanted by several concerned parties throughout the Wastes--”
“The least you could have done was friggin’ told us instead of being all mystifying and threatening from the get-go, pal!” Rainbow jerked. “No, I take tht back! The least you could have done was not chased us with pew pew death lasers into the storm!”
”You gave us no choice.”
“Like you gave us one?!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. She bucked at a crumbled piece of stone with a grunt. “Grrgggh! I swear! Is Equestria the only land to warm-blooded creatures of sense?!”
To that, Razzar merely sighed. A device attached to his belt flickered, and he tapped it with a pointed finger. ”What’s your report, Vaughan?”
A deep voice crackled on the other end. ”I’m still having difficulty with the skystone core, Razzar. In theory, I could utilize a lightning rod to channel some electricity into the engine, but that will depend on both time and luck.”
Razzar nodded. ”We appear to be in short supply of either.”
”Then I will have to work with great diligence.”
”Do your best, brother. We are depending on you.”
”Understood. Vaughan out.”
Once the frequency ended, another Lounge from the fringes of the room turned towards the leader. ”No sign of the shape shifters, Razzar,” he hissed beneath his mask. ”Knowing them, they could be blending in with the walls and floor.”
Rainbow’s ruby eyes bugged. “They can do that?”
Razzar ignored her, turning instead to the other figure. “Load extra crystal charges into your rifles, brothers. We’ll have to perform manasweeps of the hallways as we make our exit. Alternate rifles so that we can equally conserve our ammo.”
”Yes, Razzar.”
“Wait wait…” Rainbow Dash squinted. “The heck are you guys planning?”
Razzar turned towards her. ”Nothing, thanks to you. We’ve never been inside the eye of the storm before, for fear of how inescapably turbulent the winds are. The act of sabotage you did on our vessel stalled it on one of the lower temples. We were lucky not to be in one of the structures destroyed recently by the shape-shifting hoard. Until our engineer Vaughan can get the skystone drive back online, we are stranded here--and even then we have no guarantee that the winds won’t slice the hull of our ship to ribbons.”
“What do you mean you’ve ‘never been inside the eye of the storm before?’” Rainbow blinked. “Did you know about this place too?!”
”We know enough about it to realize it’s a dangerous, inescapable trap.”
“Balls to that!” Rainbow frowned. “Stratopolis has claimed dozens upon dozens of airships for nearly two decades! I’m willing to bet that most of them happened on your watch, bucko!”
”Call this place whatever you wish,” Razzar said. ”We have endeavored to protect the passengers of the Strait to the best of our ability.”
“Pffftchyaa… and what a fine job you’ve been doing at it, too!”
”A job that will be accomplished by no one now that you have thrown your crew and mine into jeopardy!”
“What?!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “For crying out loud! If you had just had the good sense to--”
”It matters little.” Razzar trotted past her, eying the tomb of Commander Hurricane through his mask. ”Perhaps this turn of events was somehow predestined.” He tilted his head up towards the rain-slick stained glass above. ”Judging from both the architecture and the corpses that define this place, it would seem as if it has a common connection with you.”
“Just what are you going on about?”
With a jagged finger, Razzar pointed at the corpses along the barricades, then at Rainbow Dash. ”Winged ponies. If you ask me, it is too much of a coincidence.”
“That’s a freaky trend I’m noticing a lot lately,” Rainbow Dash said with a wary gaze. “What’s it to you?”
”Must I state the obvious? Your group and mine have our differences, but there’s a far more dangerous threat that needs to be met. As much as I hesitate to suggest it, working together is our best option.”
“And what makes you think I can trust you?”
”Please…” His voice hissed as his gloved hands formed dual fists. ”I am risking enough by even suggesting I put a fraction of my brothers’ lives into your hooves. As chaotic as this place may look, it stands to reason that somewhere inside is a key to controlling it and the weather around it. And now that I find that you may have some connection with the ponies who populated this place before…”
Rainbow simply hovered in place, her muzzle clamped shut.
Vapors exhaled out of the yellow light of Razzar’s suit. ”Perhaps there are others surviving in this place who would be more willing to assist us?”
Rainbow flew down, glaring at his level. “What are the odds that you chased them in here as well?”
“Not as slim as our chances of surviving separately.”
“Heh…” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Why is it that I feel that’s the only honest thing you’ve told me since I woke up?”
”Would you rather deal with the shape shifters?” Razzar cocked his neck. ”And on your own?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, avoiding his masked gaze.
”I would give anything for the sanctity of my crew,” Razzar said. ”We’ve both seen what can happen to a pony as strong as you on your own. Please, at least let me help you reunite with them, and then we can work out a plan from there.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, then hovered closer to the ceiling. ”Fine. But only because I’m worried over their safety more than anything.”
”As I’m sure you do,” Razzar droned coolly.
Rainbow squinted at him, then cleared her throat. “It’s a nasty journey to the Hold where most of the survivors are hanging tight. I’ll take you there, but it’s up to them if whether or not they’ll shake… uh… hands with you.”
”Perfectly understood.”
“And it’s not gonna be an easy trip on foot,” she said, flapping her wings for emphasis. “Just saying…”
”I do believe we can adapt.” The speaker in his mask clicked as he turned and gestured towards his cohorts. In perfect synchronization, all six Lounge members pressed a button on their wristbands. The backs of their cloaks flared out, revealing twin shafts that vented out yellow manadust. With a low hissing sound, the six figures levitated side by side.
Rainbow Dash blinked, then sighed. “Now I know why all the pegasi outside Equestria died off…” She frowned and floated down the nearest corridor, followed by the Lounge. “They all got shown up by freakjobs.”
"I think..." Aatxe shuddered, leaning just far enough to stare into the gaping holes that the impacting temple shards had made with the floor of the building's lower hold. "I-I think the worst is over with." He turned and gazed at the other survivors. "The structures have stopped colliding with one another."
Arcshod glanced warily at the rest. "Gil'sanna kiulem messa threatta k'neen?"
Seclorum shook his head. "There's no way to tell. Maybe she got to the control room, or maybe the shape shifters just stopped the chaos themselves."
"What about the Tarkington?" Prowse asked from where he stood far from the invading winds, holding a distraught Props close. "Is the wee temple holding that ship still intact?"
"Believe me, I wish I knew," Aatxe muttered. "But I can't see it from this angle to be able to tell."
"Maybe if we sent somepony to the surface, then?" Prowse remarked. "Took a gander from the balcony?"
"He's right," Aatxe sighed. "The game has changed. With the arrival of this pegasus, the changelings are one step closer to acquiring something."
"And what's that, exactly?" Prowse asked.
"I'm not sure," Seclorum grumbled. "But I certainly do not wish to find out."
"Hraak suun veel!" a Xonan warrior shouted from where he and two Ledomaritans were rummaging through the nearby rubble. "Rekk theem laak seen, Arcshod Xon-Nagu'n!"
"Jaat'sanna klehm!" Arcshod hollered back, gesturing with a hoof. "Ree'nostra threnna seemh!"
"What... wh-what's going on?" Props murmured through quivering lips.
"Seems as though the most recent shakedown loosened the rubble blocking the hallway, lassie," Prowse said as his one forelimb stroked her mane. "We might actually have a way out of here."
Props gulped. "Or they might have a way in."
Almost immediately, the stallions around the rubble backed up, shouting in mixed tongue.
Xonans forced Lasairfion to back up to a safe distance. Meanwhile, Seclorum and Arcshod levitated crossbows and immediately galloped towards the hallway. They aimed through the fresh niche formed in the corridor.
"Freeze!" Seclorum bellowed, squinting down the sight of his weapon. "Not another move!"
"Oh, for crying out loud..." Josho grumbled, his glowing horn illuminating his obese figure in the middle of the bricklaid passage. "Look, Secchy, it's me! I'm back from the party upstairs." With a shuddering breath, he limped forward. "Have any of you melon fudges seen Rainbow Dash yet—?"
Thwifft!—PING! A crossbolt embedded into the mortar just an inch from Josho's left hoof, freezing him in place.
Seclorum snarled while reloading his crossbow. "Not. Another. Step."
"Dammit, Secchy! It's me!" Frowning, Josho pointed at his glowing horn. "I'm doing magic, see?! Real unicorn right here!"
"Changelings can mimic unicorn magic," Seclorum said. "They are what they become. It won't fool anypony."
"Because I'm not trying to fool anypony, Secchy!" Josho growled. "If I was a shapeshifter, would I do something as deliberately stupid as march straight down here to greet you guys?!"
"My old friend wasn't one for winning spelling bees," Seclorum said, crossbow trained. "That could easily be mimicked as well."
"Unngh! Fine." Josho frowned and gestured with a hoof. "Twenty-two years ago, back in our station at Blue Chasm, you and I started a yearly contest that we didn't tell anypony about—"
"Let me guess..." Aatxe strolled up, squinting down the corridor at the supposed stallion. "You drank a bunch of rum and saw who could urinate into the ravine the farthest?"
Josho did a double-take. "How did you—?!"
"Because a changeling shaped like you tried that on us over a year ago," Seclorum said. "And if something that obscure is committed to the hive mind, then there's no trusting anything that you have to dredge from our collective memory." The old stallion exhaled heavily. "Nice try..."
"Damn it to Spark's abyss, what do I have to do to convince you I'm harmless?!"
"You can start by trotting back the way you came..."
"Secchy, I'd be insect food if I stay out there! At least tell me if Rainbow Dash made it back or not!"
"Rainbow Dash?!" Props craned her neck. "Josho, did you see her—Mmmfff!"
Prowse shook his head, holding a hoof over her mouth. "Best not to be barkin' up this tree, lassie."
"Mmmmmffff!"
"Alright... Okay! Josho waved his forelimbs. "The blood test, right? Toss me a knife."
"Just leave and don't come back."
"Nuts to that! Toss me a dagger! I'll do the damned blood test—"
A voice grumbled from the shadows, "I bet you would want to get ahold of something to gut them with, ya filthy creep."
Josho spun around. With a gasp, he levitated his shotgun by his side.
Josho stood several feet away, already training his identical manaweapon. As soon as the other obese stallion floated his shotgun, he looked at his double in shock. "Oh, come the buck on! How's that even possible?!"
"You're not fooling anypony, bugjob!" The first Josho exclaimed. "I got here first! Everypony saw it, freak!"
"Oh, no." The second rolled his eyes. "We are not even remotely doing this crap!"
"Then let me have it!" The first glared down the barrel of his boomstick. "Splatter my bug guts all across the walls of this floating turdtropolis!"
The second gnashed his teeth. "Don't tempt me. From this angle I'd hit Secchy and the others."
"Hah!" The first smiled devilishly. "That's a cute trick!"
"Well, I don't see what's holding you back!"
"I have a better idea..." a voice crackled from further up the hall. "Let us shoot you both."
Both Joshos turned to look. Streams of bright yellow mana flew across the dark corridor, consuming them both. There was a stifled scream, followed by the splash of hot fluids across the wall. Seclorum and Arcshod ducked for cover while the survivors inside the Hold gasped and fled with fright.
Razzar and two other Lounge members stood, firingly wildly down the hall.
"Dang it, no! Stop!" Rainbow Dash plowed them over from behind, knocking their weapons to the floor. "Are you friggin' crazy?!" She hovered up, gazing with horror down the corridor. "Josho!"
As the smoke cleared, Rainbow spotted a single black body, half-melted and leaking green juices everywhere.
She felt the urge to vomit. Just then—in a flash of bright light—Josho materialized behind her.
"Unnngh..." The obese stallion collapsed from the strain of his impromptu teleportation spell. Rainbow did her best to support his weight as he panted for breath. "Guh... I can sm-smell the damned thing's friggin' insides..."
"Josho! Are you okay?! Speak to me!"
"Ow..." He hissed, rubbing a bleeding shoulder that was scarred from where a manabeam grazed it.
"Whew..." Rainbow slumped across from him, her ears folded. "I thought I'd just lost a flabby grumpy friend, buddy..."
"You weren't alone..."
"Which... uh... which of the two Joshos were you?"
"I... uhm..." Josho's brow furrowed while his face went pale. "You know what? I'm not all that sure anymore." He pivoted his head and squinted at the cloaked figures helping Razzar up to his feet. "Uhm... are you sure you're you, Rainbow Dash?"
Snarling, Rainbow turned towards the Lounge. "You!" She flew forward, snarling straight into Razzar's mask. "What in Celestia's name was that all about?! You nearly killed my friend!"
"In the time we would have wasted attempting to determine who was real from who was fake, we could instead have been—"
"No, don't gimme any of that crap!" Rainbow jabbed a hoof into his cloaked chest. "You nearly turned my pal into a manasponge!"
"Much like you harmed my crew back in the storm?"
"Dude, you chased us with mana lasers!" Rainbow barked. "What the heck is this?! I thought we were working together!"
"And we most certainly are," Razzar said. "And I am not about to let any shapeshifters complicate such an endeavor."
"You want complications?! I'll give you complications!" Rainbow Dash shook a hoof. "I'll send a complication right up your—"
Seclorum cleared his throat loudly.
Razzar and Rainbow looked into the Hold.
Seclorum glared. "Give us all one good reason not to fill your bodies with crossbolts."
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Rainbow yanked the shoulder of a wincing Josho into view, pointing at the red blood trickling out. "There! Not a changeling! You happy, now?!"
"Partially..." Seclorum motioned with his crossbow. "As for the rest of you?"
Before Rainbow Dash could open her mouth—
"Gladly." Razzar held up a fist, then gestured towards his cohorts. "Brothers?"
In synchronized motion, the six figures pulled their right gloves off, revealing rust-colored scales and yellow claws. Without hesitation, they unsheathed tiny daggers from within their cloaks and sliced a tiny cut across their arms. They held their hands up, revealing the dribbling red blood in the light of Josho's horn.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She turned to look into the Hold.
The survivors' gaze fell on her.
With a sigh, Rainbow pulled her saddlebag open and rummaged inside. "I swear, at this rate, Belle and Eagle Eye are gonna think I've gone all depressed." She pulled her trusty hatchet out, bit onto the handle with her teeth, and—wincing—made a tiny incisision across her forelimb. Grunting slightly, she spat the blade back into her midnight satchel and held the bleeding wound up for the group to see. "Voila. Totally not Rainbug Dash."
"Good..." Aatxe shuffled up. "Now you can start by telling us just who in the blazes these new characters are."
"I would be glad to oblidge—" Razzar began.
"No." Aatxe pointed at Rainbow Dash. "Let her speak. We trust you slightly less than we do her at the moment."
"Jee, how flattering," Rainbow muttered. "Well, guys, you see, it's... like... this..." Her eyes drifted to the side, reflecting the shuddering figure of a melancholic mare. "...Props?"
The engineer sniffled, avoiding Rainbow's gaze. She bit her lip as she shivered at Prowse's side.
"Props, what's the matter, girl? Why are you so—?" Rainbow stopped speaking. Her ears instantly folded as her jaw fell agape. A dry gulp, and she droned: "What's happened?"
A tear ran down Props' face. She looked up, muzzle all a'quiver. "Rainbow Dash... I... I-I'm so sorry..." She choked on a sob. "There's nothing I-I could have done! I-I would have fallen too! Unky Prowsy—he saved me! I wanted to dive after them... but... but..."
"Where... where's Pilate?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Props hissed through clenched teeth. "He's dead, Dashie..."
Rainbow Dash stood in stunned silence, her muzzle pronouncing the cold, bitter word.
Props sniffled, leaning her weight against her Uncle as she fought the urge to collapse. "He was trying to comfort Elma... or what was left of Elma, when the floor fell apart beneath them." Props pointed at the gaping holes howling with hurricane winds. "It h-happened so suddenly. It's a m-miracle that more of us weren't sucked out. But... but..."
"He fell?" Rainbow stammered. "During the brief fart in time while I was gone?!" Her teeth showed as she spontaneously snarled. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Rainbow, I'm sorry, I—"
"Somepony please tell me there was a temple or a platform beneath us at the time!" Rainbow rushed forward, voice cracking. "Or Elma! The.. th-the changeling had wings, didn't she?! Maybe... j-just maybe she could have..."
"It's as grim as it sounds, lassie," Prowse said as he kept a protective arm over the blonde mare's shoulder. His head shook with a somber expression. "Sure wish we could say otherwise."
Panting, Rainbow stepped fearlessly before the gaping holes, gazing down into the pale, stormy mess.
Josho shuffled over, swallowing a lump down his throat. "Rainbow, I... I-I know this absolutely blows chunks, girl, but we've got to keep it together..."
"Keep it together..." The pegasus muttered.
"We've been lucky not to have any of us drop dead ten times over until now. But with all of the deadly weather and shape-shifting freakjobs around every corner—"
"Josho, I can't even keep my friends together!" Rainbow flashed a frown back at him. "If I can't protect what's closest to me anymore, then what do I have left?!"
"Pilate knew the risk by stepping out of the Noble Jury!"
"And so did I!" Rainbow shouted. "But that doesn't change the fact that I owe him more! That I owe Belle m-more!"
"Will you quit the friggin' waltz of guilt while you're ahead?!" Josho barked. "We're in the middle of a crisis and we can't afford to have you stumbling over something you couldn't have prevented!"
"What, like a good soldier?!" Rainbow spat. "Josho, I never ever wanted to fight in any of your continent's stupid wars! And yet violent crud and mayhem seems to follow me wherever I go! How many friends will I lose before I finally do the smart thing and give up?!" Grimacing, she spun towards the holes and spread her wings.
Josho squinted. "What the Hell are you doing?!"
"I have to find him."
"Rainbow, he fell!"
"Never stopped him from living before!" She plunged into the hurricane winds.
"Wait!" Seclorum shouted.
Josho was already yanking her in place by a telekinetic tug to her tail. "Rainbow, don't!" Josho shouted.
"Buck off!" Rainbow howled. "He needs me—"
"I need you!" Josho loudly retorted. "Props and the rest of the ponies here do! This place is a hellhole and only you have the edge to make any sense out of it!"
"You tell that to Belle when we come back empty-hoofed!"
"Rainbow, the Noble Jury is—"
"Grnnngh!" Rainbow wrenched her tail free, smacking Josho across the face. The stallion fell back, losing his magical grip. A clap of thunder rolled across the chamber as Rainbow Dash descended with the force of a meteorite, rocketing straight down into the heart of the storm.
Props hung her tearful face while Prowse looked on.
Across the way, Razzar adjusted the sleeves of his glowing suit. "She's a creature who thinks with her heart. A most peculiar trait."
"Go sit on an iceberg and rotate," Josho grumbled, staring dully through the gaping crevices.
Rainbow Dash flew wildly through the swirling mess of Stratopolis. There were too many shards of granite flying through the howling maelstrom to make sense of. Dangling bits of rock and mortar orbited the glowing obelisks in limp trajectories, losing bits and pieces of craggy sediment as the merciless winds chipped them gradually away.
Hyperventilating, Rainbow flew through the chaotic debris field, shouting at the top of her lungs.
"Pilate?!"
Lightning flashed. Thunder swallowed the exclamations from her howling mouth.
Squinting into the wet sheets of rain, Rainbow Dash thrust her shoulder against the gales and flew haphazardly.
"Nnnngh... Pilatttttte!"
Temple pieces collided with each other, spraying ash and pebbles over her head like stray bullets.
Palpitating harder and harder, Rainbow Dash zig-zagged her way around the shrapnel bits and continued her desperate cries.
Pilate lay in a puddle, his back pelted relentlessly by drowning sheets of precipitation. His muscles quivered as he fought for the strength to crawl forward.
Just then, his ears twitched.
Something melodic stood out against the raging thunder. He made out two syllables, stabbing his heart into beating faster.
He tilted his head up, ears twitching in the soaking rain.
"Rainbow...?"
More thunder. Once more, the voice cried out, sounding more distant this time.
"Rainbow!" Pilate sputtered, then stood up straight on wobbly legs. "Rainbowwww!" Wincing, he galloped forward, blindly persuing the echoes of that warm voice. "I'm here! I'm over here! Rainbow, I—"
The zebra winced, skidding suddenly to a slippery stop. He stood, panting, his head tilted to the side as he listened to the air in front of him.
The sheets of rain weren't pitter-pattering just a few feet ahead.
Nervously, Pilate squatted low and felt a hoof forward. It ran across a slick surface, then plunged into open air. He was less than two trots away from the precarious edge of the platform.
Panicking, he fell back on his haunches and scooted away from the deathly plunge. By the time the blood stopped throbbing in his ears, he realized the shouts of the pegasus had grown fainter, disappearing entirely.
"Rainbow...?!"
No reply.
Pilate gnashed his teeth, stifled a growl, and ultimately hollered, "Rainbowwww!"
"Mmmmffngh!" Bruised and wincing, Eagle Eye leaned his shoulder against a granite column. He sputtered rainwater from his muzzle, tossed his lavender mane back, and stared out from the platform he was on.
The piece of temple that served as his perch was a sliver of its former glory. It hovered at a precarious angle around an obelisk, constantly twirling about so that Eagle Eye had to scamper across its surface for even hoofing like an insect atop a rolling orange. For the time being, he was in a safe position, at least until the platform rotated about once more.
The motions of the granite structure were frighteningly fast, and Eagle found himself soaring past other large pieces of debris populating his particular pocket of Stratopolis. While bits of rock collided loudly above and below him, he struggled to keep calm, taking the moment to survey his situation.
It was then that he thought he spotted a familiar blue shape flying around the belly of the large round structure above.
He gasped, stepping forward and leaning on his sword like it was a cane. Squinting, his expert eyes spotted the tell-tale signs of blue feathers and a prismatic mane. In a flash of thunder, Rainbow's figure darted from cloud to cloud, lost in the debris field of endlessly floating shards.
Eagle Eye opened his mouth to shout—when he heard a different kind of thunder. The air roared around him. Nervously, he spun around and looked past the nearest column.
A bronze hull soared by, along with the rain-slicked words spelling out "Noble Jury."
"Hey! Heeeeeeey!" Eagle Eye scampered towards the edge and shouted, flickering his horn like a beacon. "Guys! Over here! I'm here! Hey!"
It was too late. The Noble Jury soared past him as swiftly as it had appeared. It spiraled along its grand, clockwise arc, trailing the edge of the swirling storm.
Eagle Eye slumped against a column, his ears folded as he murmured into the moist air. "Ebon..."
The stallion sniffled, closing his eyes for a sad, contemplative moment. Then, eyes opened, he glared into the swirling mess. His head tilted up, and he saw what looked to be a peculiar pattern of rocks floating directly overhead, leading upwards towards a lofty temple that was mostly intact. In a way, the shards vaguely resembled stepping stones.
With a deep breath, Eagle Eye gripped the hilt of his sword in his teeth and climbed the nearest column of his platform with determined hooves.
"The Tarkington?" Razzar remarked.
"Yes," Aatxe said with a nod. "It's a sturdy vessel, capable of carrying a crew of one hundred and fifty. It's more than enough to handle the survivors we've got held up here... or... well..." The stallion sighed, slumping against a brick wall of the hold. "It once was."
"How do you mean?"
"The last time I set hoof upon the deck of my ship was nearly two decades ago," the stallion murmured. "At the time, all it was missing was an active engine core. But it's been so long. Who's to know if it's still operational... or even in one piece?"
Razzar glanced at his fellow cohorts through his mask. He turned back towards the stallion. "During the flight from our ship to this building, we spotted a large vessel with a dark blue hull stranded on a lower temple."
Aatxe's ears twitched as he looked up with a gaping expression. "With copper lateral fins and a steel-reinforced cockpit?"
"Indeed."
"Then..." Aatxe's eyes glistened as he stood up straight. "Then it survived the calamity j-just now! It m-may still be able to fly!" He grinned wide.
Razzar tilted his head. "You seem extraordinarily ecstatic..."
"He has reason to be," Seclorum said as he shuffled up. "The Tarkington has been our silver bullet for a long time now."
"What is this that the Xonan speaks of?" Razzar asked.
Seclorum glanced at the furthest edge of the compartment where Lasairfion sat with her closest subjects. "The Queen's ponies are adept at detecting energy sources. Believe it or not, Xonans are about more than tattoos and fancy tongues. They're natural born mana-sniffers."
"You're welcome." Seclorum faced Razzar again. "Their Queen in particular has sensed an energy beacon in the heart of this building."
"And energy beacon..."
"They think it's some form of mana crystal... but unlike any of the kind crafted and used by Ledomare or Xona." Seclorum gulped. "Something more potent... more powerful."
"The Tarkington was built to run off of mana-crystal energy," Aatxe said. "If there's something like it inside this structure, then it could conceivably refuel my ship and give us all an avenue of escape."
"It would have to be a sizable energy source indeed to allow you to pierce the winds of this place," Razzar said.
"That's what we're hoping," Aatxe said. "But we won't have any real idea until we get our hooves on the energy source."
"What's kept you from doing so?" Razzar asked. "The shape-shifters?"
"To some extent, yes. However..." Aatxe fumbled for words.
"What is it?"
Seclorum sighed. "There's a barrier... a closed door to the inner recesses of this building."
"Meaning...?"
"So long as it's in the way, we can't enter the innermost chambers of this structure. We always felt it was a hopeless cause." The Ledomaritan officer glanced once more in Lasairfion's direction. "However, if we had a key of sorts to gain access to what's inside—"
With a rush of air and rainwater, Rainbow's blue figure darted back up the hole and planted wetly on the chamber floor. Various survivors gasped while a few of them nervously picked up their crossbows, training it on the pegasus.
"Dashie!" Props exhaled from Prowse's side.
Rainbow said nothing, glaring ahead into the firelight.
"Rainbow..." Josho sat up from where he was sitting against a pile of rubble. "Did... uhm..." He fidgeted, his face grimacing apologeticlaly. "Did you...?"
She strolled past him on heavy hooves.
"Hey..." Seclorum looked her way. "Hey!" He frowned. "Are you forgetting something?"
Rainbow kept marching.
Aatxe nervously bit his lip. Arcshod and Seclorum rushed over, levitating their crossbows as they blocked the pegasus' path.
"Not one more step until you—" Seclorum started.
"Rrrrghh!" Rainbow Dash suddenly had the graying stallion shoved against a wall. She shoved the still-fresh wound of her forelimb into his face. "See?! Still bleeding, jerkwad! Give it a lick if you doubt me!"
Seclorum sputtered, frowning. "We've been in this mess longer than you, lady. The least you can do is show a little respect—"
"For what?!" Rainbow snarled. "You think you're actually in charge here?! What can you do to get these ponies out of this mess?! What have you done?!" She dropped the stallion with a grunt and shook the moisture off her shoulders. "You want off this rock and someplace safe?! Then take a long look! I'm the one real thing to swing by this place since Commander Hurricane died! Rainbow Dash—the last pegasus of Stratopolis!" Grunting, she tossed her mane and trotted towards the far corner of the place. "Take it or leave it, folks."
Everypony watched as she stormed off.
Seclorum hobbled back onto his hooves, assisted by Arcshod and Aatxe.
"Uhm..." Aatxe bit his lip. "Somepony should... uh... pr-probably keep an eye on her."
"Dreit."
Before Seclorum could open his mouth again—
"Give it a rest, Secchy," Josho muttered, then shuffled tiredly after the pegasus at a distance. "She's my pal. I've got it covered."
Seclorum was quiet. Props and Prowse hung their heads while the Lounge watched on in silence.
Rainbow Dash rounded a corner on her lonesome. Once she was beyond the glow of the hold's torchlight, she shuffled to a stop, heaving with deep breaths.
Her face contorted into a frown. Swiveling about, she planted her hooves against a dusty brick wall. Her eyes clenched shut as her body rocked back and forth. Stifling an inward grunt, she tapped her forehead against the brick... then slapped it... then headbutted the wall several times with hissing squeaks of pain and frustration.
Suddenly, she stopped, her body wracked with shivers. Rainbow's face quivered, melting into a perpetual grimace as sniffling breaths fountained from her nostrils. She heaved, heaved again, and slumped down to her knees, bracing herself against the wall as tears trickled down her face. She curled her forelimbs against her chest, feeling the rattle of her pendant with each pent-up sob.
"Celestia... Celestia, I-I can't..." She whimpered, her teeth gnashing beneath clenched eyes. "Not anymore... I don't know how... I-I don't know..." She moaned into her forelimbs. "Why am I here? Why am I even h-here? It doesn't... d-doesn't..."
Her words trailed off, and yet she heard an echo to the sobs.
Sniffling, Rainbow rubbed her cheeks dry and opened her puffy eyes.
The sobbing continued, this time at a distance. To Rainbow's twitching ears, it sounded like it was just around the corner.
Gulping, Rainbow stood up on weak hooves. Pensively, she trotted around the bend, following the melancholic noise. A tiny torch flickered into her eyes. She squinted, her face scrunching at a terrible stench. She heard the buzzing of flies and the rattle of chains.
At last, Rainbow came completely around the corner. A dark shape lay beneath her, but it was too solid to be a shadow.
Fettered to the wall, surrounded by its own filth, an emaciated changeling sat in shackles. Sobbing, it looked up at Rainbow Dash. In a brief moment, its green eyes turned to ruby pupils and back again. "Please... I-I'm sorry," the changeling whimpered. "Just stop... st-stop waving it in front of me..."
"What..." Rainbow squinted, her sorrow replaced by shock and confusion. "...the buck?"
"So much love..." The changeling's flesh turned blue and fuzzy and went back to its black shell. It curled over, clutching its chest as it avoided Rainbow's gaze. "It's too much. It hurts... h-hurts to hunger..."
Rainbow sat down across the wretched creature, her eyes glued to its chains, then to the green bloodstains along the brick wall surrounding it. "What... how...?"
"Please tell her I-I'm sorry," the creature sobbed.
Rainbow cocked her head aside. "Tell who?"
"Mother..." The changeling hissed. "Mother, I'm s-so sorry for hungering..."
"What... I mean..." Rainbow Dash slinked forward on trembling hooves, her thin eyes studying the injured changeling up and down. "Why are you here? Who did all of this to you—"
"N-no!" The changeling slid back on rattling chains. "Mother d-doesn't... nnnnghhh... d-doesn't approve!"
"Approve of what?!"
"No love... positively none..." The changeling shook its head, stifling a sob. "If I feed... I'll connect to Mother... and th-they'll find her..."
"Who...?" Rainbow Dash leaned forward. "And who's this 'Mother?'"
"Please... I'm so sorry..." The changeling gripped its skull, shivering. "No more. I-I can't..."
"Look, will you just chillax? I simply wanna understand more." Rainbow tried a weak smile. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The changeling spoke with a muffled tone. "How can I believe that..." A flash of green flame. An orange face with freckles gazed up at Rainbow. "...when all you do is hurt yourself, sugarcube?"
Rainbow's eyes went wide as saucers. She scuttled backwards on jittery hooves, bumping into a large body. With a gasp, she jerked and looked up.
Josho braced himself with a hoof on her shoulder, grimacing at the creature. "What in Ledo's wide-wide hips is this shit?!"
"Forgive me!" the changeling wailed. Its face turned lavender with flowing locks of silken hair as it reeled away from the stallion. "Too much love! All I do is taste! Mother, I'm so sorry!"
"I... I-I just found him... her... it like this!" Rainbow sputtered. "It keeps rambling on about 'Mother' and how 'sorry it is' for wanting to 'feed on love!'"
"Dayum thing looks wasted," Josho exclaimed. He squinted at the miserable creature. "Are those... bloodstains on the wall?"
"The nasty little wretches have a terrible habit of leaking," droned a voice. Josho and Rainbow spun to see Seclorum standing cooly in the bend of the corridor. Aatxe leaned awkwardly against a wall behind him, avoiding the sight of the ghastly creature. "For all of the skins and scales that they can mimic, it takes surprisingly little force to squeeze something out of them."
"Squeeze something out of them?" Josho turned to look at the quivering creature once again. "Secchy, were you torturing this friggin' bug thing?"
"Information is priceless on the battlefield, old friend," Seclorum replied, pacing towards the corner. "Don't pretend in all your years of defending the Queen's interest that you never drove the spurs in."
"I've killed soldiers and set fires to camps left and right—but I've never resorted to torture!" Josho frowned. "That's Council of Ledo bullcrap right there!"
"Oh please, Josho." Seclorum turned to glare at him. "You've set fire to more than just enemy encampments. Don't try to deny it."
Josho gnashed his teeth, but ultimately bowed his head in a defeated pose.
Rainbow Dash saw it. Blinking, she swiveled her gaping expression towards Seclorum. "What I don't understand is how—?"
"It was one of the drones delivering us food," Aatxe said, squirming slightly. He still refused to look at the creature. "Arcshod and Seclorum laid an ambush for them. Most got away, but not this one. Trapped, it flew itself towards the torches—presumably to end its own life. We bound it up before it could. I thought it would end there. But... well... for what it's worth, I was one of the few ponies who voted against..." He gestured blindly towards the corner. "...this."
"Well, why don't you tell me?! Cuz I'm all ears!" Rainbow frowned. "Just what is this worth?!"
"It's simple," Seclorum said. "The monster's connection with the shapeshifter's hive mind gave us a window into what they knew, including some of the things they were planning."
"The Xonans' Princess sensed a magical energy source inside the heart of this building," Aatxe added. "This changeling revealed that its shapeshifting brood knows about this. In fact, they knew about it for a long, long time before ever making a 'nest' in this city."
"That's about the most pertinent information we got out of the creep," Seclorum said. He swiveled around with a frown. "Until it decided to disconnect itself from the hive mind!" He gave the thing a nasty buck across the head. Thud!
"Please..." Seclorum hissed. "Don't defend this creature! It feels nothing! It consumes emotion!" He snarled at the quivering thing's shell. "All this rambling nonsense about 'love' and 'pain' and 'mother.' It's like a spoiled infant begging for milk. It's an animal... and a very unclever one at that, at least when stripped of the ability to leech from innocent ponies!"
"Animal or not, think rationally for a dang second! I mean, don't you guys get it?!" Rainbow frowned. "Stab and prod a living thing all you like. Of course it's going to tell you what you want to hear! You think somepony's going to do or say something truthful when all it wants is for the pain to stop?!"
"It's given us invaluable information months before you or Prowse even came here," Seclorum said. "We know that the changelings are waiting for something special... or somepony. Somehow, I'm beginning to imagine it's you."
"Don't drag me into this garbage!" Rainbow snarled. "All you know is all that you've bled from this friggin' guy through brute force! You think that's anything to actually go by?" Her eyes narrowed. "Has it ever occurred to you that the head of the hive mind expected for its drones to get caught? It could have planted disinformation, dude!"
Aatxe spoke up, "But many of the things this drone has said coincide with what the Xonans have been sensing about this temple—"
"And you think that's suppose to excuse this?!" Rainbow frowned. "I'm sorry, but when I butt heads with a bad guy, I like to make sure I'm the good guy, inside and out!" She glared at Seclorum. "And ruthlessly torturing a creature isn't what I call being a good guy." She swung that glare back at Aatxe. "And just standing aside and letting it happen ain't much better either!"
Aatxe winced. Seclorum, however, kept glaring. "I know that you're not thinking very reasonably right now. Honestly, I can't blame you for your hysterics—"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Oh, come the buck on—!"
"You've just lost a close friend of yours," Seclorum droned. "Maybe more. Hell, maybe all of them." His eyes narrowed. "Would you honestly stand by and let disaster befall more innocent ponies just because you had a moral qualm that you couldn't cross over?"
"Dude, don't even go there," Rainbow practically hissed. "I crawl out of Loyalty's friggin' womb every morning. This pegasus is not about to be lectured on what it means to do the heroic thing."
"Then neither do I expect to be set aflame for taking the measures required of me in this crisis situation." Seclorum trotted forward, speaking almost into her ear. "Think of it this way. They've kidnapped us, stolen our identities, and left us all here to rot while going off to infiltrate the innermost circles of our families, friendships, and comrades." He frowned. "Do you honestly think that something like torture is beneath them too?"
Rainbow's jaw remained clenched.
Seclorum took a deep breath. "We need to have a talk with you—the whole of us, those masked figures as well—about how we're going to get out of this nightmare. In the meantime, if you think you can learn anything from this wretch through means that doesn't mean exacting the same cruelty to them that they've dealt to us... then be my guest. Just don't come whining to me when it doesn't work." He shuffled off, tapping Aatxe's shoulder along the way.
Aatxe flinched, but nevertheless sighed and shuffled after Seclorum.
Rainbow Dash and Josho stood alone in the corridor, being serenaded by the changeling's soft sobs.
"I swear to Celestia," Rainbow Dash uttered. "The further I fly from home, the uglier it gets."
Josho was silent.
Rainbow craned her neck in an attempt to read his expression. "Well? Big guy? What are you thinking about all of this?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "I think..." He glanced up at her. "...that nopony's going to weep for this once it's full bled out."
Rainbow's ears folded back. "Oh, Josho, come on!"
"Rainbow Dash, I'm upset concerning Prowse's double, I'm confused about Elma, I'm friggin' mad over Pilate. But that doesn't change the fact that there are ponies here who need to get home and you're the first pegasus to mean a damn thing to this stupid place." The stallion shrugged. "Secchy's right, y'know. I've done horrible... horrible things to stay alive. But at least I'm alive."
"Josho, you know that's not all that I have going for me," Rainbow muttered towards the walls.
Josho trotted over and rested a hoof on her shoulder. "Well here's something you still have. The Noble Jury's in one piece."
Rainbow's face jerked up to look at him.
Josho nodded. "I saw it while on my way here. I wanted to tell you earlier before you went searching in vain for Pilate." He stepped back, staring softy at her. "Our friends are alive, Rainbow Dash, and they need us. More importantly, we all need you, because—like it or not—you mean something to this place, and this place means something to you." He glanced at the changeling, then back at her. "Once you've figured it out, let me know. I'm off to learn what I can from Secchy and the rest."
That said, he shuffled off, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with the torchlight and tears.
Pilate trotted through the storm. Slick rivulets of rain cascaded down his striped coat. He teetered dizzily left and right, stretching a hoof forward to feel for any breaks in the platform.
He tripped multiple times, but it wasn't until ten paces forward that he slipped hard enough to fall chest-first against the granite. "Ooof!" He winced, his muzzle grimacing under a dull plate of runes. He bent his aching limbs in an effort to shuffle forward, but collapsed again with an exhausted sigh.
On the verge of tears, the zebra lay there, curling his legs up as his body lingered in the puddle while hurricane winds howled overhead.
On a faraway platform, Bellesmith trotted through heavier winds, bracing Eagle Eye's shield ahead of her in order to force her way through the gales. She struggled up a slanted crevice formed from when the temple collided with another platform.
At last, through trial and error, she forced her way beneath a half-collapsed overhang being supported by cracked columns. Once free of the howling winds, Belle plunged forward, pratfalling onto the floor with a stifled yelp. Eagle Eye's shield clattered, rattling to a stop, echoing in her ears with metallic reverberations.
She winced from the noise. However, as the rattling faded, she heard something softer, gentler taking its place. Curious, she squinted one chestnut eye open, then the other. She blinked, her muzzle hanging agape.
A figure lay in open view several feet away, clinging to the bottom ridges of an ancient marble colum. The sheets of rain beyond gave the tiny thing a shivering silhouette, like a swatted fly dying against a window pane.
Belle blinked, her eyes narrowing. Cautiously she reached over and slid the shield back into the crook of her hoof. She shuffled towards the figure on three legs, approaching with caution.
The closer she got, the more pronounced the sobs became. Belle saw a figure in constant flux, its limbs expanding and contracting every other second. A black exoskeleton gave way to a solid shell. Scales appeared before vanishing once more into a glossy obsidian. In bursts of green flame, dragonfly wings spread and then shrank from sight. All the while, the only constant thing was a deep cut that lingered across the back/shell of the creature, leaking with green slime.
Breathless, Bellesmith stood above the shape-shifting creature, her eyes turning glossy with shock. "...Elma?"
A beak appeared on the mouth of the thing, replaced swiftly by fangs. Tears evaporated into emerald smoke, and all the creature could do was stammer, "My children... my precious children..." She curled up, her reptilian/equine legs fluctuating beneath her. "Home... I-I want to go h-home..." A hissing breath, followed by a moan. "I can't... I-I just can't... oh my little d-darlings..."
Belle's face grimaced. "Oh Spark..." She seethed, her eyes lingering on the grotesque contours of the pained beast. She nevertheless shuffled forward, clenching her jaw tight. Finally, she sat directly beside the creature. Her gaze fell upon a vulnerable spot in its neck. Bellesmith's hooves gripped the shield tighter, angling its blunt end downwards. Sucking her breath in, Belle turned her head away and slowly began raising the bludgeon up... up...
"Mmmmfnngh... b-beloved..." the changeling spat.
Bellesmith froze in place, her eyes widening. She peaked at the monster from around the raised shield.
"I... I love..." It sputtered, sobbed. Its head turned towards the ceiling as stripes formed across its exoskelton. Clear eyes twitched beneath a runic plate. "He loves... he loves you so much..." Fanged teeth appeared beneath the dark muzzle, then vanished again. "That's why... th-that's why I saved him..."
Belle's lips parted. "Saved... h-him...?"
"I could not let him perish..." It a burst of flame, the zebra's face disappeared, replaced by the wretching changeling as it buried its face into its porous forelimbs. "I had to b-be sure... I had to know that somepony's love was real!"
Bellesmith stared, panting in stunned silence. The changeling spoke, and she listened.
"Pilate!" Props screamed, lunging forward.
It was too late. The stallion plummeted from the base of the large building. Blindly, the breathless zebra spun and spiraled. His legs kicked at the air as the wind carried him aloft, flinging him towards the temples exploding throughout the depths of Stratopolis...
Seconds before he could be smashed to a pulp, a pair of black forelimbs gripped his shoulders.
Pilate gasped, sputtering rain water out his muzzle. Above him, a wincing, bleeding changeling flew on intinctive dragonfly wings, carrying the stallion towards the first platform within sight. Dropping him without ceremony, the thing that was once Elma stumbled across the rain-slicked granite, quivered in distress, then took off in a dark blur, leaving the surviving zebra behind.
Belle fell back on her haunches, exhaling with a squeaky tone.
"I know now that love is all th-that matters..." The changeling whimpered. "But it's not for me. It's not for an imposter... a monster..." She nuzzled the granite floor of the temple, exhaling vaporous breaths of green smoke. "Geughhh... don't deserve... d-don't deserve to live... to t-take the name and b-body of my children's mother... Elma's children... oh blessed heavens what am I?" She fell into a fit of uncontrollable wailing.
Bellesmith wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Her eyes were elsewhere. Her mind was elsewhere. Her chest rose and fell with increasingly heavy breaths. Her pupils shrank as she ran a hoof over her quivering mouth.
Slowly, with quiet spasms, Pilate tilted his head up. He faced the pelting rain, his ears perking up straight, as if hearing something from beyond the wind.
With an inward groan, he sat up, wiping the moisture off his muzzle as he panted into the constant drizzle.
"Bellesmith..."
He gritted his teeth while his face flexed vulnerably. His blind eyes twitched.
"Doctor Bellesmith...?"
"Shhhh. I'm activating the manasphere now, Pilate."
Flash! The choker around the zebra's neck pulsed brightly.
The stallion gasped, sitting up straight in his hospital bed. The runes across his skull flickered one after another. His gray eyes blinked several times and darted around.
"Shhhhh-shhhh..." A yellow hoof graced his shoulder, then his chin. "Not with your eyes, but with your mind."
"My... m-my mind?"
"Yes. No doubt you have a brilliant one."
"But... but how...?"
"We've talked about this. Simply... push your consciousness towards the sound of my voice."
"Push... my consciousness..."
"That's right."
Pilate bit his lip. His face tensed. A few seconds later, the sphere positioned against his choker unhitched itself and floated forward. The ball twirled left and right, flickering a bright beam everywhere. "Enngh..." He winced.
"Slowly... concentrate..."
"It's... it's just so much..."
"My voice, Pilate. Remember?"
"Right..." He took steadier breaths, and in slow order the O.A.S.I.S. sphere drifted towards the side of the bed. It bumped into a mare's chest. "Whoops," he murmured.
"Heehee... It's okay. Now, have a look. Hmmm?"
Pilate sat perfectly still while the runes on his forehead's plate pulsed back and forth. The floating sphere levitated perfectly in place, then proceeded to scan the mare sitting next to his bed.
"I... I'm seeing..." Pilate thought aloud, his face awash in awe. "I'm feeling..."
"Good... good..."
"A fuzzy coat... a chin... a muzzle..." He slowly smiled. "Long, flowing mane. Doctor, it's working!"
"Hmmmmm..." Belle's lips smiled once the light beam crossed over it. "I do believe we have a breakthrough."
"I'll say!" Joyous, Pilate sat up further, twirling the O.A.S.I.S. sphere around with his mind. "I see the bedframe... a cabinet... the lab equipment. Doctor, I sense the whole room!"
"Easy, now." Belle patted his shoulder. "It was only built for close-range. Don't overload the neural connections."
"I-I can even read the medical report on the table here!" Pilate practically giggled like a young colt. "It has today's date and everything! Oh, Doctor, it's a miracle!" He swung the sphere towards her again. "You're a miracle worker—" His muzzle hung open in mid sentence and his ears folded back.
Belle sat still, smiling gently. The manasphere's light had cascaded over her forehead, illuminating the contours of a stubby horn wrapped under tight bandages.
Pilate's lips quivered. "You... you're..." His sphere floated over the empty bed behind her then back to where the mare sat on the stool by his side. "You're a patient here?"
"That I am, Pilate."
"But... but how... why?" He sucked in his breath. The manasphere almost collapsed, forcing Belle to catch it. "The zeppelin crash. At Mountainfall." He grimaced. "You... you were h-hurt, weren't you?"
A warm pair of hooves placed the sphere back into place against his choker, then gently took his forelimbs in hers. "I was blessed, Pilate. I was fortunate enough to utilize my talents in ways I never had the opportunity to do before."
"But... h-how can you say that?!" He shivered, gnashing his teeth. "All th-this time! You were just as hurt as me!"
"I've not been blinded, Pilate—"
"Doctor, your horn! I..." He grimaced. "I'm sorry... I-I'm so sorry! If I had known..."
"Shhhh..." Belle stroked his hooves. "Don't be sorry. You've given me something very special, Pilate."
He gulped. "And what in Spark's name is that?"
"Hope," she said softly, though her voice shook somewhat. A sniffling sound. "And faith that I still had something to accomplish." She chuckled slightly and squeezed his hooves again. "You are that proof, Pilate. My life has plenty of experiments left, thanks to you."
The stallion shuddered, tilting his head towards the bed as he focused on the feel of their hooves touching.
"Now... think you're up for some more testing?" Belle smiled. "Soon, I should be able to teach you how to sense even the tiniest fractures in a solid surface."
"Uhm... sure..." He nodded, all the while bearing a crooked grin. "Though, to be honest, your gorgeous face is a hard act to follow..."
Belle blinked, then snickered. "Why, thank you. Y'know, you're not too shabby yourself, handsome."
"Heheh..." The stallion's stripes turned a little rosy. "Much oblidged, Doctor."
"Please..." She patted his hooves lightly. "Call me 'Belle.'"
A tear rolled down her face. She hunched over, clutching a pair of hooves over her quivering muzzle. After several dry heaves, she mewled into the misty air. "Pilate... my beloved..." She gritted her teeth hard. At last, she looked up, staring at the changeling through blurred vision.
The shapeshifter was standing up on wobbly hooves. Its turtle shell disappeared long enough for it to spread its dragon wings into the random gusts of wind. Suddenly, a pair of yellow forelimbs wrapped around its petite shell. The changeling gasped and struggled, falling back into Belle's embrace. "Guhhh! Don't... d-don't! Let me go!" It shrieked in and out of multiple voices, its eyes flickering with emerald flame. "I'm a monster!"
"No." Belle held on tight.
"Stop it! I'll only... only h-hurt—"
"I'm not going to leave you, Elma," Belle said, anchoring the creature in place. She nuzzled the back of its skull. "I'm going to get us out of here. Do you hear me?"
"But..."
"The two of us!"
"I'm nothing!" the thing shrieked, fighting to slither out of the mare's grasp. "They tr-tricked me! I'm not Elma Boreal—"
"Yes you are!"
"The mother from Alafreo is dead—!"
"All I know is that the friend I made on the Noble Jury... the soul who reached out to me and saved my beloved from death is right here in my hooves." Belle nuzzled her again, sniffling. "And she is real, and I am not about to abandon her when she needs me! I'm going to get you out of here, Elma. And you're going to live your own life... a life where you get to be who you want to be and enjoy what you deserve to enjoy."
"Don't..." The changeling wept, laying limp in the mare's embrace. "Please, don't..." With flashes of green energy, stripes appeared and disappeared across her body. "You have n-no idea. The love. It hurts. I'm so confused and all the love does is hurt."
"I know," Belle said. She sniffled and clenched her tear-stained jaw. "And I'm sorry. But I'm not going to let you die out here. I'm not going to let you give up." She turned the limp creature around and stared into its face. "We must never give up. Do you understand me?"
The creature stared at her, its eyes round and its shell rattling. "Do you?"
"I'm starting to..." Belle gave a bittersweet smile. "Thanks to you."
The shape-shifter blinked. Its body stayed the same, but its eyes formed soft reptilian slits.
Belle took a deep breath. "Can you walk?"
"I..." Elma gulped, trembling. "I c-can fly, but the rest of me feels... f-feels so weak... I... I c-can't even stay in one shape..."
"Then don't try," Bellesmith said. "And rest your wings." She heaved the shapeshifter onto her backside with a slight grunt. "Can you grab ahold?"
"Y-yes..."
"Good. Stick close to me." Belle picked up the shield and used it as a crutch as she carried the two of them towards a careening granite staircase, ascending to the next level. "One way or another, we're going to find our way to the rest of the Jurists."
"And th-then what?"
"Let me worry about that. I'm good at thinking on my hooves."
"Really...?"
Belle smirked devilishly into the wind and rain. "You haven't seen me when I'm stupid."
Pilate stared blankly into the chaotic depths of Stratopolis. His breaths grew longer, fuller. His nostrils flared and flared again. At last, he stood straight up, impervious to the pelting rain.
"This is nothing..." He trudged fearlessly forward, grunting in anger more than discomfort. "All of this is nothing!"
He marched with heavy hooves. As soon as he felt a break in the rain, he galloped forward a few steps, relishing in having discovered an interior portion of the floating temple he was on.
"We will find each other," he snarled, he roared. "Blindness be damned. I've fallen from greater heights and lived." He felt his way forward, finding a hallway that he swiftly navigated, shuffling across the fractured granite wall leaking with precipitous moisture. "The Noble Jury has no hope of finding me... because—by Spark—I'm going to find it first."
As Pilate shuffled bravely on, he was oblivious to the sheets of rain cascading outside... along with the dark shadow positioned against the waterfall, standing dead-still, watching him silently from afar.
With a jerk of his teeth, Prowse pulled the tarp off a complex rigging, in the center of which lay a complex mechanical prosthetic in the gradual stages of being contructed. "Feast your eyes, lassie. The latest and greatest from your Unky Prowsy." Nevertheless, the stallion sighed, leaning against a wall. "Ach, if only it was a mighty bit prettier for all my troubles..."
"I think it looks just fine," she said, trotting towards it with a soft smile. Firelight glittered off her goggles as she slid them higher over her blonde bangs, giving the apparatus a natural look-over. "And a pretty smexy accomplishment for a stallion with three hooves!"
"Yes, well, I could have gotten further with it." Prowse rolled his eyes and glared towards the bricklaid walls. "Only, I've been a wee bit distracted as of late."
"Jee, I wonder why."
"Between the Xonan chatter and Seclorum's incessant beehive mouth, I've been having to juggle my own noggin for fear of my brain running away if I just leave it still."
"You certainly landed yourself with a bunch of cookie creeps!"
"Eh, they're not all bad, lass," Prowse said. "Aatxe has a heart of gold, the poor sod. And the Queen of them tattooed noseblowers is a sight for sore eyes. Still, as long as I lay in this damnable prison, the only pony I could think of was you."
"Awwwwwwwww..." Props cooed, then smiled. "For what it's worth, I'm glad that I've gotten two chances to be with you again, even if one of them turned out to be a total fluke that put the entirety of my team in jeopardy."
"Erm... yeah..." Prowse winced. "I'm so sorry for that, lil' darlin'. If I had known that things would end up like this, I'd have jumped over the bloomin' side of Gray Smoke."
"Uhm..." Props' ears drooped as she sighed into the shadows. "Please, don't put it that way, Unky Prowsy." She gulped. "I've had all I can take of ponies close to me jumping to their deaths."
Prowse bit his lip.
Props gazed at the half-finished prosthetic again. "What's with the hollow manachamber?"
"I ran out of manacrystal actuators to complete the working model," he said. "I had hoped we'd stumble upon some derelict ships with working shards for me to fill in the grooves between pneumatic stabilizers—"
"Hee-hee-hee! Are you silly?" Props stuck her tongue out. "You've got enough crystals in here to make it work! All you gotta do is form a Ledomaritan Helix pattern!"
"Ledomaritan... what?!"
"Something I learned while I was cooped up in this boring place called 'Nightshade Industries!'" Props grinned from ear to ear as she fished her hooves into the stallion's prosthetic and began fumbling around with the inner pieces. "This super smart duderooni named Jasper Clark taught me all about them! We designed a killer augment to a skystone ship, and I was lucky enough to find that very same aircraft and fly it around!"
"Well, look at you..." Prowse smiled. "Gettin' smarter by the hour, lil' lassie, I swear. You're just like your Mum."
Props bit her lip, blushing slightly. "Yeah, well, Mom was the Sootiest of the Sooters. I can't get her grit out of my blood, or her hugs out of my skin."
"She'd be proud of how well you've managed for yourself," Prowse said with a smirk. "Spark knows I am."
Props sniffled, then cleared her throat. With a determined smirk, the mare said, "Don't be proud of me yet, Silly Unky! With a bit of tweaking, I'll get this fourth leg of yours working in no time!"
"I'm much oblidged, lassie."
"And then we'll get you and your friends out of here so you can live your life, start dating again, and work on your fifth leg."
"Hah!" Prowse cackled towards the ceiling and gave his niece a swat on the shoulder. "Now there's the Propsicle I know! Go for the gold, ya grease monkey!"
"Heehee! I'll go with the grease—but not so much the poop flinging!"
"Goddess, I've missed ya."
"Heh..." Props grinned and licked her lips in the firelight while she sweated over the metal limb. "I've missed me too."
"Hello again, old friend," Seclorum muttered from where he sat in a corner of the hold, piecing together and reparing a worn-in crossbow. "Come to nibble a bit more on my neck after biting my head off?"
"I'm a bit full at the moment," Josho said as he shuffled up. "Things have been rather crazy, and—as odd as it may seem—we appear to be having a lull at the moment."
"So...?"
"Well, slit my throat for trying, but I figured you and I could catch up a bit."
"What's to catch up to?" Seclorum remarked. "You're screwed. I'm screwed. Nopony is happy. We all want to get out of here." He grunted. "Feels like just any other moment of the same ol' war."
"Only that war is over, buddy," Josho said.
"Heh. Maybe outside, it is," Seclorum uttered with a bitter smirk. "But in here? The battle wages on. So long as my identity is not mine, I don't see how I can afford to rest. Hell, I don't deserve rest."
"Secchy, war is all you and I have ever known," Josho said with eyes squinting. "I'd say it's what dayum well defined our friendship. But it doesn't have to be that way forever. We can move on. Hell, you can move on."
"I don't see what the point is."
"There's gotta be a tomorrow after all this crap," Josho said. "The world you go back to isn't going to be the same as when it was when you were captured and whisked away to this place. Xona's sheathed their swords and Ledomare's pulled back from the front."
"Heh..." Seclorum spat into the shadows. "Friggin' crazy."
"What's so wild about that idea?" Josho squinted. "You've settled in rather nicely with the tattooed ponies here. Surely a part of you can perceive doing it in the long run."
"Just because I can get along with one measly queen and her closest goons doesn't mean I can forgive the whole lot of them for all of the merciless things that they've done."
"Need I remind you that you and I have done some pretty nasty stuff ourselves?" Josho gritted his teeth. "Secchy, you're a tough stallion... but it takes an even tougher one to learn to let it go."
"What?" Seclorum narrowed his eyes on the obese pony. "Like you did?"
"I'm dry, Secchy."
"Hah! I'm willing to bet! As fat as you've become, I doubt you've gotten your horn wet in years—if you catch my drift."
"I mean I've kicked the bottle," Josho said. "For good."
Seclorum's eyes fell on him for a few seconds. "Yeesh, Josho, you shoulda just killed yourself."
"I sorta have, in a way..." Josho wandered over and had a squat beside his old friend, sighing. "Getting caught up with that damn pegasus and all of her colorful friends, I started to see who I was and what I was doing in a really nasty light. Ain't nothing pretty about what we were doing, Secchy—not the missions we ran, the tasks we were given, the uppity mare in a diamond girdle whom we all worked for..."
"Criminy!" Seclorum chuckled, loading a crossbolt into his weapon and cocking it. "Almost sounds like you discovered you had a bastard son and turned a new leaf!"
"Not too far from the truth, in a manner of speaking."
Seclorum blinked, then turned to gaze dully at him. "Not all of us can afford to go soft, old friend. But, for what it's worth, I'm glad for you."
"I'd like to be glad for you too, Secchy," Josho said quietly, his eyes warm. "It's a new world waiting for you out there. It'd be a damn shame to buck it up as soon as you're out of this place."
"Hmmm... have you taken a good look around you?" Seclorum leaned forward with a glare. "Have you seen the nastiness that fills this place? The conniving ways of the broodlings that stalk us?" He slowly shook his head. "Oh no, old friend, everything is and shall always be 'old world.' And if you think having limped through this hellhole day in and day out is gonna make me 'soft,' well you've got another thing coming." He stood up, wincing from his aching old bones.
Josho frowned up at him. "Just because hating is easy, old friend, doesn't make it courageous."
Seclorum shuffled to a stop, then swiveled towards him. "It's not about courage. It's about strength. You and I both know the world doesn't have the balance to stand on anything else for too long." He marched off.
As the stallion left the obese pony's sight, Josho could see several cloaked figures standing in a solid line at a distance, with at least half of them staring his way.
Josho leaned back, blinking.
Razzar was still. Then, in eerie silence, he pivoted his mask and turned to face his comrades. The edges of his hood glowed as he presumably discussed the present situation with them. The six figures stood in close proximity to the hold's brightest torches.
Josho rubbed his chin, his nostrils flaring as he stared and contemplated.
"Hey..."
Aatxe turned around and did a double-take.
Rainbow Dash shuffled towards him. "Do you have some water?"
"Look, does it matter?" Rainbow frowned, motioning with her hoof. "I just need—like—a small jar's worth."
"I can manage something like that." Aatxe shuffled over towards a series of metal barrels positioned against the wall. He grabbed one of several tin cups and uncapped a spicket, pouring a liberal volume of water into the container. "Here..." He passed the cup to her. "If you're about to drink it yourself, be warned. It's gonna have a weird, metallic taste. Lots of newcomers are worried after their first sip. Now, if you're going to give it to the shape-shifter..."
"Lemme worry about that," Rainbow muttered, turning around with a frown. "Ponies like you and Seclorum have done enough.
"Wait!" Aatxe stretched a hoof out.
The pegasus jolted to a stop, turning to look dully at him.
Aatxe bit his lip. After clearing his throat, the stallion avoided her gaze and said, "I think your show of compassion is a good thing. I'd like to help in anyway I can, I just don't... don't..."
"What?" Rainbow glared. "Don't believe in doing things the peaceful, harmonic way?"
The stallion sighed. "No." He gulped. "But I'd like to... again..."
Rainbow Dash blinked at him.
"Where—if you don't mind me asking—exactly do you come from?"
"It's..." Rainbow fidgeted slightly. "It's a land called Equestria."
"Equestria..."
"If you used to fly your airship around these parts, I doubt you heard of it," Rainbow said. "All the ponies around here ever seem to want to do is wage war and kill each other."
Aatxe shook his head with a weak smile. "Not me. I did the bulk of my work along the frozen coasts of Alafreo and the Southern Straits. Ponies are in small number along the shoreline, so my crew and I resorted exlusively to being traders. As soon as the locals saw us, they knew we only wanted to do one thing: barter and trade. We... we made lots of merchants happy to see us, because we only ever brought profit in our wake. It was... it was a really warm feeling, to know that we were making things better for the landscape, week after week." He gulped and glanced into the shadows. "Something I dwell on a lot these days..."
Rainbow Dash slowly nodded. She gave a prolonged exhale, loosening the tension in her angry muscles. "It was wrong of me to snap at you, and I apologize. But still..." She glared once more. "I can't excuse what's been allowed to happen to that battered creature in the other room."
"I'm not proud of it myself," Aatxe said. "I'm not proud of a lot of things. But we had to do what we did in order to survive."
"And when the day comes that you finally make it out of here..." Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "Will you be ready and willing to live with yourself?"
Aatxe shook his head. "No."
Rainbow twitched at that.
With a sigh, Aatxe spoke. "Miss Rainbow Dash, I... I-I've been here for seventeen years. As much as I want to relish in the hope that somepony like you brings to this place, I... I-I feel that I just can't." He winced slightly. "This place is my prison. And yet... it's also something of a home now." He looked up. "I want to get back to the Tarkington and power it up—so that, if nothing else, these poor mares and stallions stuck here with me can finally find freedom and peace. But me?" He slowly shook his head. "I don't know what life the future could hold for me. I'm almost scared to find out."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Take it from a pony who's been lucky enough to do the exact opposite of you. It's totally worth it to be constantly flying again. That's a home in and of itself—an awesome home."
Aatxe sighed. "I wish I could believe you. But it doesn't matter."
"Dude, come on—"
"I am glad for one thing," he said with a weak smile. "Now that I've met you, I know that I'm not alone."
She blinked at him. "What do you mean?"
"In the last few years, everytime I've looked at my reflection, I've seen a ghost of my past self, somepony who's died slowly day by day for having been forced to do things that he's never wanted to do." He gazed at her. "I see your face... and I see the same pony, and yet you've managed to remain heroic and thoughtful in spite of that? How... j-just how does that work?"
Rainbow blinked. She jerked slightly, hearing and feeling the rattle of her loyalty pendant. A slight grumble, and she said, "Tell you what, I'll show you."
Aatxe blinked. "Show me?"
"But first thing's first." Rainbow spun, clutched the cup of water in her hooves, and flew back towards the furthest niche of the hold. "I gotta have a talk with somepony..."
Rainbow Dash fluttered into the tight alcove, carrying the can of water.
The fettered changeling immediately jerked away, its fanged mouth warped into a sharp grimace.
"Shhhh..." Rainbow Dash murmured. She stopped flapping her wings, touching down softly on three hooves. "It's okay." She shuffled forward, sliding the cup of water towards the creature. "Here. I brought you some water."
"It'll just..." The changeling squeaked, its dragonfly wings twitching. "Just bleed out... j-just bleed out of me... forgive me, Mother. I d-deserve it... I deserve it all..."
"Hey." Rainbow Dash knelt down low, catching the creature's gaze. "Look at me." Her eyes narrowed. "Nopony deserves the kind of stuff that's happened to you. Do you understand me? Nopony."
The creature's shell rattled as it tilted its head up. "Do you really b-believe that?"
Rainbow smiled slightly. "Yes."
A hissing sound. The changeling grew chin hair while an antler and a horn protruded momentarily from its skull. "Liar." It immediately winced, drawing further back into the corner with a whimper.
Rainbow's smile faded. She glanced at the floor, clearing her throat. Nevertheless, she scooted forward and squatted right in front of the trembling specimen. Behind her, Aatxe shuffled around the corner, watching nervously from a distance.
"I was hoping that you might be able to help me," Rainbow Dash said. "You see, my best friends and I have been dragged here... into this trap. Some of us..." She winced, her voice wavering as she stammered, "Haven't been so lucky." She gulped hard. "The others—well—I don't know for sure whether they're alive or dying. But... I'm here, and I'm with you. And if there's anything you know that you can tell me... that can shed some light on what the changelings want with Stratopolis, then it would help me a great deal to know."
"Hit... it hits it..." the changeling whimpers as it took on Arcshod's facial tattoos. "It responds to the pain. It feeds off it. Dreit. Delivery more unto it..."
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "No. Not today. I've no pain to give you."
"None?" The changeling twisted hits head up at an angle. Red dragon scales flickered across its cheek while two rows of teeth formed in its mouth. "None whatsoever?"
Rainbow squinted at the creature. "How... do you do that?"
"It hits it..." The creature whimpered as its body fluctuated all over with a dozen different Xonan markings. "Hrakkan semnul drenna drensen zeminulien trennte!" It gasped sharply, raising its head up with regal unicorn eyes. "Blessed children of Xon know only how to curse." Seclorum's gray mane flickered across its scalp. "Spark's fire is everlasting."
"I don't bring fire and I don't bring curses." Rainbow slid the cup of water forward. "But I would still like to know more."
"You have all that you could want to know..." The creature fell over on its side, kicking its legs like a canine in labor. "Hrkkkk... bleed me. You know you want to."
"No. I don't."
A pair of fiery green eyes narrowed at her. "Why not?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Because I know what it's like to be a monster, chained up against her will."
Aatxe raised his eyebrow at that.
The changeling hissed long and hard, its face evolving into Aatxe's. "Somepony doubtsssssss youuuuuu..."
Rainbow smirked straight at the creature. "I didn't ask him, now did I?"
The changeling reverted back to its insectoid self, shivering awkwardly. It glanced back at Aatxe, then at Rainbow again. With a jerk of its forelimbs, it dragged the metal cup suddenly toward itself. Water sloshed out, but that was of no consequence. The thing lapped thirstily at the contents of the container, making tiny gurgling noises.
Rainbow Dash waited patiently. She fidgeted a bit until she was squating on folded limbs. Finally, she spoke, "Better?"
The changeling said nothing. It froze in place, hiding its face behind the emptied container.
Rainbow Dash's lips curved. "Bet it's been a long time since you ever felt the urge to say 'thank you.'"
"I will be cracked in half..." It batted the container away and curled up against the wall, turning its face away from Rainbow. "Mmmmfff... my insides sucked clean. The pulp will go back to Mother. Nnnghhhmfff.... supplement the hatchlings..."
"But why?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning forward. "Why do you expect to be punished?"
"So sorry... so sorry, Mother..."
"Is it because you were captured?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Is she mean to the drones that get caught?"
"No..." It quivered, stifling a sob. "The flame burns both ways. They know. And we know. All is knowledge, and all is complete. Mother feeds and nourishes the young."
"The Hive Mind..." Aatxe stammered, his jaw agape. "Seclorum figured it was too injured to communicate back with its kind. But... but if—"
"Shhh!" Rainbow Dash insisted. She furrowed her brow and slid forward. "Did... your Mother want you to be captured?"
The creature's wings twitched. It shivered and hugged itself with porous hooves.
Rainbow Dash spoke. "What kind of a loving Mother would do that to her child?"
"No..." The thing hissed. "Not loving. The ultimate cruelty would be to starve us."
"I... I don't understand," Rainbow Dash said.
"Love is weak," the changeling spat, its shoulders shaking. "It is a refuge of the days before the Migration. The plains are ripe with chaos, both light and dark. Only a fool would feed on love."
"Then... it is pain that you seek?" Rainbow asked. "Pain? Strife? Bad stuff?"
"Do not tempt m-me..."
"Well, what is it?"
"I said..." The creature spun, brandishing Collins' face, amber eyes flaring. "Do not tempt me!"
Rainbow Dash instantly doubled-back, wincing.
"You've prevented nothing!" Collins' face was replaced with Sam Rose's. "Saved nothing!" The creature jerked, gargled, then breathed out long and hard. Its features turned to a wrinkled coat. "Tell me, young filly," Cold Canter wheezed, looking sad and dazed. "Are you happy... are you fulfilled on your lonesome?"
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "You think all I am is pain and regret?"
"Snkkkkt...!" The changeling rolled upside down, laughing hysterically with Bellesmith's voice. "Shouldddddd a monster know anything else?!"
"You shouldn't have to fear your Mother punishing you." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Because she did. By giving birth to you."
"What's the matterrrrrr, Rainbow Crash?!" A stallion snarled before flashing a dark spectral mane and midnight eyes. "Doth thy temper betray thee? The worst kind of nightmare is the one thou liveth."
"And just who's keeping score, huh?" Suddenly, Rainbow flung her hoof forward and gripped the changeling's forelimb.
The creature instantly gasped, its green eyes billowing flame as it shivered from the grasp.
"Miss Dash!" Aatxe seethed, rushining forward to grab her shoulders. "What are you thinking?! Don't—!"
Rainbow spread her wings, knocking him back. "What's the matter?" she spoke firmly, keeping her eyes locked on the changeling. "Lost your spine? Do you bug ponies even have spines?"
"Please... don't..." The creature tugged and struggled to yank its hoof out of Rainbow's grip. "No... sh-she'll punish... punish..." It choked on a sob and clenched its eyes shut. "She hates... hates..."
"You know what I think Chrysalis does?" Rainbow Dash grinned. "She lies to you. There's something stronger. Something more potent than hate. She only hides it from you as a means of controlling her brood, making them think that hate is all that's worth foraging. And you know why?" Rainbow leaned forward. "Because she's a coward. Looking for love in the world? It's a lot harder. But it's also a lot cooler. And—believe me—you can't have pain without it. A life with nothing but agony on your palette is lame. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Please..." The changeling whimpered, crouching low and burying its face against the hard brick floor. "It's too strong. She will see... she will know."
"How can she?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Something tells me she hasn't had a good taste in years. Especially if her kids haven't."
The changeling shivered, continuing to hide its face.
Aatxe looked on nervously, his lips pursed.
"So..." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, clutching the changeling's limb with a second hoof, kneading the rigid exoskeleton gently. "You hungry or what? Cuz this is all I'm going to give you."
The changeling trembled... trembled... then relaxed. Its body went limp. With a strong breath, it folded its dragon wings together. The gossamer material turned to gold, forming thick blonde fibers with a red hair-tie. By the time the orange coat had spread throughout its figure, Rainbow was already struggling to hold her ground.
Applejack looked up, her eyes teary as she murmured with a dazed expression. "It's a might bit warmer than I expected..."
Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw tight, struggling to maintain eye contact.
Applejack sniffled, rubbing her freckles with her other forelimb. Chains rattled as she sat up straight, squirming slightly. Her green eyes blinked, turning brighter and brighter—along with the sheen that made up her gorgeous coat. "Land's sake... I-I feel like I just gorged myself on a kitchen full of Granny's apple pies..."
"Yeah..." Rainbow's voice cracked. She cleared her throat and struggled to say, "You and me both..."
Applejack blinked curiously at Aatxe, glanced across the surroundings, then finally narrowed her eyes on Rainbow. "Sugarcube?" She gulped. "Reckon there was somethin' you were fixin' to ask me?"
Rainbow took a deep breath, then uttered, "Where is Chrysalis?"
Pilate struggled his way up a flight of crooked stairs. He leaned to his left, constantly grazing a slanted wall of slick granite. He gnashed his teeth with each step. A thin sheet of water trickled down the stairs, making every hooftrot more perilous and awkward than the last.
At last, slipping only once or twice, he ascended to the upper level of the temple platform. He pulled himself forward, gripping onto shards of battered granite in the process. There was a break in the ceiling, and Pilate emerged upon a solid sheet of drowning rain.
Sputtering, he nevertheless pressed on, squatting low as he threw his shoulder into the gale force winds. As he proceeded on his own, the air around him billowed with tempestuous waves of moisture and precipitation. It wasn't until about halfway through his trek across the upper platform's floor that something happened. A shadow streaked past the zebra, leaving errant splashes seattling thrugh the collective puddles around him.
Pilate shuffled to a stop. He stood up straight, holding his breath in the pelting rain. His head cocked to the side while his ears flicked against the moisture.
He heard nothing beyond the constant roar and hiss of the monsoon.
Clenching his jaw tight, the blind stallion nervously inched forward, keeping his shuffling steps deliberately slow. When he continued to hear nothing, he accelerated his movement, stumbling towards a break in the rain where he heard less drops falling—a sign of ceiling cover.
Unbeknownst to him, a shadow darted past yet again, inching closer and closer with each pass.
Bellesmith winced. While the changeling's tiny figure shivered on her backside, the mare crawled up until she was even with a shattered pillar and peered directly over the edge of the platform that she was on.
The temple had revolved around the central structure twice, during which its whole body had twirled around. At this point, the outer edge—including the precipice upon which she perched—was jutting at its furthest reach from the center. She guessed that she was three temples' length from the edge of the circular building where she and Eagle Eye first fell, not to mention where she last saw Rainbow Dash and Pilate disembark.
The gap was too impossible to jump. Even if she had a running start, Belle would barely make it one one-hundredth of the way before plunging into the my murderous winds.
However, some things were less impossible than others. As Bell glanced to her left, she saw a smaller temple gliding past her on a perpendicular course. It didn't take long to realize that jumping onto that would give her a much closer pedestal to her destination. However, the platform was dramatically smaller than the temple she was on, and it was gliding by at an alarming rate. Belle felt her heart beating rapidly even as she contemplated what had to be done next.
"Elma, I'm going to need you to hold on, darling," Belle said. She was already trotting backwards, kneading her hooves tighter against the platform's slick surface. "I mean it. Grip tight. This isn't exactly going to be fun."
"Nnnngh... don't... d-don't..." The changeling whimpered, clinging to her back. "You'll... w-we'll never make it..."
"Jee, thanks for the vote of confidence..." Belle took a deep breath, then an even deeper one. "Spark help me, I love you, Pilate." Then, with gnashing teeth, she galloped ahead at full force. The platform's edge disappeared beneath her. Breathlessly, she propelled herself into the howling winds.
The wet, wet world became weightless. Belle plummeted towards gray nothingness. She clenched her breath and had faith. There was a reason why she jumped earlier than expected.
Sure enough, the winds blew her towards the left. By the time she fell towards the temple's level, it had magically drifted into the right spot to catch her... although it didn't do so smoothely.
"Ooomf!" Belle landed and instanstly pratfalled, collapsing onto her side. The momentum of her leapt sent her sliding like a torpedo across the slick rock surface. Halfway through the careerning glide, she opened her aching eyes.
A gasp escaped her lips; she had lost a great deal of weight. Or rather...
"Elma!" Sputtering, Belle stood up and looked behind her.
The frail changeling had slipped off upon impact and was rolling like a loose paper bag towards the flying temple's edge.
"Hold on!" Bellesmith hollered, immediately sprinting towards the helpless creature. Puddles splashed and thunder rolled. She plunged forward, sliding on her belly and clasping the shapeshifter's body with two strong forelimbs at the very last second.
With a gasp, the changeling dangled from her grasp, her legs and wings flailing in the temple breeze. Not long after, she was hoisted into Belle's embrace. The two fell over across the surface of the platform with Belle protectively wrapping her legs around her. Following a dreadful shiver, the changeling buried its face into Belle's chest and sobbed.
"It's okay..." Belle murmured, caressing the changeling's neck and shoulder. "I got you, Elma. We're okay. A little shaken up... but we're okay..."
"No..." The changeling quivered in her grasp, its exoskeleton flickering to reptilians scales and then reverting back to black. "It's not okay. Stop calling me that... st-stop calling me that which I'm not..."
"You mustn't give up hope, Elma," Belle said with a slight frown. "I know you're in a bad place, but I'm going to help you live so that you can find yourself a good place."
"Why...?" The changeling tilted her head up. A peach coat lingered under dark tattoos. Green bangs framed a sad face with green eyes as the filly whimpered, "Why do you love me?"
Belle's muzzle fell open. She sniffled as a tear rolled down her cheek along with the rainwater. "Why wouldn't I?" She caressed Kera's cheek. "Elma, you don't have to do this. Please... just try to relax—"
"How can I not relax when I'm around you, beloved?" Kera's voice deepened as her eyes went clear and the tattoos morphed into black and white stripes. Pilate leaned forward, stifling a sob as he nuzzled Belle close. "Please, just stay with me. I forgive you, my love. I forgive you for everything. Let's never be apart again..."
Belle panted and panted. She clenched her eyes shut, hissing through grinding teeth as she felt the stallion's loving touch. "Elma, don't..." She squeaked, fighting the urge to hyperventilate. "Elma... st-stop it... you're..." She felt her body go numb while a fire burned in her chest. "You're robbing me... d-devouring my strength...!"
The blind zebra blinked. Tossing its head aside in a plume of green fire, the changeling reverted back to its insectoid self. The wings on its back buzzed strongly while it nevertheless reeled from the shattered contact.
Belle caught her breath, sitting up again as she rubbed her aching head.
The changeling shuffled backwards, wincing. "I'm a monster, Belle. Just leave me be. I don't know what's happening... but your heart... your feelings are so delicious." It gulped with a clatter of its shell. "At this rate... I-I'm going to reduce us to nothing..."
"No..." Belle gripped its hoof, pulling it back towards her as it kept the creature anchored in place. "We can do this. We need each other, Elma."
"Just stop it..." The monster whimpered. "Stop calling me—"
"It's the you I remember. And until we're somewhere safe, that's what I'm choosing to call you." Belle frowned, wiping her tears clean as she forced the changeling to look back at her. "As far as I'm concerned, you're worth a thousand of the real Elmas. So stop whining and help me get us to where we need to go. I can't do all of this on my own."
The changeling winced.
"Are you feeling... stronger now?"
It looked at its porous black hooves, trailing with green smoke. "Y-yes, actually..."
"Good. Then maybe you can walk with me. We'll move faster without one of us having to carry other."
"Belle, just why..." The changeling sighed. "Why are you doing this? Why go so far for a monst—..." It clenched its fanged mouth shut. "Why do all this for me?"
"Because I have to know, Elma."
"Know what?"
"That you can make it back from the brink." Belle sniffled. She glanced back and gave the creature a bittersweet smile. "Because then it means that maybe I can too..."
Pilate shuffled under the protective cover of an overhang. Once free from the rainfall, his watersoaked body shivered. He limped forward until he brushed into a chunk of loose debris.
"Unngh!" He caught himself before he could completely collapse. He felt around, hearing the rattle of loose chunks of granite. With a sigh, he pivoted to his sigh, shuffling forward, feeling for a clear path towards the furthest end of the enclosure.
About a full minute into his movement, he came to a stop. He froze in place, barely daring to breathe. In a flash, he swiveled around, facing the rainy world from which he came.
Pilate's lips pursed, his head craned to the side while his ears tilted forward and then from side to side. His breaths came in tiny shallow bursts as he endeavored to make sense out of the distorted sound of falling rain drops.
Dead ahead of the zebra, blocking the gray light of Stratopolis, a cloaked figure stood, its hood and sleeves laced with a dull amber glow. It stood just as still as Pilate, shadowing the stallion.
Pilate listened and listened. He gulped, his teeth clenching tighter. Slowly, he pivoted back towards the corner of the enclosure, moving his limbs to drift ahead.
The Lounge member crouched low, coiling its muscles. The glow intensified as it prepared to spring forward.
Without warning, Pilate threw his head down, clamped his teeth onto a chunk of granite, and spun back around—wielding the small boulder like a club.
Smash! It met the charging figure's silver mask with a loud clank! The Lounge member reeled back momentarily.
Panting for breath, Pilate galloped forward. He slammed into a wall, cursed under his breath, then shuffled along the barrier, following the sound of rain water. There was a roll of thunder, masking the Lounge member's footsteps so that it sprang upon the stallion from seemingly nowhere. Pilate felt arms surrounding his chest from behind, wrestling him hard to the floor with a murderous suplex.
"Ooof!" Pilate wheezed, rolling onto his backside. "Hnnnngh!" He bucked hard, knocking the knee out from the creature. But with blazing speed the thing slipped around Pilate's weight in the splashing water, wrestling the stallion hard to the ground and pressing its elbows into his back. "Gaaaugh! Hmmmphghh... g-get off—"
Pilate was answered with a metal rod shoved into the back of his neck. Electrical currents surged through the zebra's body.
With a violent spasm, Pilate gasped. His blind eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell limply to the wet floor with a dull thud. And then he felt nothing.
"Our Mother..." The face of Applejack quivered under lanternlight. The changeling shifted back in her chains, curling away from Rainbow Dash. "...she is everywhere. She is in all of us..."
"Who, Chrysalis?" Rainbow leaned forward with an inquisitive gaze. "Or Tchern?"
"No..." Applejack shook her head. "Not the Night Mother. She waits on the dark side for her beloved sister to return." She gulped. "And return with strength and glory."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "So it is Chrysalis who I met." She rubbed her fuzzy chin, then twitched. "Wait... wait. 'Return with strength and glory?' You mean Chrysalis is trying to return to the other side of the plane?"
"She can't yet... we can't yet," Applejack buried her freckles into her forelimbs. "There ain't enough power. There ain't enough misery..."
"For what?"
"It's all too much, sugarcube..."
"Hey..." Rainbow reached forward and gently grasped the pair of orange hooves before her. "Look at me." She held her ground as the moist green eyes looked her way. "It's okay to tell me. What is Chrysalis making her brood devour misery for?"
Applejack sniffled. "We must be strong. We must have a heapin' helpin' of might if we're to help the Night Mother win the War."
Rainbow's lips pursed. "What War?"
The changeling's black exoskeleton showed for a moment, then waxed back to fuzzy orange. "Why, the Trinary War, sugarcube."
Rainbow Dash could only blink at that. She turned to look back at Aatxe, but the stallion could only shrug.
"Mother's been feedin' and feedin'..." Applejack shuddered into the lamplight. "Xona was mighty easy for us to get our vittles. But now it's time to fall back..."
"Fall back to where?"
"We would have gone west, but Mother changed her mind. There was nothin' left for her brood to feed on there."
"West...?" Aatxe murmured. "West, where?"
Rainbow raised her hoof to silence him. She craned her neck the changeling's way. "Why was going west no longer an option?"
"There was no point in exploitin' the peace," Applejack stammered. "Chaos consumed harmony all on its lonesome. Mother sensed it, and her children out in the field witnessed it first hoof. It was a famished land, no longer worth the trouble. But..."
Rainbow gulped. "But what..."
The mare looked up with teary eyes. "Mother sensed that Chaos was comin' her way. If she just had us wait where we were, then the final ingredient would saddle up to the table in Xona." She choked back on a sob. "We got all that we needed, sugarcube. Death... pain... misery. It all worked out as Mother intended it."
Rainbow Dash was silent. She stood up and paced between the bricklaid walls, staring down at her hooves.
Aatxe stared at her worriedly.
"Don't be mad, darlin'..." Applejack smiled painfully, rolling over to her side and rattling the chains. "Mother knows all. She chained the mighty Divine of Magic. She carved a continent in two. All falls into place with her plan, for she is beautiful and godlike."
"But not very merciful..." Rainbow muttered to the wall.
Applejack shivered. "Why... sh-should she be? She is a powerful and wise Mother..."
"And she cares for her children because she feeds you guys, right?"
The changeling shook its head.
"Tell me..." Rainbow Dash slid down onto her hooves and grasped the changeling's forelimbs. "Look at me and t-tell me..." She gulped and reached forward with a trembling hoof, ultimately caressing Applejack's cheek. Her voice cracked, "Have you ever been fed like th-this?"
Applejack gazed up into Rainbow's eyes with a trembling muzzle. Slowly, her orange coat turned darker, and her long blonde mane was replaced with a violet swath of hair. "No..." Scootaloo whimpered, shaking her head. "No... never..." Tears fell from her violet eyes in little green bursts. "It's too much... f-far too much..."
Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw tight. "What kind of a Mother would rob her child of this?"
The changeling was at a loss for words. Scootaloo's legs curled to her chest and she collapsed with bitter sobs. Rainbow reached forward and held the petite thing close, weathering its sobs as it surrendered to her embrace.
With a cold exhale, Rainbow gazed into the torchlight beyond. "I don't know about you, kiddo, but I'm starting to realize why it is that Tchern—the Night Mother—kicked out her sister." She turned and glanced back at Aatxe's nervous figure. She patted Scootaloo's back. "One of the former alicorns had its priorties right, and the other didn't."
"B-But she wants to end the Trinary War!" Scootaloo's muffled voice whimpered. "She has to! She loves the Night Mother!"
"Then tell me..." Rainbow Dash held Scootaloo back, staring at her tear-stained face. "Why doesn't she love you?"
Scootaloo bit her lip, gazing nervously at the floor.
"Look at me." Rainbow Dash tilted her head up. "You said that Chrysalis has now pulled back. She couldn't go west. So... where did she go?"
Scootaloo sniffled, then glanced down at her curled forelimbs. "Val Roa."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Val Roa...?" A blink, and she turned back at Aatxe.
He was already clearing his throat. "It's... a... It's a kingdom far east of here," he said. "Dead center of one of the Shattered Continents."
"You've been there?" Rainbow asked.
"No." Aatxe shook his head. "But anyone who's done trading as far west as Alafreo has heard about it."
"Lemme guess..." Rainbow Dash's ears folded atop a lethargic expression. "They're ravaged daily by war as well..."
Aatxe's face contorted with a grimace. "Heck no! At least..." He fidgeted. "It wasn't around seventeen years ago when I was still flying! The place is the last bastion of civilization before the Grand Choke, after all. It'd be a shame for them to get involved in a petty conflict!"
"The Grand Choke..." Rainbow Dash murmured.
"But... but if this 'Chrysalis' character weaseled her way inside..."
Rainbow Dash turned towards Scootaloo. "Do you know what your Mother is doing in Val Roa?"
Scootaloo bit her lip and shook her head.
Rainbow's nostrils flared. "She impersonated Princess Lasairfion in Xona. Is she going to do the same in this eastern kingdom?" Her eyes narrowed. "To wreak havoc and chaos?"
"There is much... much misery left to feed on," Scootaloo said. "All th-that's needed is to bring the prison there to contain the vessels."
"The prison?"
"Rainbow Dash..."
The pegasus glanced back at Aatxe.
"This place," he said softly. "Chrysalis needs this place."
"Yeah, no kidding." Rainbow frowned. "But how can she expect to move Stratopolis? It's not like she's related to any of the ancient pegasi who—" Her ruby eyes widened. A pale sweat formed along her brow. She turned towards Scootaloo. "Your Mother wanted me to be here for a reason, didn't she?"
Scootaloo squeaked, "Chaos is the quickest way for Mother to feed us..."
"Look at me..." Rainbow Dash caressed the filly's mane and leaned forward. "Do I really... really strike you as an agent of chaos?"
Scootaloo blinked. A tear rolled down her cheek, and she smiled. Sniffling, she leaned in, nuzzled Rainbow Dash's chest, and looked up. She smiled again.
"Blast it..." Bellesmith hissed between her teeth.
"What?!" Elma stammered, halfway between two different equine forms. A pair of bright green eyes winced under pelting raindrops. "What is it?"
"This gap is too large," the mare replied, staring across the space between their rotating temple and the circular structure in the center. "All it takes is one leap... but I'm afraid it's a leap I can't make."
"Maybe..." Elma gulped, its fangs showing with a nervous wince. "Maybe if we wait long enough, this platform will bring us past another structure that's closer to our goal."
"Or it could smash us into another careening temple altogether." At the sound of thunder, Belle stared up towards the swirling summit of Stratopolis. "This place is so chaotic as it is. I'm afraid of waiting for too long."
"But you said it yourself," Elma stammered. "It's not a space that you can jump."
Belle blinked. "Not me, no..."
"Bellesmith...?"
With a grunt, Belle lowered her body. Elma slinked off of her, leaning back on its haunches. She jerked in surprise when it felt the mare holding its hooves delicately.
"Elma... I've asked you to put faith in me. Now I think it's time I put some faith in you."
"Huh...?" The changeling gulped. It glanced at the looming structure, then at the tempestuous winds between them and their goal. "Oh, Bellesmith, no!"
"Every second we waste is another second closer to death. If we want to see our friends again—if we want to make it out of here safely, then we have to move and move now."
"But I-I can't!" Elma quivered, her shell rattling as she stared fearfully at the gap. "I can barely hold myself up!"
"Yes, you can, Elma," Belle said. She smiled hopefully. "You single-hoofedly carried my beloved to safety, did you not?"
"Y-Yes! Of course! But..."
"But what?"
"That was d-different!"
"How so?"
Elma winced, avoiding Belle's gaze.
"In what way, Elma?"
"I just..." Elma whimpered. "I-I just don't want to give anyone more reasons to h-hate me anymore..."
"Look at me."
"Somewhere, someplace, Miss Boreal's family is waiting for a turtle who will never come home and—"
"Elma..." Belle tilted the creature's chin up. Their eyes met. With a soft smile, Belle said, "Does this feel like hate?"
The wings on Elma's backside twitched. It exhaled shudderingly. "No..."
"You are as strong as you need to be," Belle said. "Even stronger. I wouldn't believe in you if that wasn't the case."
Elma gulped. Half of the changeling's face developed stripes while the other side formed tattoos. "You r-really... haven't given up on me?"
"No, Elma." Belle gently shook her head. "Neither have I given up on them."
Elma nevertheless twitched. "How... h-how could somepony be so loyal?"
"I'll give you one guess," Belle said.
Elma's shivers stopped. The changeling blinked, and immediately its shell morphed to a fuzzy blue coat. Sniffling, Rainbow Dash frowned, sprouting muscular wings in a burst of green flame. "Pffft. This is foal's play."
The pegasus stood up straight and grasped Bellesmith's shoulders. Her wings spread as she faced the inner structure on their platform's tightest turn.
"That's more like it, Elma!" Belle said in earnest. "Just a hop, skip, and a jump—"
"Please." Rainbow smirked devilishly as she began flapping her feathers. "As if I'm not that amazing."
Belle stifled a giggle. "Not quite the right word, but it's close enough."
"Mmmfnngh!" Eagle Eye threw himself onto a craggy platform's edge. Wincing, he pulled with every inch of his forward muscles, rolling himself slowly onto even ground. He slumped on his back, panting.
Lighting flashed, illuminating the puddles around him in a bright strobe of heated energy. The crackle of thunder felt too close, and he immediately winced.
"Blessed Spark, one of these days, would it be too much to ask that I wake up with wings?" He sat up, levitating his sword beside his skull. "I promise, I'll mostly use them for accessorizing."
Suddenly, his eyes twitched.
"Bombastic ballerinas!!" He scampered towards the platform's edge and stared down below at a steep seventy degree angle. "Hey! Heeeeeeeeeeey! Belle! Rainbow! Up here!"
Far below, two bodies could be seen lunging from one platform to another. Gliding through the air for the space of five wet seconds, they landed safely on the outer rim of the large circular structure. Without hesitation, the two mares scampered for cover, taking shelter beneath the outstretching balcony.
It was too late. As thunder rolled and the magical currents carried Eagle's platform further from the central structure, he realized there was no chance in making visual contact once more.
"Eeeeughhh..." He slumped against a pillar, blowing at several loose strands of damp mane hair. "Who'd a thunk I'd be so desperate to chase mares down." He went cross-eyed, then slapped his own skull. "Darn it, old stallion! Get outta my head!"
Glancing to his three o'clock, he saw a large platform looming in the path of his platform's rotation. Breathless, he scampered across the granite stretch of floor and prepared to make another death-defying leap.
Arcshod and several other Xonans glanced at one another with similar confusion.
"Uhm... some details would be a big help, Color Wheel," Josho muttered across the lamplight.
"It's a kingdom located far to the east," Rainbow Dash said, facing all of the gathered survivors of the hold. "Like... super far. But that's small stuff for a Queen like Chrysalis to sweat. She's got her broodlings situated—like—everywhere, and they're all picking up information about everything under the sun, giving her the freedom to move east and do what it is that she wants to do."
"Which is...?" Prowse leaned forward, pale brow furrowed.
"Well... uhm... that's hard to say," Rainbow Dash said. "But considering who and what she's impersonated before..." She gave Lasairfion a brief glance and continued. "...odds are it won't be good for the ponies who live in that place."
"Is she gonna start another super stupid war?!" Props remarked.
"I don't see what's stopping her," Rainbow Dash said. "Chrysalis was once an alicorn who lived in the kingdom where I'm from, Equestria," she explained. "Her and her sister Tchern have been in exile for countless thousands of years, during which they've mutated into shapeshifting monsters who feed on emotion."
"There's another changeling queen named Tchern?!" Seclorum exclaimed.
Rainbow swiveled to stare blankly at them. "What, you didn't get that out of the little fella after days and weeks of torture?"
Seclorum clenched his jaws and said nothing.
Razzar's masked face turned left and right. He stepped forward from the Lounge, his voice crackling to life: "Assuming Chrysalis has a diabolical plan for the kingdom of Val Roa, then what is her purpose with this place?"
"Who's to know who or what Stratopolis actually belongs to," Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. "I have my ideas—but none of that is important right now. What is important is that Chrysalis has been using this place as a base of operations, and it will totally benefit her to have it located much closer to her new place of operations."
"You mean Val Roa?" Prowse remarked.
"Think about it," Aatxe said from where he stood beside Ranbow. "Chrysalis has been impersonating Lasairfion for months... years. She needed a place to keep most of the replaced ponies—a prison where the changelings could gather, feed, recharge, and then fly back into action."
"The Strip of Flurries has been masking this place for Celestia-knows how long!" Rainbow exclaimed. "But it's too dang far away to be of any use to her in Val Roa."
"So she needs to move it," Razzar remarked. "That would suggest that she knows some way of accessing the navigation systems of this place."
"Rainbow Dash, for it is called," Lasairfion's voice resonated. Arcshod and other Xonans stepped aside as she shuffled forward, staring inquisitively at her. "It is curious that it has so many attachments to this place."
Silence. Rainbow blinked, then pointed at her. "What? Me?"
Lasairfion nodded. "Its rulers held past blood with that which mothers the brood. Its wings match those in corpses and mosaics."
"Yeah... about that..." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile. "Ehhh... seems like this place flew by Equestria long, long ago. A bunch of ancient pegasi led by Commander Hurricane took control of Stratopolis, it would seem."
"It would seem?" Seclorum remarked, squinting at the pegasus. "Well, did she or didn't she?"
"That's what the words on her tomb suggest," Rainbow said with a shrug. "The ancient warriors of Pegasopolis saw this place as a big huge threat to the Harmony of Equestria and moved it."
"How?" Razzar asked.
"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash blinked.
"Rainbow..." Josho spoke, staring at her pointedly.
Props leaned in. "Your magic touch..."
"Magic... touch...?" Lasairfion repeated.
Rainbow gulped and said, "Turns out that the crystals that filled the control room around Hurricane's tomb responded to my touch and nopony else's. Well... uhm... nopony—that is—until..."
"Until the damnable shape shifters took your form and screwed everything up for your friends and us!" Seclorum said with a growl. "Sometimes I wonder just how much help you are, Miss Dash."
"Secchy, lay off," Josho grumbled.
"Why should I?!" Seclorum gestured with his hoof. "Don't you see?! Chrysalis and her goons had the foresight to expect this! Hell! They could have coerced your and your friends to specifically take the flight path you did that brought you here! Just how many blood tests did you give the strangers you met on your journey from the Xonan battlefield?!"
Josho sighed and ran a hoof through his hair. "None..."
"Exactly! For the love of the Spark! Nothing's happened that they haven't somehow orchestrated!"
"Bloody Hell..." Prowse stammered.
"Secchy, if you've paid any damned attention..." Josho growled. "You'll realize that Rainbow's done enough and lost enough to prove that she's on our side—"
"But!" Rainbow silenced the room, her eyes darting across everyone's gaze. "I won't deny that—yeah—there's been a lot of diabolical fluff thrown into the mix here. From what the changeling told me, it's pretty clear that Chrysalis has anticipated my arrival."
"Equestria was going to be Chrysalis' second target," Aatxe added. "But... uhm..." He glanced nervously at Rainbow. "Looks like something made her choose Val Roa at the last second."
Rainbow sighed, her wings drooping. She closed her eyes, gulped, and glanced up. "A lot of bad stuff went down in my kingdom when I began my journey. Equestria suffered a major blow. Harmony took a big dip while... erm... a chaos rift s-sorta formed in the center of the nation. I... I-I lost a lot of good friends..." She gulped. "I lost everything."
The ponies were silent as they waited for her to go on.
"Long story short, there's nothing to feed on in my hometown cuz the banquet food's already gone stale."
"So the bug lass is fixin' to get her something meatier to munch on?" Prowse remarked.
Rainbow nodded. "Seems like Val Roa is a peaceful enough place for her to set up shop..." She exhaled through flaring nostrils. "And do to that kingdom what she's done to Xona and Ledomare."
The survivors mumbled amongst themselves.
"But I feel as though you keep deviating from the most important matter at hand," Razzar said, pointing at the pegasus. "She was waiting for you to show up in this place, because you obviously act as some sort of key."
"It would seem so, yeah," Rainbow Dash said with a nod. "But it's gotta be for doing more than just moving a bunch of huge friggin' temples into one another and crashing them into bits."
"Maybe she knows of some way to control all of Stratopolis?!" Props remarked, her bright blue eyes glancing at everypony. "Could there be a hidden chamber of sorts?"
"We'd be looking for a door, if that was the case," Aatxe said.
Ponies murmured aloud, pondering.
Then, with sudden enlightenment, Lasairfion's regal eyes widened. "Urohringr," she murmured.
Rainbow Dash gave her a double-take. "Buh?"
Arcshod gaped at his queen. "He'lunniul trenna su'lien Austraeoh niul Urohringr en'vanna sien?"
Lasairfion nodded. "Dreit." She turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "Has it heard the legend of the Celestial Circle?"
"Hooboy..." Rainbow's ears drooped as she glared boredly. "Here we go."
"Nagu'n the serpent Goddess hails from spinning cosmos," Lasairfion said in her thick, rolling accent. "World of constants\ circles before dawning of mortal life." Her eyes narrowed. "It calls it 'Urohringr,' the spheres within spheres. Says the scriptures of much darkening: evil in angles and curve. It bleeds unto itself, devouring and leeching. Circles break and give way to shadows between starlight. Ever since, task most noble it is of Nagu'n to restore balance between shards of Urohringr."
Before Rainbow Dash could say something, Props dashed forward. "And just what's this 'Urohringr' gotta do with this place? Or with Dashie?"
Arcshod glanced aside at his Queen. "Melsun'ielen rekkh'ar threndu Urohringr sara kelem'dreen."
Lasairfion nodded and turned to face the newcomers again. "With great repetitioning appears the symbol of spheres inside spheres around us. Changeling's city of floating prison breathes with the darkness of the cosmic world. Nagu'n's forsaken glory trails off every corner, and symbols sing of die cast before chaos everswirilng."
"Symbols..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "I... I saw a wall before. It was a barrier with this crazy mosaic of rings within rings..."
"It speaks of great relavencing," Lasairfion stammered, her eyes falling upon Rainbow and her pendant. "Scriptures speak of Austraeoh, beacon destined to pierce chaos shadow and restore balance for glory of Nagu'n."
Rainbow brushed a hoof across his shoulder. "Easy, chief. It's something I've more or less known ever since I landed in the Sacred Hold." She nevertheless gulped. "Just a consequence of the Xonans having inherited the language of ponies far older than anyone else who trots this earth."
"No friggin' way. You talking about the old pegasi that Khao's yucks farted themselves to death over?"
"I don't know what I'm talking about anymore," Rainbow Dash muttered aside. She trotted forward and squinted her eyes at Lasairfion. "Just what is this 'Austraeoh' prophesied to do when she comes into contact with Urohringr?"
"It does not understand." Lasairfion briskly shook her head. "Nagu'n's blessed cosmos exist only in fragments. Urohringr is no longer."
"Er... right..."
"But upon the Shattering of Spheres, many eggs hatched. Containers possessed essence of cosmic glory. Xon only knows glory; Nagu'n chooses not to sing out of reverance. Eggs hatch and glory sprouts wings. Celestial sentries that are neither ponies nor serpents, monitor the skies and bring righteous conviction and blood."
"Eggs... sentries... wh-what?!" Josho wheezed.
"Almost sounds like what Handsome would say!" Props chirped.
"Really?" Rainbow glared at her with thin eyes. "Care to interpret?"
"Uhm... s-sounds to me like the universe of 'spheres within spheres' shattered, and in its place there appeared a bunch of 'sentries' whose job it was to watch over the world as we now know it."
"More like Urohringr was sundered," Rainbow Dash said.
Prowse spoke up, "And Stratopolis seems prime material for one of these crazy-flank'd 'sentries.'"
"And what of the symbols that lie around this place?" Razzar spoke up from where he stood with the Lounge. "Was this 'sentry' waiting specifically for 'Austraeoh?'"
Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin in thought. "Stratopolis floated into Equestrian airspace. It brought tons of bad weather and chaos and crap. Commander Hurricane intercepted it... discovered she and she alone could somehow control it. Hurricane gives up her life to move this thing far away from Equestria. Eons later, Chyrsalis finds this place, studies the symbols inside. Meanwhile, she gobbles up Xonan culture, finds out all about 'Urohringr' n'crap, and senses m-me coming from Equestria..."
"Only Austraeoh has power for piercing Urohringr's seal," Lasairfion.
"Yeah?" Aatxe squinted. "To what end?"
Lasairfion calmly said, "Glory of Xon."
Seclorum rolled his eyes and groaned.
"Maybe... maybe I can do something to that symbol I found earlier," Rainbow Dash said. "I can open a way to what lies behind the barricade!"
"And what?" Seclorum remarked. "Get us into the core of this damnable place?"
"Of course!" Aatxe claimed. "If perhaps another of her kind could do it eons ago, then why can't she? I mean, she's the first pony with wings to show up here in ages!"
"We do need to get to the core of this building bloody badly," Prowse remarked. "Otherwise, we'll never get the energy crystals to breathe life back into the Tarkington."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Josho remarked. "We get our flanks to this place, have Rainbow opened the barricade, get what we need, and blow this waterlogged popsicle stand!"
Rainbow opened her mouth to speak.
"I have an even better question," Razzar said.
"And what's that?" Seclorum asked.
Razzar's silver mask tilted about. "Why hasn't Chyrsalis' brood opened this barricade alredy?"
Everypony was silent.
"Evidently, they have copied Rainbow Dash's essence into their hive mind," the Lounge leader continued. "What's to stop them from getting to the core of this place themselves?"
"They..." Props fidgeted where she stood. "They must be waiting for us to make the f-first move!"
"Or waiting to spring a trap," Seclorum droned.
Josho gnashed his teeth.
Ponies glanced at one another and murmured in nervous fear.
"That..." Rainbow Dash winced halfway through trying to speak. " ...that c-can't be a good thing."
"The next course of action seems obvious to me," Razzar stated. "We must bring Rainbow Dash to the symbol as swiftly as possible and access the core of Stratopolis for ourselves."
"But what if that's what they're expecting us to do?!" Aatxe remarked.
"It seems an even greater risk to cower in here and allow our shapeshifting foes complete access to the rest of this floating death trap." Razzar glanced in Lasairfion's direction. "If the monarch's words hold resonance, then there is something far older and more powerful than even Chrysalis to be had in this place. We owe it to ourselves and the rest of the world to make sure that changeling nemeses do not gain access. Val Roa is already doomed. What lies next in the destructive path?"
"I hate to say it..." Josho rubbed his chin, then glanced Rainbow's way. "But I'm with creepy-face over here."
"The first line of defense is a good offense." Seclorum nodded. "I concur. Miss Dash? What do you think?"
"Doesn't look like there's much thinking involved," Rainbow muttered. "Only a crap-ton of doing."
"We will lead the charge," Razzar said, gesturing towards his lackeys. The rest of the Lounge cocked their weapons and stood up straight at attention. "Our weapons and training will decimate the elusive hoard if they try to attack us."
"Ge'salanna hrenna theem drenn'adren," Arcshod said, jaw tight. Several able-bodied warriors stood proudly at his side. "Mer'nassan the'luniel sulien Austraeoh rekkah threen."
"Looks like you've got yourself a regular hoofball team, Dashie!" Props exclaimed.
"She sure as heck does!" Prowse nodded, patting Prop's shoulder. "I'll lend every hoof I have left, even if I have to build a new one. Secchy?"
"We can't do this without you, Missy," Seclorum said, shuffling up to the pegasus. "You seem like a pony of action. You game for a trip to the heart of this place?"
"Absolutely..." Rainbow's voice trailed off, as did her eyes. She glanced towards the far corner of the torchlit place. After a blink, she squinted at the Ledomaritan Enforcer. "On one condition, though..."
“Absolutely out of the question!” Seclorum’s growling voice echoed across the tight brick walls of the chamber as he stood several feet away, frowning. “You let that monster free, and you’ll doom us all!”
“If you ask me, the doom has already been brought upon us,” Rainbow Dash said as she fiddled with the manacles clasped around the emaciated changeling’s forelimbs. “Torturing a creature that’s hooked up to hive mind? Whew! Talk about shoving your name to slot number one of the Darwhinny Awards!”
“There’s no telling what will come of this expedition!” Seclorum snarled. “We could still need it for information! And if it should summon its fellow broodlings in to attack us--”
“Secchy, please,” Aatxe grumbled as he trotted past the unicorn with a set of keys dangling around one forelimb. “We all know that if the changelings wanted us dead, they could easily have raided the hold and slaughtered all of us by now.”
“And just what do you think you’re doing?!”
Aatxe sighed. “What I should have done months ago.” With a weary smile, he hoofed the keys over to Rainbow Dash. “There ya go.”
“I think you should do the honors,” Rainbow said, stretching the changeling’s bound hoof towards the instruments. “If not for the little dude here, then for your conscience.”
Aatxe blinked. With a nervous breath, he nodded and trotted forward. “Very well then.”
“I still think this is a horrible plan,” Seclorum said. “The only reason Arcshod and His Royal Highness voted to comply is because of some backwards religious prophecy mumbo jumbo about this ‘flame bearing Ostrich-oh horse.’ And the Lounge? Never trust anyone with cold blood! So help me, Ledo, if you so much as--”
“Look, either we free this poor guy or I’m not budging an inch to help you ponies get the locked-away crystals for the Tarkington!” Rainbow said, frowning his way. “You can sit on that until your gray mane hairs fall out, for all I care.”
Seclorum blinked, his muzzle gaping. He tilted his gaze aside at Aatxe.
Aatxe paused in the middle of unlocking the manacles. He blinked back and smiled awkwardly. “Uhm… what she s-said.”
Seclorum’s brow furrowed. With a frown, he swiveled around and stormed off down the hallway.
“Pleasant stallion,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Don’t be too harsh on the pony,” Aatxe said, working on the last cuffs. “I’m not all that proud of everything we’ve done under his lead, but his tenacity has encouraged us to survive dire straits.”
“But does he have to be so bitter?”
“A lifetime at war will do that.”
“Yeah, but even with all the crap I’ve been through, I…” Rainbow Dash paused in mid-speech, her eyes crooked.
“Just days ago, surrounded by friends and perfectly safe, I was the most bitter mare on earth,” Rainbow muttered. “But here?” She glanced up, sniffling slightly into the torchlight. “Stuck in the belly of a flying Tartarus, surrounded by changelings, with one of my best friends having just kicked the bucket…” Her words trailed off.
“You strike me as a pony of action,” Aatxe said with a slight smile.
“I guess I’m just best when I’m stupid,” Rainbow muttered. She nodded her head towards the shuddering changeling they were unfettering. “Like this, for example.”
“I wouldn’t call this stupid.” Aatxe said as he unlocked the last cuff and dropped the metal bits to the floor. “But you certainly seem to only see forward.”
“Am I doing a horribly bad thing here, Aatxe?” Rainbow asked. “Is this somehow gonna kill all the ponies stuck in this place?”
“We’ve been wasting away here for years, subsisting on prison food and forced to endure tempests and decay,” the stallion muttered. He gazed at her with a tired pair of eyes. “We were all killed long, long ago.” He gestured at the changeling. “Even if this is the only soul you free, I’d say you were brought here to do a good thing, Miss Dash.”
Rainbow smiled awkwardly at that. She turned and scooped the weak changeling up in her forelimbs. “Come on, pal. Stretch your wings, why don’tcha? You’re gonna need them with the nasty winds out there.”
“Nasty… winds…?”
“Yeah. I know it may not be much like sunshine,” Rainbow said as she slung the creature over her back. “But, hey, it’s freedom.”
“Freedom…” The changeling stared at her with quivering fangs. The black shell gave way for orange fuzz and freckles. “What’s it y’all want, sugarcube? Why are you doin’ this?”
“Why am I not?” Rainbow smirked and trotted briskly for the far end of the hallway, followed by Aatxe. “I’ve been in chains myself. Most uncool. Now let’s get you out of here.”
The effigy of Applejack blinked. With a soft smile, it leaned forward, nuzzling the middle of Rainbow’s shoulders as it was carried safely away from the niche of misery.
”These creatures can attack us from any angle,” Razzar said as he paced before his fellow compatriots. Behind the Lounge, the rest of the Hold’s population was hauling together crossbolts, makeshift bludgeons, and supplies. “We must be prepared for an assault from the sky, the walls, and even the floors. They can blend in with anything imaginable, and seeing as we have the superior firepower, this group will be relying on our talents. Let us worry about restitution and payment after we’ve escaped the winds of this place.”
”But Razzar,” one masked member tilted his hooded head about. ”The pegasus is freeing one of them. Surely this will only set us up for a terrible ambush.”
“Ambush or not, the pegasus is the key we need to get to the heart of this building. The survivors here will not be able to escape without the energy sources contained within. And as to reaching the controls of this place--”
“We will surely perish!” the figure exclaimed, his gloved fists clenched. ”She is leading us into a trap with her misguided generosity!”
”I trained us to be strong and resourceful. Whatever happens, we will be prepared for it. Focus on your strengths and do not obsess with fear and doubt.”
“This is simply a terrible idea,” the Lounge member hissed from beneath his mask. ”We will die and our skins will turn to dust in the gales of this place--”
Ch-Chtkk! In one dynamic twirl, Razzar had unholstered a crystal rifle and planted the double barrels to the peak of the figure’s mask. ”On. Your. Knees.”
The other members fidgeted fearfully. Slowly, the figure under the weapon’s sight slumped down to a nervous crouch.
Mist wafted out from the edges of Razzar’s mask. ”Who is strong and wise? Speak it.”
There was a wheezing sound. The kneeling figure trembled before crackling forth: ”You are, Razzar…”
”Razzar who?”
”Razzar, our strong and resourceful leader.”
”And do you know the cost of being weak and frail?”
The other members all instinctively turned to stare down the kneeling figure.
With a shudder, the member said, ”Yes, Razzar, I know the cost.”
”And if we were still on our ship, you would experience that cost at full force,” the leader said. “However, we are about to undergo a most dangerous task.” He holstered his weapon and stood tall. “And my need for allies in the forthcoming trial supersedes the example I would have had to make of you. Now, stand up.”
The figure did so, hissing in shallow breaths.
”Do not question my strength and authority again, and maybe I will forget your tongue by the time we fly to freedom.”
“Yes, Razzar, leader.” The figure bowed slightly. ”I am grateful for your mercy.”
”Don’t waste your breath, especially with insincerity.” Razzar pointed with a gloved finger. ”Busy yourself with contacting Vaughan. Inform him about the mission we are about to undergo. If the winds abide, we may have to rely on air support.”
”Understood.”
”The rest of you, make sure your weapons are in perfect order. We will need them at fully functioning capability for the hour to come.”
As Razzar continued pacing, Props and Prowse looked over from a distance.
Props blinked. “Wowsers. They certainly don’t buck around.”
“How’d you pick up these sods to begin with?” Prowse asked.
“Actually, they tried to pick you up.” Props winced, blushing. “Well, erm, the other you, I mean.”
“So they were trying to do your crew a favor?”
“Yup yup yup! That is… until they started chasing and shooting at us.”
Prowse scratched his scruffy chin. “I’m afraid I don’t know what to make of them.”
“Me neither.” Props spun with bright blue eyes. “But they totally seem super helpful right now, huh?”
Prowse smirked. “Look how brave my little Propsicle has become, trusting lizards in masks.”
“Oh, I haven’t gotten a spine yet! But give it a few ticks!” Props leaned in, gave Prowse’s cheek a peck, and leaned back. “Whelp…” She slid her goggles over her eyes. “It’s been groovy, Unky Prowsy, but I gotta get my Dash-Dash on!”
“Huh?!” Prowse glanced between the mare and the other clusters of ponies preparing for the expedition. “Lassie, you can’t be serious! You barely have anything to defend yourself with!”
“Like soot-bugs, I don’t!” She waved a heavy wrench around, smiling with a dangling tongue. “I can loosen some wicked nuts, if you know what I mean! Heehee!”
“If you’re going with this crazy bunch of buggers, then so am I!” Prowse hobbled towards where his partially constructed prosthetic lingered. “Just let me fetch my boomstick--”
“To do what?” Props shrugged. “Ain’t much of a boomstick if it can’t go boom yet!”
“Just give me a few miracle minutes to tweak it! I’ll be there by your side, lickety-split, to blast bug-ponies senseless!”
“Unky Prowsy…” Props yanked him back by his tail then supported him before the three-legged stallion could fall over. “I’ll be okay. I’m a big filly now!”
“I know, but--”
“No you don’t.” Props gulped. “And… And I-I can’t even begin to explain it. But I’ve grown in a zany bunch of places and it’s high time I owned up to it. I can’t hide inside Nancy Jane’s womb forever, expecting Dashie to do all of the flank kicking on her lonesome!”
Prowse gaped at her. He then snickered.
“What?” Props peach muzzle scrunched up.
“Nothing, lass.” He caressed her cheek and blonde bangs. “Just never thought there’d come a day where I couldn’t understand what you’re babbling about.”
“Heeheehee…” Props leaned in and nuzzled him. “It’s okay, Unky Prowsy. Just stay here. Get your boomstick back in order. Defend Queeny over there.”
Props glanced over at the Xonans. “I think they can bloody well protect themselves…”
“They don’t know how lucky they are to have you around. Nopony knows…” She lingered, muzzle quivering. “... how lucky I am…”
He turned to gaze silently at her.
She sighed, smiling with slightly foggy goggles. “Even if the same thing happens to all of us that happened to Pilate, I’m glad I got a chance to see your silly beard again.”
“Heh, yeah, well, I haven’t had the chance to grow the damned thing out.”
“Something to look forward to!” Props said as she saluted and bounded across the hold.
On the other side of the compartment, Arcshod and a few fellow Xonans bowed before Lasairfion, murmuring words of fealty. Lasairfion smiled gently. With a telekinetic tug, she urged them back onto their hooves and imparted wisdom and encouragement. After a final bow, Arcshod briskly turned around. His eyes twitched, and he followed the movement of a blue pegasus trotting in from the recesses of the place.
Everypony watched from a distance while Rainbow Dash carried the changeling towards the abandoned edge of the hold. There, she squatted besides one of the fresh windswept holes torn in the floor of the place.
“Hey… here we are, buddy.” Rainbow Dash slid the changeling off her shoulders and reached out to flex its wings with her hooves. “After talking to me, you should have enough strength to fly.” She smiled. “Don’t pretend that you can’t.”
The shape-shifter looked up at her with dim green eyes. “Fly…?”
“Yes. As in freedom. Grace. Life.” She pointed out the hole. “Go give it a shot. I promise, even hurricane force winds are a sight better than the crap you’ve been made to go through.”
“Rainbow, everypony looks ready to go,” Aatxe said from behind her. “I’d better go check on Seclorum and the others.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow nodded towards him as he trotted off. “You do that.” She suddenly felt a tug on her mane hair. Losing her balance, she slumped over, only to be caught in the changeling’s embrace.
”Shhhhhh…” The changeling stared straight into her eyes, then extended its forelimb.
Rainbow Dash quietly looked at it.
Before the pegasus’ eyes, the exoskeleton turned to a blue coat. Then, like a zipper, a laceration opened. The juices inside changed color from green to red, the flowed openly out of the “cut.” The changeling turned its forelimb around and around, allowing the blood to seep all around the flesh. It even gave the hoof a shake, allowing the blood to splatter in a tiny puddle across the floor. Then, just as quickly as the display happened, the flesh closed up on its own, and turned back to its immaculate black shell. The juices on the floor remained red.
Rainbow’s jaw dropped. She gazed in shock at the changeling.
The creature merely stared back, silent and deadpan.
“Why…” Rainbow murmured beneath her breath. “Why are you sh-showing me this?”
The thing leaned forward, nuzzled her cheek, and whispered into her ear, “Because you’re the kind one.” It leaned back, smiled nervously, then fell backwards.
Rainbow jerked.
But the changeling was gone. It plunged into the winds beneath the building, spread its wings, and disappeared into the rainy gusts.
Rainbow Dash slumped back on her haunches, her chest pounding and her wings drooped.
“Alright, everypony!” Seclorum’s voice shouted. “Let’s get this over with! It’s now or never!”
Rainbow Dash jumped in place, gnawing on her bottom lip. Her eyes darted between all of the shuffling, wandering, murmuring bodies in the room. There were so many equine shapes, and all of them obscured by dim torchlight and fear. In a pale slump, she stood back up and trotted away from the holes in the floor.
Intersecting and crossing against infinite blackness.
Pilate heard himself panting, hyperventilating. His body shivered and he curled his legs to his chest.
And yet the red lines stayed the same.
The cloud of unconsciousness finally faded.
An instinct hit him, something the zebra hadn't obeyed in as long as he could remember.
Pilate opened his eyes.
The red lines were still there, same as when his eyes were closed.
"What... wh-what...?" His voice had a dull echo to it. It occurred to him that he wasn't paying attention to what was in the background. His ears twitched to life, detecting rain, footsteps, a muffled voice. He hadn't noticed before because of the sensory overload. But what senses? "Where am I?" He gulped. "Am I dead? Belle... Bellesmith, beloved...?"
He realized that he was lying on his side. With a groan, the zebra sat up.
The red lines twisted and turned, startling him.
As Pilate jolted back, he felt a weight on his head, hanging over his brow and just above his nose. Anxiously, he reached a hoof up to his skull. As he did so, a dense mosaic of red lines and concentric circles loomed just off his muzzle. Before he could react to this, his hoof came into contact with solid metal. He held his breath, feeling a curved helm over the upper half of his skull. As the shivers increased, he felt back along his cranium, sensing that the object was strapped to his head. His hoof ran into an array of jagged objects, tiny—like crystals. At last, a thick series of fibers ran down from the back of the helm, draped along his neck, and ended in a small spherical object attached to the center of his dormant O.A.S.I.S choker.
"A manasphere?" he muttered. "But... mine was left on the Noble Jury..."
He heard another echo—one belonging to a voice that wasn't his own.
Footsteps came closer. A cluster of red lines and hashes appeared, forming a singularity.
Without thinking, Pilate tilted his head towards the source. That's when he saw a dark crimson shadow set against a chaotic backdrop of vertical red lines. He gasped, shuffling backwards like a frightened colt. He felt sweat forming beneath the helm attached to his skull. As he shut his blind eyes, he was alarmed to still sense the red display in front of him.
"How in Spark's name...?" Pilate murmured beneath his breath. "I... I can see...?"
There was no way the moving thing in front of him couldn't have heard the zebra, and yet the figure kept pacing, shuffling on quiet limbs against the constant roar of rain and wind.
Gulping, Pilate stood up on wobbly knees. He felt bruises from the fight that preceded his capture. His body was numb in its extremities, no doubt from the effects of a drug. Nevertheless, he pressed forward, inching his way towards the far end of the corridor. He followed the sound of the rain, tilting his head down in an attempt to blot out the red lines bending and wobbling before him. It was all too much to take-in at once. He cursed not being able to eliminate the crimson mosaic altogether, and continued to inch his way past the pacing figure.
As he came within earshot, the tell-tale sound of a crackling speaker could be heard, broadcasting the stranger's voice in an eerie fashion.
"Yes, I understand," he said, shuffling just a few naked feet from where Pilate was currently sneaking. "I almost have the engine fixed, but I fear it won't be enough to get us past the gale force winds."
"Do what you can, Vaughan. From what these survivors have claimed, there may in fact be salvageable mana crystals within the center of this large structure. Several of the Ledomaritans and Xonans here wish to use some of them to power up their dormant manaship."
"Well, if that's the case, then maybe you can procure a few in order for me to power up our vessel."
"That, of course, is only the best-case scenario. We have many perils here to overcome. The changeling menace can be anywhere. You'd best be on your guard, brother."
"As I shall. I won't step foot outside of the ship. You can count on me to protect our resources."
"Remember what Razzar has shown us before concerning the cost of weakness."
"How can I forget? Vaughan out." The figure's footsteps stopped cold. There was the sound of ruffling fabric: the stranger pocketing away a soundstone. Then all was silent.
Pilate bit his lip. Feeling forward, he grasped the edge of a granite pillar. Red lines stirred, and he felt dizzy from struggling to ignore it all.
"You truly expect to get far?" The voice crackled behind the zebra, startling him through to his bones. "If the changelings don't feast on your flesh, my brothers and I surely will."
Pilate gritted his teeth, sweating profusely.
Red lines stirred, becoming larger and more concentrated. Pilate was confused, but then he heard the footsteps shuffling closer, and he knew that the Lounge member was approaching him icily.
"And then, there's the storm. Whatever empowers this blasted city, it will grab you and throw you towards a violent and pulpy death. If you ask me, I'd say your stripes would surve a much better purpose upholstering Razzar's command chair."
Pilate tilted his head to the side. The lines pivoted along with him. He saw what appeared to be clumps of loose rock and debris. Stealthily, he slid a hoof towards one of the objects—
Kapow! Pilate felt the heat of an energy blast, followed by the tiny piece of granite floor exploding right in front of him.
He stumbled back with a grunt, waving his aching, burnt hoof.
Red lines stirred. Pilate heard the sound of a manarifle cocking. "No, sir. I'm sorry, but you do not get to perform that trick on me twice."
"What..." Pilate seethed, feeling weighed down by the metal helm on his skull. "Wh-what have you done to me...?"
"Consider it a gift," the figure said. Red lines stretched out from a center cluster of circles—the sign of the stranger holding his arms out. "You should be quite thankful, actually. When I found you, I was amazed to discover the state of your eyes. To think that such soft and docile creatures as ponies would keep an anomaly like you alive. It's a pity, really. All your life, living as such a weak and disabled liability. They should have done you the favor of slitting your throat as a hatchling."
"For your information, I didn't come from an egg." Pilate frowned, turning to face him, only slightly intrigued by the ease in which he did so. "And when I was born, I could see perfectly normal."
"Oh, well that's just splendid." There was the sound of a managun being holstered.
Pilate's brow furrowed from beneath the helm. "Why's that?"
"Because that'll make this more of a challenge to me." The figure shuffled closer towards him. "You see, naga are natural born hunters..."
The zebra's muzzle hung open. "Naga...?"
"And as an engineer as well as a warrior, I couldn't see myself enjoying my natural born instinct if I hadn't done something to even the playing field."
"What... wh-what does that even mean?"
"Quite simply..." Schiinkt! Something long and curved slid out of the figure's crimson grasp. "...you might wish to start defending yourself now." He grunted and lunged forward.
The air whistled with cold, serrated metal.
Pilate didn't need to hear it. He saw it. With a gasp, he ducked low and dove to the side. Sparks showered down across his figure as he scampered back onto his hooves.
With another growl, the figure lunged again, stabbing at the zebra with full force.
Cl-Clank! The blade lopped off a few of Pilate's tail hairs.
Hissing beneath his breath, the zebra spun about. His blind eyes rolled, and yet he sensed a distorted field of red lines intersecting in front of him. The crimson pattern coalesced, denoting a figure charging straight towards the stallion, leaping, and swinging a blade attached to his left arm.
Pilate ducked again, jumped to the side, and strafed awkwardly. Only then did he notice a solid pattern about the lines. He saw parallel horizontal planes and several vertical pillars. Beyond such geometry was a chaotic miss-mash of pattering red dots. A room, he concluded, with the rainy maelstrom of Stratopolis beyond...
"Hresssssh!" A reptilian hiss crackled to his left.
Pilate whimpered and jumped back, tripping on his hooves. He fell on his haunches with a grunt. The world distorted in a flash of crimson. When it reformed, he saw the figure of the Lounge's engineer directly in front of him, his body crouched low in a predatory stance.
"Please. I did not augment you to be so damnably anticlimactic, you stupid horse!" The figure stalked towards him, slinking sideways with cat-like grace. "That's what you are, you realize. A ridiculously silly creature that stands out in the gray rain. I wonder if you even know how garish your stripes are." The attacker's blade dragged threateningly across the ground. "Would you like me to describe what your entrails look like? Hresssssh!" He pounced.
"Guhh!" Pilate rolled to the side and sprang forward as soon as his four hooves had leverage. The assailant's blade came down swiftly, and it grazed the zebra bloodily across his flank. "Aaaaaugh!" Pilate stumbled and collapsed against a pillar, wincing for breath. "Mmmmmmgnnnh... Sp-Spark!"
"Yes... call to your pagan deities..." With cold-blooded footsteps, the reptile inched his way towards Pilate's rear. "I'll devour the fire of their myths from your still-beating heart." The masked cretin's speaker crackled, "And I'll make a shrine to them out of your bones."
Thunder rolled. Pilate's vision went blood red, then faded—a result of flashing lightning. When everything came back into focus, he heard the rushing air from the attacker's leap.
Breathless, Pilate juked to the left. The lizard landed to his right, then hooked an arm out, grabbing Pilate by the back of his neck.
With a cry, Pilate swiveled and bucked both rear hooves into the figure's rib cage.
The attacker barely budged. "Hrshhhhh! You call that an attack?" The flat of its blade slammed across Pilate's skull.
"Aaaugh!" Pilate stumbled sideways through a mess of wildly jagged red lines. Barely two seconds later, he received an elbow to the chest, followed by a violent uppercut to his chin.
"You are pathetic!" The engineer shouted, constantly kicking and pummeling Pilate like he was a sack of meat. "You are weak! Even with the gift of sight, you are a frail shadow of a stallion! Why should I even bother to hunt you?! Your meat couldn't fill one plate... much less the table for Razzar and his brothers!"
Pilate fell to his knees, spitting up blood and shuddering from head to tail. He doubled over in pain, clutching himself as the figure paced across the tiny enclosure.
Lightning flashed, clearing in time for Pilate to spot the lizard's pacing figure. It was then that Pilate realized something. The footsteps of the figure were sounding off behind him, and yet—through the crimson field of jagged lines—he could still see his attacker with perfect clarity. The zebra suddenly felt as though he was sitting in the center of a spherical room with his skull as the center of gravity. He panted in even breaths, mesmerized and horrified all at once.
And that's when the creature said, "No, you pathetic little cur! The hunt does not end with you. I will find your friends... your mate. And I will eat of their bones too."
Pilate's teeth clenched. He fumed and fumed harder...
"Let's just hope they at least put up a fight." The blade raised overhead. "I'd hate for them to disappoint me as much as you..."
Suddenly, Pilate knew when and where to fling his hooves. He twisted to his side and swung both forelimbs high, positioning them where the back of his head was a second ago. Cl-Clank! With perfect ease, he clasped onto opposite sides of the blade's hilt and wrenched it from the figure's grasp.
The reptile stumbled backwards, surprised.
"Rrrrrrrrrrghhhh—" Pilate bolted onto his hooves and galloped towards the mesh of crimson circles. The figure tried dodging to the left, but Pilate could already sense the movement from the coiling of the cretin's lower legs. "—raaaaaaaugh!" He jumped where the red lines led him, plowing the cloaked figure's body to the granite.
Struggling, the Lounge member wrapped his arms around Pilate's neck.
Without hesitation, the zebra slammed his knees into the creature's chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. He then swung hard, slamming one hoof viciously across his opponent's silver mask. The metal surface dented, and the reptile finally reciprocated with a blow to Pilate's chin, allowing him the space to scurry away and escape.
But Pilate wasn't having any of it. "Grrgghhh!" He leapt again, slamming his weight down onto the figure's back. He repeatedly smacked and pummeled the creature's shoulders. "Do not... threaten... my beloved!" He lunged forward, biting for flesh—ripping through cloak and fabric instead. "Rggghhh! You want meat?! Let's find out what naga tastes like—"
With extraordinary calm, the figure uttered, "I'm afraid neither of us will enjoy the sentiment." Something whipped hard into Pilate's chest.
Startled by the blow, Pilate stumbled backwards on uneven hooves.
The figure flipped up, landed in a slide on all fours, and produced a manarifle—training it directly at Pilate's figure.
"Come onnnnn!" Pilate hollered, his nostrils flaring as adrenaline coursed through his whole body. "You've had enough, you brutish coward?!"
"Charming vocabulary as always, but the battle is over, Pilate."
"Like blazes it is!" Pilate dragged a hoof against the floor and charged the crimson figure. "Let's see how easily your tail comes off—"
Kapow! A manablast blew up a piece of floor in front of Pilate, forcing the zebra to stop. "I said it's over!" the engineer growled, suddenly panting through his crackling mask. "And as much as I hate to admit, it's for my own safety as well as yours."
"Wh-what...?!" Pilate panted and panted. He found himself squinting, as if that would somehow make the anomalous shape before him clearer. "I... I don't understand..."
"It's quite simple, really. I had to make sure the O.A. works, so I needed a reason for you to try murdering me as bloodily as possible."
Pilate gulped. "O.A.?"
"Ocular Array. A Searonese invention. Leave it to the Lounge to steal anything they can get their scales on. Of course..." The figure reached up and stripped its mask off. Pilate sensed several fibrous strands peeling out from the creature's cloak, rattling together with tiny metallic clinks. "...if I had known a breeder like you packed such a punch, I would have lowered the neurological frequency so that I could have had more of a chance in close quarters." Two dense circles hovered in the center of a face made out of cold, rigid lines.
Of course, Pilate's jaw had long dropped by now. "Roarke...?"
"You've proven that you're more than capable of utilizing the Ocular Array in both navigation and defense." Roarke rubbed her bruised limbs through the fabric of her Lounge cloak. Her eye-lenses pistoned in and out to shake off the loose droplets of rain. "Finally, I can be in two places at once." She marched briskly past Pilate and approached a series of satchels in the far corner. "We haven't much time. I have enough fuel in my manapack to transport us both to the inner structure before I make my necessary return to Razzar's ship."
"But... it... that..." Dazed, Pilate spun and gawked at her through his bulky black helm. "Roarke! Don't brush this all off like it's any other day! You're here! I can see you..." His muzzle quivered. "I can see! What in Spark's name—"
"It's not so much sight as it is a contextual interpretation of superficial matter positioned around you," Roarke droned while rummaging through her pack of things. "Granted, it's not nearly as intricate or precise as the device your mate invented, but she can be thanked partially for this. The O.A. is utilizing the runic plate on your skull. That's how I was able to localize the field so you could accurately perceive things within proximity of—"
"Blast it, Roarke! Slow down for a second!" Pilate waved his forelimbs. "You're here! You're alive!" He fidgeted, then felt the fresh cut on his backside. "You tried to kill me!" He snarled.
"Nonsense," the metal mare droned, picking up a bundled-up cluster of fabric. "If I would have desired your violent demise, I would have easily gutted you like a pig the very moment I captured you and filled you with a paralyzing agent."
"Paralyzing agent?!"
"Are you yet feeling an intense and unbearable migraine?"
"Intense and unbearable—?!" Suddenly, Pilate shivered from tail to head. "Gaaaaugh!" He fell to his knees, clutching at the helm over his skull. "Ghhhhnnghh—sweet merciful melons!"
"Ah. Right on time." Roarke trotted towards him on three legs, holding the bundle under her left forelimb. "That should be the last wave of neuro-sensory feedback. The first two happened while you were paralyzed, which is why you avoided the common side effect of intense dry heaving."
"Nnngh... pl-please... tell me th-that this isn't bolted to my cranium!" Pilate hissed and whimpered.
"And rob your mate the chance of nuzzling your square, masculine muzzle again? Hmmph. I've learned a thing or two over the past months, believe it or not." She reached forward. "Here, hold still." And she yanked the cables attached to the back of the helm.
Pilate gasped, sitting in a panting slump as the lights across his apparatus shorted out. "Oh... praise the Spark..." He gulped. "I never thought I would be so thankful to experience utter blackness again."
"I didn't build that thing so that you could appreciate fine art," Roarke muttered.
"I don't understand..." Pilate tilted his head towards her, shivering. "What did you build it for? Why attack me under the guise of a Lounge naga?"
"You know, the time we spend answering your insufferable questions could instead be used for something advantageous."
"Like wh-what...?"
"Like blowing this Searo-forsaken place out of the sky." Roarke shoved the bundle into his grasp. "Here, hold this."
"What... wh-what is this?"
"Are you feeling the urge to vomit?"
"Uhm... no."
"Good." Roarke nodded. "Then that means you don't have an adverse reaction to direct contact with yellow skystone."
"Yellow skystone...?" Blindly, the zebra unfurled a length of the fabric. Glowing amber light shone against the rain-slick granite. He didn't react until his hoof felt the smooth glass surface of the shard held within the bundle. "Good heavens... do you have any idea how rare this is?"
"So do the Lounge," Roarke said with a nod, trotting back to her packs. "And they're willing to do anything to get more of it."
"Roarke, about the Lounge..." Pilate winced. "You do realize they tried to save us, right?" His ears drooped. "We thought we had picked up Props' Uncle as we flew across the Wastes. Turns out it was a changeling in disguise. Razzar's gang wanted to confiscate them. They... they almost saved us..."
"No," Roarke firmly said, shaking her head as she slung several satchels over her shoulder. "The Lounge are evil and not to be trusted." She turned and marched firmly towards him. "I've seen their operation from the inside out. They traffic sentient creatures and sell them to slave markets. They bully trade vessels and run zeppelins into watery graves. I don't care what kind of horrible creatures we might be running into here, but no amount of darkness can make these reptilian scum-munchers any lighter than what they already are."
"Then..." Pilate winced, gritting his teeth. "If they're stuck here with us... then we're in twice as much danger." He shuddered. "Rainbow Dash is in danger..."
"She's been in danger for a long, long time." Roarke placed her hoof on Pilate's shoulder. "We're losing valuable time. We must make our way to the centermost platform."
"Wh-what for?" Pilate gulped. "Aren't you pretending to be one of them? Don't you have a ship to report to?"
"I'll explain on the way. However, this will be a lot easier if you could see where we're going."
Pilate sighed, biting his lip. "Is this going to hurt?"
"Were all breeders born yesterday?" She shoved the cables back into his Ocular Array. Bzzzt!
"I dunno, Karl Ebon! I really think it's something wrong with your end!"
"My end?!" Ebon Mane snarled, fussing with several levers in the lavender light of the Noble Jury's engine core. "How could it possibly be from my end?!"
Zaid's voice retorted through the intercom, "The ship keeps wanting to veer to the right!"
"Jee, I dunno..." Ebon snarled as he fussed with a dial. "Nnnngh... c-could it be that you're the one constantly turning it to the right?!"
"But it's wanting to turn even harder, though!"
"Then compensate for it!"
"I've tried! But if I jerk a little too much to the left, we'll be caught up in the outer cloud wall and be torn to shreds!"
"Then try not to jerk it so much!" Ebon's eyes crossed and he shook his muzzle. "What I mean is—Nnnnngh! Wanna switch places, Zaid?"
"What would that accomplish?"
"I dunno." Ebon leaned against a lever, sighing. "Maybe both of us just need a rest or something."
"You fancy yourself a regular NEIGHSCAR driver?"
"...the buck?! No! What does that even mean?!"
"I think it means you need to stick to salad tossing and I need to be the stallion who sticks to displaying inexplicably competent piloting skills."
"Unnnnnngh..." Ebon slumped against the lever, moving it a little. "I give up."
"Whoah dayum! What'd you just do?!"
"What?! What?!" Ebon tilted back, shivering. "Did I blow us up?! Pl-please say I didn't just blow us up!"
"No no! That's good! Whatever you just did, do it some more!"
"You mean panic wildly?!"
"No, the other thing!"
Ebon grunted, shoving the one lever all the way. "You m-mean... th-this...?"
A groaning noise issued throughout the pipes and conduits of the Noble Jury. In the pilot's seat, Zaid gripped the controls, grinning to himself as he found the turbulence lessening. The console around him rattled a bit less, then fell to a relaxing calm.
"Therrrrrrrrrre she crowns. Such a pretty rabbit in its hole."
"Huh?!"
"Ahem. Sorry. Had a Bluish Carrol flashback."
"Zaid, it isn't nice to lose me while you're in the process of losing me."
"Whatever you did, it's made this ride nineteen percent cooler."
"Wow... that's... uhm... an odd number."
"Yeah, well, I farted out the remaining one percent an hour ago when I had to fly us through a gaping hole in a shattered temple."
"You did WHAT?!"
"D'uhmmm... f-forget I said anything! Just have yourself a little squat down there and take a breather! Oh, and check on ragdollette when you get a chance. Make sure she isn't flooding the observation room with drool." Zaid slapped the intercom, switching it off. His eyes instantly darted back to the stormy field ahead. "Phweeeeee... Paging Mr. Floyd with a collect call. Now would be a good time to wake back up, you big fuzzy wuzzy." He glanced aside at the large round structure that the Noble Jury was orbiting at a distance. "I could totally use someone with landing experience... and phallic antlers."
"It's..." Pilate's muzzle quivered as he hobbled alongside Roarke. A long granite plain stretched before them, flanked by marble columns shattered by impacts with other temples. "It's all so cluttered." He tilted his head about while rain pelted on his helm, his body, and the structures all around him. "And yet it's like I can see forever. Every single rain drop and cracked surface..."
"Try to focus on specific details in front of you," Roarke said. "The Ocular Array was originally built by Searonese bounty hunters to detect movement of their prey in the dark. I'm guessing that the Lounge stumbled upon technology abandoned by my long lost sisters who took their hunting expeditions east. It's the kind of thing that would serve the naga well in these dense, cloudy wastes."
"And just what was it that convinced you to try hooking this thing up to my skull?"
"Stop leaning against me!" Roarke hissed, stepping to the left.
Pilate stumbled, wincing. "But! B-but I need to—"
"No, you don't," Roarke grunted. "You need to see on your own. There is much to do here in this mess. I can't be in two places at once, but with you on my side, we can make a difference."
"With what?" Pilate actually bothered to glance at the bundle in his grip. The red lines of his "vision" pierced the fabric, outlining the smooth shard of skystone that he was carrying. "Won't the Lounge have your pelt once they discover that 'Vaughan' had stolen this from their engine?"
"I hope to be through with them long before that happens," Roarke said. "Living among the reptiles isn't exactly conducive to relaxation." Her muzzle tightened while her eye-lenses retracted. "I watched first-hoof as Razzar stripped one of his colleagues, wounded him in the neck, and then threw him to the claws and teeth of the rest of the crew... who promptly devoured him." She sighed out her nostrils. "Believe me, breeder, it's difficult to dig one's muzzle deep into the quivering intestines of a dying lizard and fake cannibalism."
"Why in Spark's name would Razzar do that to one of h-his own kind?!"
"Because he was 'weak,'" Roarke grunted. "It's a sentiment I've understood all too well in my days among the Searonese. Only, this time..." Her voice trailed off.
"'This time' what?"
She grimaced, then frowned. "It doesn't matter. The point is, the Lounge are dangerous and unpredictable. Admittedly, they possess many strong attributes, but they've been working under the dominating fear and pressure of Razzar for so long that all they can do is lead travellers of the Wastes to ruin. And now that they're here—in this city—I fear that they could cause as much damage if more so than the changelings."
"Are you sure you're not just making a subjective argument after having blended with them for so long?"
"Trust me. Although it's likely the goal of Rainbow and the others to escape this place, there is no way on Searo's green earth that we can leave it floating here for the Lounge to acquire."
"Acquire? You m-mean they want to do something with this abominable city?!"
"They don't chase changelings just for sport, breeder. The Lounge torture these creatures, mutilate them, feed them pieces of their own insides—anything to get them to betray information that's only supposed to belong to the brood's hive mind. As of now, Razzar's gathered enough knowledge to realize that this place can be piloted."
"Piloted? You mean like a vessel?"
"Precisely. At first, I thought that by infiltrating the Lounge—I would learn all about the potential hazards of the Wastes. Turns out they're just as dangerous as the changelings themselves. But... there's something more."
"More?"
"A third party. Something potentially more dangerous."
"Even more dangerous than the Lounge and the changelings?!" Pilate almost tripped in mid-speech. "Roarke, you're going to murder my h-heart at this rate. What kind of a third party?"
"Only the changelings know, but Razzar was capable of extracting a vague idea from the shape-shifters he interrogated. Whatever this danger is, it lies deep in the heart of this city."
"And what's the Lounge's goal? To unleash this evil?"
"No." Roarke shook her head. "But whatever they seek is somewhere beyond it. The Lounge is willing to risk anything to achieve their goal, even if it means the ruination of all the survivors clinging to the platforms of this mess."
"That's... quite horrible."
"Yes." Roarke nodded. "In my short life, I've endeavored to be vicious and I've even attempted virtue, but nothing sickens me more than innate ambivalence."
"Then that's what we're here to do, huh?" Pilate tilted his helm towards her. "We're going to use this skystone to prevent the Lounge from unleashing some sort of evil just to pilot the city?"
"No. We're going to pilot the city ourselves."
Pilate nearly collapsed. "What?! But... but I-I thought you just said—"
Roarke glanced towards him. "I didn't suggest we were going to pilot it somewhere safe."
Pilate gaped at her. "You wish to destroy Stratopolis."
"Precisely."
Silence.
"How swiftly c-can I be of service to this mission?" Pilate asked.
"Trot faster."
"Yes, ma'am." And the two galloped straight ahead.
"There." Roarke pointed towards the rain-slick edge of the platform. "That's the perfect location."
"For what?" Pilate asked in mid-sprint.
"For making our jump to the central core of this place."
Pilate's helm rattled atop his head. "J-jump?"
"Relax, breeder," Roarke droned as the two slowed to a stop along the platform's edge. The temple was slowly revolving, pivoting to face the round structure in the center. "I'll be doing the legwork for both of us. This suit I'm wearing has enough fuel in it to provide the thrust for both of us for a short time. I'll carry you over and then you're on your own."
"Allow me to guess," Pilate droned. "More Searonese technology that the Lounge stole?"
"I'm afraid not. This technology is beyond me. Probably something stolen from Alafreo or a place even further east."
"You've heard of Alafreo?"
"I've heard of a lot of things."
"That's just... remarkable, Miss Roarke..."
"Hmmm?"
He tilted his helm towards her. "All this time, you were stealing a place on board Razzar's ship, spying and gathering intelligence."
"Well, I most certainly wasn't entering a beauty contest," Roarke grumbled.
"How did you manage it?"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean... they're not exactly equines and they know each other like brothers." Pilate glanced aside as the central structure slowly swung into proximity. "How did you manage to infiltrate their ranks in the first place? I mean, with one glance, they would have realized you didn't exactly have scales..."
"You can thank—or blame Quezaat for that."
"Uhm... Quezaat?"
"Yes. The naga God of Skin and Scales," Roarke explained. "Every naga ship carries a copy of the ancient Quezaatian Scrolls, and one of the holy text's most important rules is the sanctity of the reptilian body."
"Meaning...?"
"It's considered a mortal sin to bear one's flesh to another naga, hence why the Lounge's entire society is constantly wearing thick fabrics and silver masks to obscure their figures. If they allow one another to even see their faces, then they must masochistically peel the flesh from two of their own fingers and say a ritualistic chant for one whole week."
"Yes." Roarke nodded, her eye-lenses reflecting the large structure looming ahead. "As soon as I replaced Vaughan at an eastern Xonan outpost, I was able to masquerade as him on board the Lounge's ship without any of the naga suspecting me or having a reason to. The only thing I love more than stupid creatures is a religion that makes them even stupider." She pointed forward. "Here's our destination. We must hurry."
"Quick question. Exactly what am I supposed to do with this?" Pilate asked, patting the bundled shard in his grasp. "You've given me ample exposition on every topic but the immediate concern at hoof."
"That is the key to bringing about the end of Stratopolis."
"And a key is nothing without a driver who knows what he's doing." Pilate frowned under his mask. "Miss Roarke, vision or no vision, I refuse to go any further until I am better informed."
The metal mare sighed. "I only know two things, both of which were extracted from tortured shape-shifters courtesy of Razzar. Number one. Stratopolis has an operating room located within the very heart of this building before us. Number two. Within that room, there are five platforms: one in the center and four for each cardinal direction. It's presumed that skystone shards were positioned on the outer four and then relocated to the center in order to make Stratopolis fly to one of the edges of the world."
"How exactly does that work?"
"I'm not sure. What I am sure about is that the north edge of the world—beyond the standard red fare—has unique clusters of yellow skystone, like the type that you're currently carrying."
"So if I was to reach the control room and place this very piece on the center dais..."
"You're a smart enough breeder to know where this is going on your own."
Pilate gulped. "Yes, I suppose I do."
"We've wasted too much time," Roarke said, grabbing him while the rear of her outfit hummed to life. "We must get moving."
"One m-more thing, though!" Pilate sputtered, trembling in her grasp. "From what Rainbow reported, the center portion of this place is sealed off! How am I supposed to get anywhere near the control room? Especially with changelings everywhere?"
"I'm certain that a way to the control room will be made accessible soon."
"How so?" He clenched his teeth. "Do you intend to crash the Lounge's ship into the barricade?"
"No, for I do believe somepony besides us has the means of opening the last barrier to the core."
"Precisely." Roarke nodded, then fired the thrusters in her suit. "Now hang on!"
Pilate did so, wincing. The two propelled themselves off the platform's edge and soared towards the outer rim of the central platform.
Bellesmith lurched to a stop, her coat and mane drenched as she leaned against a piece of zeppeling wreckage positioned along the outer balcony of the large building.
"Did... did you hear that...?"
Elma stirred, her limbs curling and uncurling as she shivered across Belle's backside.
The mare gulped and wiped the rainwater off her brow. "I could have sworn that... th-that it sounded like something mana-powered..."
Elma continued to writhe and whimper.
Belle craned her neck back. "Elma?"
No response.
"Elma!" Panicking, Belle looked everywhere for cover. She decided upon the hollow of the crashed zeppelin lying right in front of them. Ducking low, she slid the two of them inside. They found a patch of dry rusted floor beneath the mangled hull of the ship. Lying Elma on her side, Belle squatted low and examined her face, fangs, and neck. "Elma, speak to me. What's wrong, darling? Where does it hurt?"
"It hurts..." Elma's green eyes spilled fumes into the air. "...everywhere."
Belle grimaced.
"Just... so..." Elma squeaked and curled into a fetal position. "So h-hungry..." Her dragonfly wings stretched and flitted. "So hungry th-that it hurts..."
"I... I..." Belle shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't... I-I mean I don't know..."
"Please... c-can you hold me?" Elma looked up at her with quivering jaws. "J-just hold me..."
Belle sniffled. She leaned forward and cradled her arms around the changeling. "Elma, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish I understood more. I want to ease the pain, but... b-but I have to get us out of here first..."
"Don't be sorry, Mommy..."
Belle twitched, her brow furrowing. She took one look at Elma.
The changeling's flesh had already taken on a peach coat, covered all over with dark swirling tattoo patterns. With a sad, pouting face, Kera looked up, then leaned in to nuzzle Bellesmith's chin. "You're so good to me. Just stay with me here..."
"Kera..." Belle stammered, her ears drooping as sweat formed along her brow. A labored breath escaped her lips. "Kera, I've waited so long for you to say something... j-just one thing..."
"I love you, Mommy," Kera murmured.
Belle choked on a sob, her whole body shivering.
Kera curled up against Belle's chest and clung tight to her. "Don't leave me. Please. I'm so scared, Mommy..."
Belle's eyes flickered green. A gasp escaped her chest, and she shook her head with an inward growl.
Kera's limbs squeezed Belle tighter. "I don't want to be anywhere but with you..."
"Kera..." Belle whimpered. She gritted her teeth and fought the green energy flickering through her skull. "Elma," she growled.
"Don't leave me, Mommy—"
"Elma, stop!" Belle shoved the filly hard.
Kera rolled over and collapsed against a rattling wall of metal, instantly turning into the frazzled changeling.
Belle slumped down onto her chest like a wounded animal. She wheezed, coughed, and took a few moments to fight a wave of pain. Tears ran down her face as she quietly sobbed, but even that was fought with strong resolve. At last, she pushed herself back up to her hooves, glaring down at Elma.
"That's not the way... that was never the way!"
"But..." Elma stared up, shivering. "But you always—"
"I know." Belle sucked her breath in as more tears trickled down her cheek. "And I was wrong. Just because it felt good... just because it felt comforting to be by her side at all times..." She bit her lip and looked away.
Elma blinked, confused and anxious.
Slowly, Belle trotted over. She squatted down before the changeling, then took Elma's hooves in her own. "Shhhh... look at me." She tilted Elma's chin up until their gazes connected. "If you must feed, then do so on that which is wholesome and true, not on that which is sorrowful and pathetic."
"But..." Elma gulped. "You've given me a second chance, Belle. I want to heal you."
"I need to heal myself," Belle said. "And the last thing I'm letting you devour is misery. So, look at me and listen." She gulped. "Feel."
Elma stared at her, eyes wide. Slowly, those eyes turned clear while black and white stripes formed across a stallion's body.
Belle fought the urge to sob. Another tear ran down her cheek as she squeaked, "I am so... so sorry." Her breaths came in pained spurts. "It doesn't matter what mistakes you may or may not have made. I... I was wrong." She hyperventilated slightly, but nevertheless kept gripping Pilate's hooves. "I felt so helpless, so confused, that I took the cowardly way out. And... and I blamed you, Beloved."
Pilate's ears folded back as his blind eyes went moist.
Belle gnashed her teeth and stared at the floor. "Everything happened so fast and so m-miserably, that I lost my center! I gave into despair, and I didn't know who else to blame!" She sniffled and shuddered. "Only, I blamed myself too. What happened to Kera was so terrible, that the only ponies who could be punished were the ones who brought her into that mess. She's been so quiet and so lifeless for so long... I... I-I guess I felt like I had to be just as devoid of life too. It was my burden to bare... but it was a damnably stupid sentence, because all it ever did was punish you... by putting you at a distance... and I'm sorry..."
Pilate swallowed a lump down his throat and stammered, "So much pain... and so much anguish..." He shook his head. "Even now, it's too dry to consume anything but misery..."
"No." Belle shook her head, sniffling. "No. Search deeper." She took the zebra's hoof and placed it over her heart. A painful smile lifted. "It is just a barrier." She winced and spat dryly, "A shell."
Pilate's face contorted in confusion.
Belle leaned forward and nuzzled his cheek. "But inside, beloved, hidden from even myself, it beats for you..."
All of the sudden, Pilate gasped, and a flash of green light flickered across his eyes. His face melted as he collapsed in a sob. "Oh, beloved..."
Belle instantly cradled him, holding him tight. "Shhhh... it's alright... it's alright..."
"And I've been a horrible pony to not reward that faith." Belle took a deep, deep breath. "But when I find him, I'll be hiding it no longer. He will know—as I know—that there is still hope left." She wiped her own cheek and smiled past the shivers. "I just need his help in peeling the shell away. All this time, I've been the blind one, and Spark-willing... he may still have it inside him to forgive me."
"He... he does..." Pilate stammered in an off-tone voice. "I... I've felt it... even if I didn't know it at the time."
Silence.
At last, Belle shook the changeling's shoulder. "Elma..."
The shape-shifter stirred.
"Elma Boreal..."
Losing the stripes, the equine glanced up with a tender expression.
Belle caressed her face. "Do you now have the strength to continue?"
Elma slowly, slowly nodded. "Yes, Bellesmith." Its black cheeks curved upwards. "I... I-I think I can even walk now."
"Good..." Belle stood up and helped the changeling to her hooves. "Though I think we both know who's really been carrying who." She dashed out of the zeppelin, tugging Elma long with her. "Come on!"
Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the outermost corridor and squinted her eyes at the gray malaise swirling thickly around the center of Stratopolis. Beyond the marble columns and airship wreckage, she spotted the remaining chunks of temple ruins floating through the rainswept clouds. However, her immediate concern involved the cityscape directly around her. She glanced left and right, but spot no sign of a moving shape or shadow. As well as she could guess, the coast was clear.
Taking a deep breath, she pivoted about on flapping wings and motioned towards herself.
With cat-like stealth, Razzar and two other Lounge members slithered out of the corridor, aiming vibrant yellow manarifles in every direction. They covered various points along the balcony, training their sights on every marble column and rusted bit of metal. After a minute passed, Razzar held his gloved hand up and motioned along.
Arcshod, Aatxe, and Seclorum trotted out, along with several Xonan and Ledomaritan equines. Mares and stallions alike carried or levitated crossbows by their sides. Far more emaciated and frazzled than their Lounge companions, they shivered from the cold wind and pelting rain, nervously eying the obscure temple ruins around them as they clung to their weapons.
At last, Props, Josho and the three remaining Lounge members came out, covering the rear. The group numbered no less than two dozen, and they formed a tight line that shuffled counter-clockwise around the broad temple exterior.
"If I recall, the wall with the big ol' Urohringr symbol is on the far side," Rainbow Dash's voice cracked against the rumble of thunder. "Right past—"
"—a hollowed out manaship with rusted steam thrusters?" Aatxe said.
Rainbow did a double-take towards the center of the line. "Why... yeah. Dude, do you take walks on a consistent basis or something?"
The stallion sighed out his nostrils. "You'd do stupid, bored things too if this place became your home for seventeen years."
"I'm ready to make it a distant memory," Seclorum grumbled. He cocked a crossbolt in his weapon and dashed forward. "Let's get this over with—"
Razzar blocked him with an oustretched hand. "We will take lead."
"Excuse me?"
Razzar didn't bother to look at him, instead strolling forward with courageous speed while accompanied by his two masked brothers. "We are a great deal experienced in dispensing with shape-shifters. For the safety of you and your comrades, I suggest you leave this in the hands of professionals."
"In the hands of—?!" Seclorum's eyes crossed, and he shook his muzzle with a frown. "Look, buddy, we're the ones who've been stuck here for eternity! I think if anyone knows a thing or two about these green-blooded freakjobs, it's us!"
"And to what extent has that undying self-confidence aided you in the escape from this prison?" Razzar signaled to his brothers, and they rushed forward, examining every piece of rubble and debris with hot-glowing manarifles. "It seems to me that no progress was had until Rainbow Dash and my own ship arrived."
"Why you—" Snarling, Seclorum's magic twitched and his crossbow raised until it was suspiciously aimed at the masked speaker in question.
"At ease, gray whiskers," Josho grumbled, physically lowering Seclorum's weapon with his heavy fetlock. "Let the creep do his job. He may be ugly as sin beneath that mask for all we know—but he seems to know what he's doing."
"Since when were you so docile, old friend?" Seclorum frowned at him. "You and I never stood for this kind of insult back in Ledomare!"
"When I gave up the bottle, I also gave up a lot of the bullcrap that came packed with it." Josho cocked his shotgun and marched on ahead. "And in case you haven't noticed, old friend, we're not in Ledomare anymore."
Seclorum slumped in place, his glare so sharp it could cut through the wind.
"Hrmmm..." Arcshod trotted past him with a wry smirk. "Bleem'ulien trenna sien thriul. Dreit?"
"Meh..." Seclorum trudged along. "Easy for you to say."
"Come on! Cheer up, Secchy!" Props sing-songed. "Soon enough, you'll be off this floating wreckie!"
Seclorum's glaring eyes swiveled towards her.
Props bit her lip. Her ears folded and she swiftly slinked ahead in a bouncing crouch. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm-moving right along!" She galloped until she was trotting "safely" underneath Rainbow Dash's shadow.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, suppressing a smirk as she then squinted towards the far end of the temple. Her ears twitched, and for a moment she turned around, glancing somewhere past the rear where Razzar's comrades were protecting the line with their weapons.
"You see something, Dashie?"
"No, Props," Rainbow muttered. "Not a darn thing, which is what worries me."
"It's okay! We've got a bunch of intimidating guys in cloaks protecting us with their super violent laser weapons! That's a good thing, r-right?"
Rainbow Dash sighed out her nostrils. "To be honest... that's worrying me a lot more." She looked head. "I can't stop wondering..."
"About what?" Props asked, blinking through her goggles in mid-trot.
"Assuming Commander Hurricane could move the temples around from the top room like I could, as well as move Stratopolis itself, then couldn't she also open the door that was sealed when I got here?"
"Well, sure! I mean... I guess. Why?"
"Then..." Rainbow Dash chewed on her bottom lip as she flapped along. "Maybe she kept the door shut for a reason..."
Props fidgeted slightly.
"Oh Props..." Rainbow grumbled aloud. "I have a very bad feeling about this."
"Yeah..." Props nodded. "It was hard for me to keep the faith after the prequels too."
"...the hay are you even talking about?!"
"You're assuming I understand half the time myself." Props let loose a melodic moan and trotted ahead. "I really, really miss Ebony right about now."
Rainbow Dash watched her trot along. Her body slumped as she exhaled, "I miss everypony." And she glided forward, scouting ahead of Razzar and the group.
Pilate swiveled around on his hooves, his head jerking towards the outer wall of the structure beyond the balcony. His muzzle clenched tightly while his ears twitched on either side of the helm.
Roarke glanced at him. "What is it?"
"I just..." The stallion fidgeted. "I-I'm not sure..."
"Did you sense something from inside the structure?"
"Possibly? It's hard to say."
"The Oracular Array's primary function is to detect movement along the visual spectrum, but it's been known to highten other senses," Roarke explained. "You've been without sight for a long time. It stands to reason that your smell and hearing is greatly attuned to your surroundings. Now, buffered by the Oracular Array, however—"
"Yes, but can I actually sense through walls?"
"I wouldn't know."
Pilate turned towards her. "I thought you said this was Searonese technology."
"Yes. But it doesn't necessarily mean that I've utilized it myself."
His metal brow furrowed. "And yet you'd attach it to me?!"
"Affirmative."
"Roarke, just... j-just where did you get a spare manasphere to hook up to this device anyways?"
The metal mare squirmed slightly, her facial features wincing. "It's... best not to ask."
Pilate was silent.
"We've wasted enough time. I need to return to the Lounge's ship." She reached beneath her cloak and pulled out her mana rifle. "Here. I've slightly augmented this to respond to equine touch." She tossed it at the zebra. "Feel for impressions along the central length. A little squeeze is enough to fire a blast of electrical energy."
Pilate snatched it in mid-air.
Roarke continued. "The damage output has a wide spread. Accuracy isn't as important as versatility. And here..." She stripped of a satchel and tossed it to the zebra as well. "That should help you carry the amber skystone to its destination."
"Stratopolis' control room..."
"Right." Roarke nodded. She stretched her spine, protruding the twin manathrusters of her outfit and preparing to take off. "If I'm to believe Razzar's latest communications, then his group and the local survivors are heading towards the barricade that seals off the inner chamber. No doubt Rainbow Dash is acting as the key to this place as we speak."
"It all seems too easy to be true," Pilate muttered.
"I'm inclined to agree." Roarke nodded, then turned towards the edge of the balcony to take off. "If there's anything in the world I've refused to trust, it's whatever's easy."
"Which begs the question, Roarke." Pilate took a firm breath. "Even after you've given me sight... even after you've given me a weapon to defend myself..." He raised his front hooves and trained the glowing stick's end towards her back. "How do I know you're not just a changeling trying to send me on a suicide mission?"
Roarke slowly turned around, the rainwater cascading off her lenses.
Pilate gritted his teeth, keeping the weapon trained on her figure.
At last, Roarke uttered, "I could ask the same of you."
Pilate gulped.
"We and the Lounge have a common foe... a very dangerous and unpredictable foe. As of right now, I have no more assurance that you're you than you do that I'm me. But let me ask you this..." Her lenses retracted. "Do either of us really... truly want this city to keep flying?"
Pilate stood still. Eventually, he lowered the staff while a sigh escaped through his nostrils.
Roarke turned around, fired her thrusters, and zoomed out into the stormy mess. "Also, you're holding the staff backwards!"
Pilate blinked beneath his helm. He held the weapon up, winced, then spun it around. Frowning, he barked up at Roarke, "And this whole mission! It could be a ruse as well!"
"Then go bring the skystone to Rainbow Dash!" Roarke's voice hollered back through the winds. "Assuming you believe that she's herself!"
Pilate groaned. He fidgeted where he stood for a minute. At last, he stuffed the skystone bundle into the satchel, slung it around his figure, and galloped off with the aid of his helm and the staff.
"I don't know what I prefer more... being blind or being stupid."
"Rekkha threen siul..." Arcshod stopped the crowd with an outstretched hoof. His tattooed face paled as he stared up at the barricade before them. "Urohringr..."
The group of survivors formed a curved line facing the large stone wall. Carved circles and spheres stretched before them, slick with moisture and rainwater. Amber light from the Lounge's weapons illuminated the runic inscriptions that stretched between each ancient etching.
"Wow..." Props cooed, her ears drooping as her goggled eyes took in the sight. "It's even bigger than I imagined it, Dashie."
"It always is," the pegasus muttered, trotting forward until she stood within a sneeze's distance from the wall.
"So, what now?" Seclorum muttered.
"Time to make your magic, paint bucket," Josho said.
"Uhm... yeah... about that..." Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously, then hovered up on flapping wings. "When it comes to this sort of stuff—machine worlds, runic tomes, smexy blondes—I don't exactly have an art to practicing magic. The crud just sort of... sets itself off, y'know?"
"No, we don't know," Aatxe said, shaking his head. "But obviously the changelings do, because they've used your essence to move the temples around from the structure's top room!"
"Yeah, and I get that! But the temples are different!" Rainbow pointed at the wall. "I've been by here already, and I couldn't get anything to flicker or move or change then!"
"Did you make physical contact the last time?" Razzar asked, his pale mask tilted towards her. "It could very well be the game changer."
"Oh, please!" Rainbow rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall with a hoof. "As if it could be as simple as—"
FLASH! The centermost ring lit up.
Several Xonans and Ledomaritans leaned back, gasping. Several of the Lounge tilted their masked faces in curiosity.
"Hey, you set off the tattooed guy!" Props chirped. "That's a good sign, right, Dashie?"
"Uhm... but nothing's happening though," Rainbow Dash said, then squinted. "Wait a second." She traced the inner most ring. "Only the circle on the inside is lit up."
"Then perhaps the other two...?" Josho began.
"Working on it." Rainbow licked her lips, hovering across the miniature spheres that lined the twelve segments of the inner ring. One by one they lit up by her touch. At last, when they were all illuminated, they spread their glow to the spheres on the outer rings, until those segments also turned bright.
Soon, the entire barricade was afire with bright lavender energy. Just as it was starting to blind the ponies and lizards lined up, the granite floor around them shook violently. With a cascading cloud of dust, the wall slid straight down, retreating into the foundation of the structure. The survivors gawked in stunned silence while the Lounge trained their weapons forward.
"At last..." Razzar hissed, his masked face peering into the dim, dusty corridor beyond. "The path is set..."
"Unnngh!" Elma collapsed, falling limply on her chest.
Bellesmith slid across a puddle of moisture and spun around. "Elma!" She scampered back across the balcony and crouched at the changeling's side. "What is it?! What's the matter?" She scooted over and cradled the hyperventilating creature's body. "Please... t-talk to me! Do you feel weak? Do you need to feed again?"
"No..." Elma's green eyes fumed as she stared painfully into blank space. "Mother... pl-please... spare them..."
Belle blinked. "Spare them? Spare who?"
Elma gulped, panted, and stared nervously into Belle's face. "Your friends... th-they're in trouble..."
The pegasus shook her head, flapped her wings, and hovered forward.
The two dozen survivors watched from where they stood. Props bit her lipe while Razzar and the Lounge craned their necks, gazing in silence.
Rainbow Dash flew into the broad corridor, her nose scrunching to the musky, stale air. After hovering in place for a bit, she brought a hoof to her pendant and rubbed the ruby lightning bolt a few times. A crimson glow splashed over dusty heaps of rubble before her.
The mare's eyes narrowed. She glanced to her right.
There were patches of charred granite and cracks in the wall.
She looked to her left.
The stone surfaces were marred in several places, as if by acid burns.
At last, she looked straight down.
She counted three... four... five chunks of rock missing from the floor—like miniature craters.
There were no skeletal remains.
Rainbow Dash's jaw clenched. Nevertheless, she looked over her shoulder, made eye-contact with Josho, and briskly nodded.
Josho nodded back. Levitating his shotgun alongside him, he trotted firmly forward. Razzar and two of his associates were not far behind. Soon enough, Props, Seclorum, Arcshod, Aatxe and the rest followed suit.
The surviving mares and stallions glanced nervously from wall to wall. Crossbows nearly rattled to the floor from a unicorn or two losing their concentration due to the intense silence. While Razzar and his team marched along, undaunted, Props paused every now and then to scrutinize various details with her goggled eyes. She rubbed her chin in thought, glanced up at the crew, then dashed back into formation with a nervous jump.
As Rainbow Dash floated along, she pivoted to her right. Her eyes narrowed.
In between the random cracks and fissures, a complex mosaic loomed. Swirling designs coalesced into the granite depiction of swirling clouds and cosmic nebulae. Emerging from the galactic miasma, solid circles glided in distant formation. Orbiting the outer rings of these circles, tiny globes floated. Only—upon closer inspection—they weren't exactly spheres. Rainbow Dash drifted close enough to a wall to see that the etchings were actually debris clouds consisting of multiple structures with a large platform located in the center.
Rainbow Dash tongued the inside of her mouth. She glanced towards the other wall, but it was beyond the penumbra of her glowing pendant's light. She kicked off the right wall and flew close enough to illuminate the other. What she saw caused her to stop in midair.
Equine figures had been illustrated, stampeding in a herd that proceeded out from the depths of the corridor. It took a while for Rainbow Dash to realize that the ponies weren't stampeding as much as they were flocking. Each equine had wings, and she would have liked to have seen the etchings of their muzzles—only all of the effigies had been marred in some fashion. Burn marks and impacts from blunt instruments had defaced them entirely.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, pivoted about, and darted further down the corridor before the rest of the group could pass her.
"Tren'nalliuen dreneek'raat siul threanna," Arcshod murmured, breaking the silence.
Aatxe nodded. "It beats me. I think we would have run into them by now too."
"Into what?" Props chirped.
"Changelings," Aatxe muttered. "We may be big in number, but this is the perfect kind of trap."
"Maybe the Lounge are scaring them off!" Props said through a crooked grin. "Spark only knows they're scaring the soot out of me!"
Seclorum spoke up, "We just did those shapeshifting creeps a favor by opening this place." He turned to frown at the others. "I doubt it's the Lounge scaring them."
"It will do no one any good if we scare ourselves," Razzar said without looking back. "Cling to your weapon if you can't cling to your courage."
"Hey, I'm a soldier, buddy!" Seclorum frowned. "Thirty years and running!"
"Running away, is more like it."
"Why you—" Seclorum darted for Razzar's backside, only for Aatxe and Arcshod to hold him back.
"Let it go, Secchy," Josho said. His grizzled lips curved. "Besides... that was a pretty good one."
Seclorum stumbled back, muttering under his breath.
"Maybe... uhm..." Props galloped forward until she was within earshot of Rainbow. "Maybe we should have had you close the door behind us, Dashie?"
Rainbow shook her head. "No... I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
Rainbow glanced at the cracks and craters and burn marks on the floor. "Uhhhh... call it a hunch."
Suddenly, her pendant's glow was swallowed up by pitch blackness.
She braked in midair and held her front limbs out. "Everypony, stop!" A beat. She looked over her flapping wings. "You too, Razzarlings!"
Razzar held a gloved fist up. His comrades stopped, as did Seclorum and the rest of the survivors.
Aatxe and Seclorum craned their necks to see.
"What is it, Rainbow?" Josho asked from where he stood in the middle of the group.
Rainbow Dash dropped down to her hooves. The ground had given way in front of her, and an abysmal pit loomed. She swung her body—and pendant—left to right. She spotted the beginning of two staircases.
"It's a stairwell, I think," she said. "Goes down pretty far."
"How far?" Aatxe asked, nervously.
"I'm guessing the entire depth of the structure." She tilted her pendant up, revealing a flat ceiling. "And that must be right below the room that controls the temples."
"Yes, it's all very intriguing architecture," Razzar droned as he shuffled up beneath Rainbow Dash. "But where are the mana crystals located?"
Arcshod cleared his throat and said, "M'lanna siulen drasta kran'adar. Menus la'tranna kelethiuen vreen."
"Judging from the distance Lasairfion sensed, it must be further down," Aatxe said.
"Of course," Seclorum grunted.
"Well, then..." Rainbow Dash flew forward. "Down into the heart of Stratopolis we go."
Suddenly, Props gasped. She flung a hoof and yelped, "Dashie, wait!"
"H-huh?" The pegasus glanced back, not realizing that her dangling forelimbs had traveled through a dim energy field. Just then, bright lights illuminated from an unforeseen rig of crystals that lined the edge of the platform right before the pit. "Aaaugh!" She flew backwards, rubbing her eyes.
Mares and stallions gasped in surprise.
"By Ledo's nose hairs!" Seclorum raised his crossbow at the blinding array.
"Ready, brothers!" Razzar gestured towards his companions. "Fire as soon as you see—"
"Will you vomittards just chill?!" Josho shouted, pointing. "Look! It's just a fancy light show!"
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her face, blinked, and squinted up. "Huh?"
Right then, the lights coalesced into a large translucent face. The flickering magical projection of a mare stared down at them. A scar ran down her muzzle while her multi-colored bangs peaked out from beneath a golden helmet. Her coat's graying age could be seen in the luminescent patterns, along with the cold hard lines of her jaw and cheekbones as she spoke. Despite the crackling quality of the sound sample, the booming authority of her voice rang true.
"Stop at once. Do not go any further." A pair of cold blue eyes narrowed. "Whoever you are, if you have pierced the walls of this chamber, then that can only mean one thing. You and I share the same spirit, both in purpose as well as in practice. But do not obey the impulsive courage that urges you to press forward, lest you wish to learn the same lesson that I did... through loss of blood and limb."
Razzar stepped up while the message was speaking and unabashedly pressed his gloved hand through the projection. "Hmmm... magic luminescent construction. And judging from the quality... a very ancient design."
Rainbow Dash shuddered. "Yeah... about ten thousand years ancient..."
Props flashed her a goggled glance. "How do you know that?"
"I think she's about to tell us." Rainbow gulped and bowed her head ever so slightly. "Commander Hurricane, I presume..."
The projection did not reply, instead thundering forth, "This door was sealed for a reason, and under my authority. My name is Commander Hurricane of Pegasopolis. I gave up my station as defender of the newly-formed Equestrian Alliance to see that this place remains forever untouched. If you value your lives and that of the Harmonic Realm, do not proceed any further. In the core of this sepulcher lies the blackest, vilest of hearts, and all you will find here is death."
"Shortly before the formation of the Equestrian Union, the skies of Pegasopolis had been hounded by vicious, rampaging windigos. My fellow brothers and sisters nearly froze to death from the cold spell that had been spreading throughout the realm. It took many months, many lives, and many opportunities wasted by foolish pride before we realized that the solution was to embrace our fellow earth ponies and unicorns in harmony, setting aside our differences for the sake of a peaceful future of coeexistence."
The projection of Commander Hurricane kept speaking, her glaring eyes focused on everypony and nopony in particular. Rainbow Dash paced slowly in the air, squinting at the image as the enchanted array continued broadcasting.
"The windigos were driven away, and our new nation began to prosper. But then, less than two years later, there was a new wave of inclement weather, moving slowly across the Equestrian north and spreading tempests and cyclones and lightning storms. As sworn defender of the land, I arrived with my fellow soldiers to confront this new evil. I expected more windigos, but was surprised instead to find this city—a place far vaster and more grandiose than Pegasopolis.
"At first, I assumed it was a relic from Pegasopolitan history, a piece of the noble city that had broken off and drifted way long before our wise record-keepers were ever foaled. As it turned out, this city's ancient origins went far back before anypony could have even predicted. It was certainly a place of pegasus design—but not any pegasi that I or my fellow comrades had ever met before.
"The ponies... the creatures who built this place were exceedingly wicked. I do not say this lightly. As weeks went by and we continued examining this place, the more we realized that the city was nothing more than a looming death trap constructed for nefarious reasons. Hidden weapons and malevolent devices ensnared my brothers and sisters, ending their lives within a blink. Despite our best efforts to control the weather, this city continued its path of destruction, pulverizing the countryside below with countless waves of tempest and turmoil.
"It was then that I made an alarming discovery. The finer machine parts of this city can be controlled, but they respond to only one key—and that is myself. For some inexplicable reason, I was born with the power to manipulate and guide this accursed place in manners that none of my fellow soldiers could. The reason for this is a mystery, and yet it pains me to realize that the explanation may very well be painted in the malevolent patterns of this city's architecture. From stained glass windows to mosaics to the ancient remnants of antique artwork, I've come to realize that a pegasus of my design was prophesied to have discovered this place. I do not rejoice in this revelation, and yet it is with a heavy heart that I've decided to exploit it.
"Ten years before this message was recorded, I, Commander Hurricane of Pegasopolis, and a legion of my most trusted warriors made the sacrifice of dwelling permanently within this city. We bid Pegasopolis and the newly formed Equestrian Union a somber farewell. Equipped with the enchanted Sword of Solstice from the Celestial Siblings, we took it upon ourselves to steer this city out of harm's way, keeping to the frozen north, and avoiding as many continental civilizations as possible. At last, through much trial and error, we found an oceanic body that could serve as a safe haven above which we might keep this city hidden, obscured by clouds and arctic winds forever.
"However, during this voyage, we discovered an even greater terror locked away in the core of this infernal place. It turned out that the innermost structure of this city had a large central chamber, and the entrance to it only responded to me. Equipped with the Sword of Solstice, I traveled deep into the city's heart, hoping to find answers to what inspired the construction of this place of evil. It was then that I discovered that the age of this city is not only timeless, but it had long been polluted by greed, malice, and ambitious forms of magical experimentation. The pegasi who commandeered this dwelling before I—whoever they may have been or wherever they may have hailed from—they desired power at the cost of their own well-being. They had discovered something in their travels, something vile and deadly and ravenous, something older than any other agent of death that plagues the Harmonic Realm.
"I encountered this evil first hoof, and it nearly devoured me. Many of my brothers and sisters were consumed by it, twisted by it, and reduced to ravenous shadows of their past selves. I have no doubt now that the pegasi who discovered and manipulated this cruel weapon were nothing short of agents of chaos, and it's obvious to me that their hubris was the cause of their own demise. How fitting—and yet how tragic that their curse would now befall us.
"Opening this chamber was a mistake, but I still have hope of rectifying the situation. My brothers and sisters intend to fight the chaotic essence back into the black heart of this city. No doubt many will fall in the execution of this offensive, but it will be a necessary cost, however grim. I only hope I live long enough to shut this chamber and seal the evil away within. Nopony must be allowed to have access to the city's core, lest they be exposed to a fate far worse than death. If I should perish while continuing to monitor this city, then my brothers and sisters have already committed to guarding my remains as staunchly as they would guard the entrance to this chamber, for the Harmonic Realm will be in great danger if somepony were to use my remains or the Sword of Solstice in accessing that which we have so diligently locked away."
The image of Commander Hurricane flickered in and out of the visual spectrum as it reached the tail end of the broadcast. With a somber expression, the scarred pegasus spoke her last words.
"Whoever you are, if you've made it this far, then either you've successfully pilfered my remains to use as a key to this chamber, or you were also born with the unique ability to access it on your own. If it's the former scenario, then proceed at your own risk. What you find will be ample reward for the blind avarice in your heart.
"But if the latter is true, then we share a common bond. Something inexplicable has drawn us both along this course, something far more powerful and older than even the legacy of Pegasopolis itself. I've no doubt that the same blood runs through our veins, the same fluid that stabs us awake in the middle of the night, making us realize that no matter how large this world is, we are destined for things far greater and more epic than any of our peers can understand. If you feel this same spirit as I do, then I implore you... I beg of you... do not go any further. Ignore your impulse and your warrior's resolve, much like I failed to do when I first opened this place. You are far too precious and too important to let your life end here. My fate has already been sealed by my own foolish courage. I sense my death looming on the horizon, when instead there should be a bright beacon, a golden sunrise. My only regret is that this destined luminance shall not be mine to grasp, but it could still be yours. Leave this chamber, seal it back up, and depart from this city forevermore. Let it continue to be a grave of evil... and a monument to bravery. Please. Go back. Go back. This is y-y-your f-f-final war-n-n-n-n-skkkkkkt!"
The array sparked, popped, and emitted a column of smoke. In the absence of Hurricane's booming voice, deathly silence fell, returning the chamber to quiet desolation.
Nopony said anything for a long while.
Props, naturally, was the first to speak up. "Well... that sucks."
Seclorum sighed. "Yeah, well, those manacrystals are looking a lot less promising now."
Rainbow Dash turned towards the survivors. "You've been here for how many years?" Her eyes narrowed. "You never encountered something else besides the changelings?"
Aatxe shook his head. "I'm sorry, no. We've never had an opportunity to open this chamber until you came along."
"For obvious reasons," Josho muttered.
"Dashie?" Props squinted up at Rainbow. "Are you... related to this smexy Hurricane?"
"What? No! I-I mean... I dunno. I don't think so..." She rubbed her scalp, sighing. "Sure, we kind of look alike—assuming that was her real face we just saw right now."
"Any reason it wouldn't be?" Aatxe remarked.
"For all we know, the changelings could have set it up!"
"Yes, but even if they could turn into you and open this chamber up, wouldn't we have noticed a clue or something?" Aatxe continued. "This place is virtually untouched! I don't think anypony's been in here for eons!"
"Probably because what the big floaty head thing was right," Seclorum said, pointing at the craters in the floor and the cracks in the wall. "Whatever happened here last, it looks like it was one hell of a smackdown."
"Hurricane fighting back the 'chaotic evil?'" Aatxe remarked.
Seclorum nodded. "Seems like it."
"You think she coulda been more friggin' specific?" Josho frowned. "Not sure I'm a big fan of your ancient, poetic ancestors, paint bucket."
"Look, her message was clear: 'do not go down here any further!'" Rainbow folded her arms and frowned. "I never once thought I'd be given a direct command from Hurricane herself, but darn if I feel like disobeying it."
"So what's the call, Dashie?" Props asked, fidgeting where she stood. "If we keep going on, we might end up entangled in nasty-wasties."
"But if we don't get those manacrytals, who's to tell if we'll ever get out of here on the Tarkington!" Aatxe remarked.
Rainbow Dash sighed, rubbing her chin in thought. "I... I think..."
Everypony stared at her in silence.
She gritted her teeth and finally grumbled, "I think it's not worth the risk."
Several survivors hung their heads. Arcshod's ears folded as he stared off towards the wall.
Seclorum took a deep breath. "I'm not a fan of advancing backwards, but I've seen enough crap from this city to possibly give it a second thought."
"Rainbow..." Josho trotted up, eyes thin. "Are you sure we can't... send a few of us down to investigate? I mean, we can still proceed—but no need to risk everypony—"
"No need to risk anypony." She frowned. "Period. I suggest we regroup. Bring this by Lasairfion. She seems pretty smarty-smart. Maybe she can come up with an idea or two."
"Sounds okay to m-me!" Props said with a nervous smile.
"First thing's first. Let's get the heck out of here." Rainbow spun around. "Seclorum? Arcshod? Gather your dudes. Aatxe, keep an eye on everypony. Razzar—" She did a double-take. "Razzar?"
Everypony jolted in place, looking all around.
None of the cloaked figures were to be found.
"Uhhhhh..." Props sweated nervously.
"Where in Ledo's girdle strings did they g-go?!" Josho exclaimed.
Rainbow blinked, then gasped. Lighting her pendant, she flew towards the edge of the platform and stared straight down the pit. Six dim amber lights were winding their way down the twin spiral staircases.
"Luna poop!" Rainbow hissed.
"They didn't..." Aatxe murmured.
"What in the hell do they think they're doing?!" Seclorum rumbled.
"Dammit!" Josho gnashed his teeth. "Those slimy salamanders!" He cocked his shotgun. "We need to go down and grab 'em before they screw stuff up!"
"No. No!" Rainbow shoved Josho back. "I will go down and get them!"
"But Dashie—" Props began.
"I mean it!" Rainbow shouted. "You guys stay here! Keep together! Nopony move a muscle beyond this point or else!" Taking a deep breath, she coiled her wings at her side and dove swiftly down the pit and after the Lounge.
"Wait!" Seclorum shouted, galloping towards the edge while Josho shoved him back. "Nnnngh! You idiot! What are you doing?!" His snarling voice echoed down the cylindrical blackness. "Don't go alone! Have you learned nothing about this place?!"
The spiraling staircases swished and crossed around Rainbow Dash as she plunged into the depths of the building. Reaching the bottom of the pit, there was no longer any sign of the Lounge to be found. Rainbow's glowing pendant illuminated a dust-laden floor with a tall doorframe that opened up to a large chamber.
Pulling up into a low hover, Rainbow swiftly threaded through the passage and entered the chamber beyond. A couple of flare had been deposited in even spaces across the stone floor. From how brightly they burned and the amber hue with which they did so, she could easily guess who left them there. The flickering light revealed a steep set of stairs leading down into a broad room with widely spaced walls in a hexagonal pattern.
No sooner had Rainbow Dash flew a few feet when she nearly smashed into something. At first, she thought it was a dangling set of rusted chains, or maybe a moldy rope. Pausing, she tilted her crimson pendant up and illuminated what turned out to be a series of dangling obstructions. Upon closer examination, she blinked and halted her forward movement entirely.
The upper length of the room was clustered with various branches of leathery green vines. Fibrous strands dangled off the flat ends of the thorny structures, betraying their age and state of decay. Visions of Everfree Forest flashed through Rainbow's mind, and the more of these ropey structures she saw, the more claustrophobic and confined she felt. Her eyes traced the looping ends of these things, and she found that they had long found surfaces across the floor, walls, and ceiling to cling to eons ago.
Rainbow Dash hovered close to the ground, having to constantly duck and weave beneath the branching structures. As she proceeded along, she noticed several clumps of debris littering the floor. Glancing down, she saw smashed remnants of a granite table, along with a copious amount of shattered glass containers and rusted instruments. Decayed wooden chairs and moldy shelves lingered in the corner, overshadowed by the array of dangling vines.
Rainbow's lips pursed as she spun and looked around some more. In the flicker of a yellow Lounge flare, she saw decrepit stone tablets lying against the wall. There were inscriptions upon the granite slabs that for the life of her she couldn't recognize. They were written in a language completely alien to Equestrian Basic. However, she did recognize several illustrations accompanying the texts and geometric figures. She saw equine shapes with wings, along with etchings of vines, plant leaves, and something that resembled a liquid solution contained within a vial.
"Experiments...?" Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Commander Hurricane?" Her jaw went tight. "No. Couldn't be. But perhaps..." Her eyes trailed up, and she gasped.
All of the vines and thorny branches connected to a central source. In the converging amber and crimson light, Rainbow saw a large tree trunk in the center of the room. Only, it wasn't quite a tree, but rather a bulbous thing, shaped like an enormous pear. The shell of the thing was organic, consisting of a vomitous green carapace and studded all over with rust-red barnacles. The vines and branches converged at the top, where a crimson stem with decayed petals loomed just beneath the chamber's ceiling. Rainbow had no doubt that the thing was once alive, but it lay dormant now, its outer fringes moldy and gray from millennia of neglect.
The pegasus bit her lip. She slowly pivoted about, spotting fibrous green roots that branched outward from the base of the plant and spread towards the furthest walls of the room. At one spot, the bulk of the roots combined, forming one thick tether that ran through a thin doorway and cascaded down a series of winding steps. From the far end, Rainbow detected the faintest hint of yellow amberlight.
Frowning, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and sailed down the curved, descending corridor. After three and a half spiraling turns, she emerged in a large round room positioned beneath the chamber with the hideous plant. Here, at last, she caught up with the Lounge. Razzar and his five companions were busily snatching glowing purple manashards from the platforms where they lay. The room was shaped like a giant octagon, with similarly shaped panels spotting the flat walls of the place. The roots that had snaked their way down had spread to all eight walls of the chamber, winding their way into the panels that reflected the Lounge's amber managlow.
"Razzar!" Rainbow hissed, fluttering her way into the center of the chamber. "What in Celestia's name has gotten into you?! Are you crazy?!"
"If desiring a way out of this floating monstrosity deems me psychotic, then I gladly subscribe to your diagnosis," he calmly said through his mask while gesturing to his companions. "Every crystal shard, brothers. Don't leave a single one behind."
"Didn't you hear a single dang thing that the ancient hologram said upstairs?!" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Allow me to guess." Razzar pivoted towards Rainbow Dash, his silver expression reflecting her glinting ruby light. "A copious amount of doom and gloom but with vague descriptions as regarding the true nature of it?" He slinked across the room beneath her. "Ponies may find comfort in wasting their time on fear, but the Lounge have long learned to look beyond it. We had a goal in coming here. Do you or do you not wish to help your companions escape on the Tarkington?"
"Well... y-yeah! But..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted in mid-air, eying the octagonal panels with the roots attached. "Commander Hurricane made it perfectly clear that something really dang evil is down here, waiting for us! And I'm not all that keen on disturbing it!"
"And does it seem disturbed to you?"
"Dang it, Razzar, this isn't the time to taunt fate! We're a lot safer up on the surface of Stratopolis and—Guh..." She frowned. "Did you not see that flank-fuggly plant on the way down here?" Silence. "Razzar...?" She glanced down, and her eyes widened.
Razzar was walking up a center platform that was raised above the rest of the room. His gloved hands flexed and unflexed as he approached what looked like a lever and crank-shaft positioned on the top of a slender cylinder.
"Razzar..." Rainbow grunted, then grunted again. "Razzar, what are you doing?"
"We're in the very heart of Stratopolis," the figure crackled through his mask. "Seems like the most logical place for the builders of this structure to house the city's engine... or—perhaps—it's cockpit."
"Cockpit?!" Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. "Razzar, look, we've got the manacrystals! It's what we need to power the survivors' ship andyours. Let's just hoist them over our shoulders and get out of here!"
"You're obviously a seasoned adventurer, Rainbow Dash, but you have a few things to learn about opportunity." He tilted his mask up towards her. "Why run from something when instead you can control it?"
"What do you mean, control it?" Rainbow asked. Her ears twitched to the sound of manarifles cocking behind her. She didn't even need to look back. Instead, she glared down at the Lounge leader, frowning. "This was your goal all along, wasn't it?"
"If you think I desired my comrades and I to be stranded here like a bunch of helpless equines, then you are sorely mistaken."
"But you wanted to gain access to this city nonetheless!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "Tell me, Razzar. Aatxe and Lasairfion and Prowse and the rest—did the changelings bring them all here? Or were you running ship after ship into the storm to test how long anyone could survive in this place?!"
"How easily you think ill of me..."
"'Cuz you friggin make it that easy!" Rainbow Dash growled, hovering in the glow of the converging figures' manarifles. "What were you actually doing when you were hunting down Prowse and Elma, huh?! Did somepony really contract you into finding the shapeshifters this whole time?!"
Razzar stood in silence.
"Hmmph..." Rainbow clenched her jaw. "That's what I thought. What do you do when you actually capture the changelings, Razzar? Do they tell you enough about this place under knife and taser?"
Clak-Clak! Razzar pointed a manapistol at her skull. "Enough to know that nothing can be trusted in this city, including a pegasus who is inexplicably gifted with the powers of an ancient to open the inner chambers of this domain. The monsters who run this place can control magic, enchantment, and even the viscosity of their own blood. They've usurped royal monarchs, mind-controlled a dragon, and brought two powerful empires upon the brink of oblivion. Now they shift their focus to the east, and with the essence of a magically-imbued pegasus added to the hive, who knows what they're capable of doing?!"
"Then what does this make you?" Rainbow Dash asked, monitoring the glowing gun sights in the corners of her vision. "Are you somehow the savior of the Wastes, Razzar?"
"No more than you are, Rainbow Dash. Though that is about to change." He side-stepped closer to the cylinder and its lever. "He who wields power wields control in this world. With access to the mobility of this city, one can navigate the furthest reaches of this plane. Don't pretend to deny it. You've seen the illustrations etched into the walls of Stratopolis. You know in your heart the function of this place."
Her nostrils flared. "It's a Sentinel... a Sentinel of the Rings..."
"It is clear to me now why the queen of the changeling hive desires this place so much. It has already served as her secret base of operations. But now, with full access to its operations, she can make that base mobile and attack any kingdom from anywhere, and just who will be able to resist her?"
"She's not succeeded so far, Razzar!"
"That's because she's not had the key to the heart of this place. You, Rainbow Dash. You are both the best and the worst thing to come to Stratopolis. Because of this, now is the time that I must take control of the situation. If the changelings are too hungry for power, and you too frivolous about it, then the Lounge must make their move."
"And just what do you intend to do with it?"
"If I am right about my suspicions of this place, then this city can navigate any spot on the plane... including the far north."
Rainbow blinked. "The... far north?" She pursed her lips. "You mean the skystone fields?"
"No ship, naga, pony, or any other living thing has been able to cross the north or south edges of the plane," Razzar said. "But, with a city—a Sentinel such as Stratopolis—we can finally have access to all of the precious minerals. We'll have enough energy to stage an attack on the changeling hives all across the world. They'll be incapable of defending themselves from our unprecedented speed and firepower. With unlimited skystone at our disposal, we'll hunt the shape-shifters to the ends of the earth, and restore balance to the continents abroad—even beyond the Grand Choke!"
"And does it stop there, Razzar?" Rainbow Dash snarled. "What happens to the world once the 'mighty and powerful Lounge' have rid it of the shape shifting hoard?"
"It's just as I said, Rainbow Dash. He who wields power in this world wields control."
"Grrrr..." Rainbow flew forward, only to stop at the threatening sound of cocking manarifles. She spat from a distance. "I did not go through Hell and back across this world just to see the reins of power thrown into another pair of gnarled hands! If you really wanna do what's best for the world, Razzar, you gotta learn how to repair it! Not fill it with holes!"
"There will be no peace, no tranquility—until the conspiring shape-shifters are completely eliminated."
"You don't know that!" her voice cracked. "What if they can be fixed?! What if they can be healed?! What if... what if..." She gulped. "What if they can be shown what it means to be loved again?! They've been feeding on pain and chaos for so long that they don't know any better!"
"A most interesting sermon," Razzar droned. "Coming from a pegasus who's chief talent is waging destruction wherever she goes."
Rainbow Dash frowned. "Don't pretend to know me."
"Only as long as you pretend to know yourself." Razzar gestured towards his comrades.
P-Pift! Gusts of steam burst along the fringes of the room.
"H-huh?!" Rainbow glanced aside, then gasped as lengths of cord wrapped around her body. Two grappling hooks ensnared her from opposite sides, and she fell—wriggling—to the floor while a pair of figures bundled her up. "Nnnngh! Let me go! Quit it!"
"I knew there would come a time when I would have to contend with you." Razzar slowly stepped towards her, looming above the struggling mare with his pistol in hand. "Somehow, I thought that you would put up more of a fight. Perhaps I guessed correctly, and the brood queen already got to you, Rainbow Dash, if that's who you really are..."
"Whatever I am..." Rainbow spat. "At least I'm not a good-for-nothing snake in the grass son of a—"
"Please, Rainbow..." Razzar waved his gun disapprovingly. "What would your pony goddesses say?"
"'Go buck yourself!'"
"Indeed. Maybe they will have the opportunity, someday, once I have liberated their kingdom from the shape-shifting army." Razzar turned and stepped back up to the cylinder. "Odds are I will have run into you a dozen times by then... at least... versions of you. I do hope they prove more exciting than this encounter."
"Dang it, Razzar! Don't do this!" Rainbow Dash hissed from where she writhed. "Don't try to take this place over! Don't you realize why Chrysalis never attempted it herself?!"
"I believe it's quite clear. She never before had you to—"
"It's because she knows it's been tried before!" Rainbow Dash spat. "Commander Hurricane had access eons ago, and in so doing she accidentally unleashed an evil far greater than the changelings could ever possibly be! Whoever first controlled this place—the pegasi who first had access to this Sentinel—they went off the deep end! They found something or made something that killed themselves off! And it killed Hurricane off too! That's why it was left here in the wastes! Hurricane didn't want anypony else to find it or else they'd make the same mistake you're about to!"
Razzar sighed through his crackling mask, then spun about with his pistol aimed squarely at Rainbow's skull. "Rainbow Dash, the only mistake I've made was not silencing your prattling mouth minutes ago—"
Ka-Pow!
Rainbow winced, only to realize that her skull was still intact.
Meanwhile, Razzar's weapon flew from his singed glove. He winced, stumbling back against the cylinder.
The other five Lounge members spun and faced the doorframe entering the octagonal room, weapons drawn.
"Not another move, scaleys," Josho hissed from where he squinted down his smoking shotgun. "Don't even fart."
"Nnnnngh..." Razzar moaned, still clutching his wrist. "It's always the fat ones..."
"You okay there, paint bucket?" Josho barked.
"Josho!" Rainbow Dash sputtered from where she lay in binds. "I thought I told you and the rest to stay up above!"
"Yes, well..." Seclorum trotted out of the room, his crossbow drawn. "Luckily, we don't speak 'stupid.'"
"Dashie!" Props sing-songed, popping out of the hallway along with Arcshod and four other ponies. A phalanx of equines trained their makeshift weapons on the six Lounge members. "What in the hay happened to you?!"
Rainbow grumbled, "I picked a bad time to catch up on my filly scout knot-making."
"Get her out of that mess, blondie," Josho nodded towards the mechanic. "We'll take care of lizard breath."
"You speak as if we're not of one accord, Ledomaritan," Razzar said while Props ran over to Rainbow's side.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I interrupt your tea ceremony?!" Josho scowled. "Or is it just pure coincidence that you give rambling evil monologues to bound mares in the dark?!"
"What the crap, Razzar?!" Seclorum grunted over his friend's shoulder. "You said you were going to cover the survivors! How does abandoning us in the middle of a strange environment fit into all of that?!"
"You desired the manacrystals, did you not?" Razzar gestured towards the shards clinging to the cloaked figure's backsides. "We were simply retrieving them as planned."
"Uh huh..." Rainbow fidgeted and frowned while Props sliced her binds free with a metal shiv from her saddlebag. "And what about the part where you planned to take control of this city, harvest skystone from the north, and then wield world-wide totalitarian domination?!" She stretched her wings and crawled up onto her hooves, freed. "Didja forget that part?!"
Arcshod frowned. "He'kaata rekulien trenn'adren!"
Seclorum squinted. "Is this true, Razzar?"
"You all have no idea the extent to which the shape-shifters have dominated you," Razzar said icily. "They control you with fear. They control you with paranoia. And now... thanks to Rainbow Dash... they control you with a false sense of self-righteousness."
"I dunno, pal." Josho squinted down his shotgun. "From where I'm looking, I'm not the one with the disgusting hard-on over changelings."
"I've done some nasty things to get me and my companions out of this rathole of a city," Seclorum said. "The last thing I wanna do is take control over it."
"We are in a race against a dynamically morphing conspiracy!" Razzar growled. "Perpetrated by the shape-shifting brood and accelerated by that mare!" He pointed at Rainbow Dash. "If we leave now, this inner chamber and all of its secrets will fall into the hive queen's clutches! The world as we know it will tremble under her control!"
"Let's take things one flankhole at a time, shall we?" Seclorum motioned with his shotgun. "Step away from the colorful mare, buddy, thank you..."
Razzar stepped backwards as commanded. "It is unfortunate that you cannot smell what's truly run afoul here, ponies." His body inched towards the cylinder. "Perhaps now is the time to keep both eyes open..."
Rainbow saw where he was moving. She gasped. "No!" Her hoof stretched out. "Don't let him touch—!"
It was too late. Razzar stealthily grasped the handle of the central pedestal with his gloved hand and gave the crankshaft a turn. A metallic sound reverberated deeply through the place. The raised steps around the cylinder glowed one layer after another with a lavender aura.
Props clung to Rainbow, trembling. Rainbow looked up with quivering eyes.
The room shook, raining dust and sediment down onto everyone's heads. Arcshod and his fellow Xonans glanced about anxiously. Seclorum's fellow warriors clung to their crossbows, shivering.
Then, as quickly as it began, the rumbling ended.
Razzar stood up straight. His panting breath could be heard through his mask. "I... I do not understand. Where is the cockpit? Another chamber should have been revealed..."
"Perhaps the changelings we interrogated lied, brother," another Lounge member said.
"Silence, weakling!" Razzar hissed. "That is impossible! I simply didn't turn it far enough—" He reached for the lever yet again.
"Not another inch!" Josho shouted.
"Do not threaten our master!" a Lounge member growled, priming his weapon in Josho's direction.
"That's it!" Seclorum cocked his crossbow. "You creeps have just signed your death warrant—"
"Everyone stop!" Props shouted in a high-pitched squeal, even making Razzar's gang wince. "Do... do you guys hear that?!" She stammered.
Everyone stood in silence... that is until they became aware of a ringing sound echoing across the dark chamber. It rose and fell in tonality, ultimately undulating with a deep bass hum.
"Sok'ranna rendulien threatta..." Arcshod murmured, nervously eying the ceiling.
"What in blazes is making that sound?" Seclorum murmured.
Another Ledomaritan remarked, "Sounds... almost like d-drums."
"More like a heartbeat," said another pony.
"Alright..." Josho gulped. "Drum sessions are sexy n'all... but I think now is high time we gallop outta here—"
Just then, the noise stopped. It was quiet enough to hear the saliva swishing in everyone's mouths. Then, all of the sudden—
"Look!" Props yelped, pointing up.
Everyone's necks tilted. One by one, the octagonal panels in the wall slid open with errant hisses. When at last all of them were opened, the bass thumping resumed, coming out of one hole on the far side of the chamber.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, hovering upwards and squinting. She saw a lavender glow from the deepest recesses of the compartment. The roots of the plant that rivered into the hole shifted and wobbled slightly. Then, at last, something came out of it... or more like dripped out.
A collective gasp filled the room as a viscous globule of muck fell to the granite floor. Lizards and ponies alike backstepped from the slimy mess. No one was training guns on each other anymore. All eyes were locked on the unsightly puddle.
Props fidgeted, glancing nervously aside at Rainbow Dash. Squinting her ruby eyes, Rainbow hovered forward in silence. She gave her pendant a good rub, illuminating the pool of slime on the floor. Upon closer inspection, the bubbling solution took on a sickly purple hue. It quivered all over like living plasmodium, and it was covered in random spots by thick rounded postules. After a few seconds of stillness, those postules suddenly flickered open, revealing an array of bone-white blinking eyes. They swiveled around until they all faced Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus jerked back.
Sploosh! A necrotic hoof emerged from the puddle.
Props shrieked. Rainbow Dash hovered back while everyone collectively flinched.
The hoof was followed by a second limb, then a cranium, then a spinal structure. Inch by inch, an equine body pulled itself out of the impossibly tiny puddle of slime, accompanied by a deeply resonating deathbeat. Soon, a slime-covered pony stood before the group, shivering. Its joints cracked as it took one wet step forward, then a second. Suddenly, it stopped, then spread a pair of bony wings out in a splash of purple liquid. Crkkkk! It tilted its head up, then opened a gaping maw, vomiting out four times the amount of viscous lavender slime, every other square inch awash with blinking white eyeballs that spread the disgusting solution further and further across the floor.
Rainbow Dash flew backwards, grimacing hideously at the display. At that precise moment, the bass noise doubled, and she heard shrieks to her left. She glanced to her side.
Out from two other holes, more fountains of slime were splashing. In quick order, equine figures emerged from the purple mess, lurching across the floor and crushing eyeballs into bloody pulp as they approached the Lounge like a sentient wall of phlegm.
"Back! Get back!"
Snarling, a cloaked member of the Lounge shuffled his way into a wall. The floor around him was already covered with the purple goo, giving him no way to run. At the sound of his distressed voice, two slimey ponies turned and marched his way. As some of the ooze dripped off the figures, Rainbow could spot spread, feather-less wings, rotting from the inside out.
"Brothers! Help me!"
Desperate, the figure fired his rifle into the guts of the approaching creatures. One pegasus fell flat to its chest, bursting with four times as much slime as the puddle it emerged from. The second rushed towards him, its open mouth gargling with the acidic solution. The lizard took one good shot at its scalp, and the pegasus' cranium exploded, splashing purple liquid all over the Lounge member's weapon. The slime wormed its way into the structure of the rifle, making it useless. Panicking, the lizard flung the weapon away and reached under his cloak for a pistol. Meanwhile, four more equine shapes emerged from the slime, joining their headless companion. They converged on the lizard, thrashing and biting as his body from all sides. Their attacks were barely wounding him, but the slime that dripped off of their muzzles and fetlocks spread all over his figure as soon as it made contact.
Hyperventilating upon the smell of his own body going up in smoke, the lizard shrieked through his mask and activated his rocket thrusters. He soared through the room, dragging the clinging equines—and their deathly slime—along with him. "Hraaaauckckkkkltkg-grkkkk-aaakk!" Ponies and naga ran for cover as he slammed into the far wall, then fell like a slimy sack of meat. When he struck the floor, it was with a wet splash, spilling purple ooze marinating in reptilian entrails.
Cl-Clink! The manacrystals that the ill-fated lizard was carrying rattled cleanly across the floor. Rainbow Dash looked at it, then spun to gape at other side of the room.
Seclorum and two other ponies were cornered against a wall, firing at a current of purple slime rivering their way. One by one—equine-shaped lumps emerged from the mess and lumbered towards the trio. Despite their fervent efforts, no amount of crossbolts could stop the death march of the undead pegasi.
"Hold on, old friend!" Josho shouted between firing pot-shots with his shotgun. "Hey! Connect-the-dots face! A little hoof here!" Arcshod followed the obese stallion as he stood upon the edge of the eye-bobbing mess. With combined telekinesis, they levitated Seclorum and his two companions away from the tiny patch of granite before it could be overwhelmed by slimey pegasi.
From four other holes, more copious streams of gunk poured out. Without wasting any time, moaning pegasi emerged from the solution, spread their wings, and glided towards the embattled survivors.
"Josho! Look out—" Rainbow started to shout.
Ka-Pow! A yellow stream of mana flew in and exploded the winged ponies in mid-air
Josho, Arcshod, and Rainbow spun to look.
Razzar and his remaining cohorts had formed a line, retreating firmly form the center of the swiftly flooded chamber. "Get a move on! We'll hold them off!"
"Like we can trust you!" Seclorum spat.
"I'd be vastly amazed if you can strike up an even better conversation with them!" Razzar fired blast after bright flast into the multiplying wave of slimy monstrosities. "Now go! Whatever you do, don't let the slime touch you!"
"Props!" Rainbow shouted. "Quick! Grab the manacrystals!"
"Okay!" Props scooped up the glowing shards and strapped them to her saddlebag. "Okies! What now—?!" She looked up to see a fountain of purple liquid sloshing towards her. "Aaaaaiie!"
Rainbow scooped her up in the nick of time, then soared over the bubbling death currents. The air was filled with a deafening bass hum by this point, undulating as if with a demon heartbeat. Whille the interior turned darker and darker, all Rainbow could see was the whites of alien eyes bobbing in the current, then lunging towards her as hissing pegasi shapes splashed violently out of the mess. She spun with the weight of Props' body, avoiding the splattering lavender liquid with only a hair's breadth to spare.
Loud shrieks filled the chamber by the time Rainbow reached the patch of stone floor before the exit. She turned her head to look.
Two ponies stood their ground, surrounded on all sides by the viscous liquid.
Rainbow seethed through her teeth. "Josho!"
"Wh-what?!" the stallion shouted back amidst shotgun blasts.
"Catch!" And Rainbow tossed Props.
"Aaaaackies!" Props flailed, only to be caught by Josho's strong telekinetic field.
"Are you crazy?!" Josho sputtered as he shoved Props up the hallway to safety.
"Something like that!" Rainbow hollered back as she soared towards the stranded pair. She had to dodge crossbolts, energy beams, and exploding splashes of purple ooze along the way. Once in the clear, she dove down, spun sideways, and grabbed the two ponies in her forelimbs. They gasped in her embrace as she glided fearlessly over the deadly pool, then swiveled back towards the last remaining patch of unwashed stone. Through the corner of her eyes, Rainbow could spot the cylinder with the lever, remaining strangely untouched by the viscous slime. Before she could dwell on that, a pair of dripping pegasi sailed at her body, hissing and spitting up muck.
Pow! Razzar's well-aimed blast exploded the winged equines before they could make contact. Nevertheless, Rainbow had to dart upwards to avoid the splattering liquid.
"Rrrrghhh... Razzar!"
"It would do you well to fly faster," he calmly said while firing at the advancing pegasi. "Hurry. My brothers and I can't hold them off much longer."
"We're not through, you and I!" Rainbow grunted as she touched down and deposited the breathless pair of ponies. "Not by a longshot!"
"You heard the snake in the grass!" Josho yelled while backtrotting from the flooded compartment. "Let's get out of here! Gallop! Back up to the door with the others!"
"Move it! Move it! Move it!" Seclorum shouted while reloading his crossbow.
"Yes! Prowse's niece is carrying some manacrystals!" Seclorum nodded. "At least somepony got what we came here for!"
"Xon... drenna diulen thr'akka vreen!"
"Don't need to tell me twice!" Seclorum kicked an errant Ledomaritan in the flank. "Dammit, go! Make like the wind!"
Ponies and Lounge members alike turned completely and ran straight up the stairs. At the last second, a throng of pegasi burst out of the mess and lunged at the group.
In mid-flight, Rainbow Dash turned and gasped. "Look out!"
"On your six!" Josho howled.
Arcshod spun, snarled, and fired a crossbolt. The projectile pierced a pegasus' skull, slamming its body into another equine. However, the resulting purple splash made contact with a fleeing Xonan. The stallion gasped, collapsing across the stairs on his chest while the liquid melted his fetlocks out from under him. "Grrraaaaaugh—Drek threem jaat! Xonnn!"
Arcshod gasped, his glossy eyes reflecting a pair of slimed figures as they pounced on the warrior, ripping his tattooed flesh to pieces. In a matter of seconds, their oozing bodies merged with his, and they became one with the fleshy puddle of purple slime. From inside the quivering mound of liquid, the stallion's screams could be heard, curdling lower and lower until they joined with the bass thumping.
"Dammit, it's too late!" Seclorum and another Xonan restrained Arcshod, tugging him back with flickering telekinesis. "Keep moving, ya big lug!" He fired over Arcshod's quivering shoulder at the mess. "Everypony! Just keep moving!"
Rainbow nearly wretched, but nevertheless turned and flew up the winding corridor, shoving several ponies along with use of her wingstrength. "You heard the stallion! Run!"
"Go on, brothers," Razzar hissed as he took up the rear, firing madly into the rising, rising ooze. "We can still salvage this yet—"
Just as he spoke this, a pony splashed out of the bubbling mass and charged up the steps. This one had no wings, but instead freshly mawed flesh brimming with bloody tattoos.
"Master! Look out!" A cloaked figure grabbed Razzar's shoulder and hoisted him out of reach of the undead Xonan's jaws.
As Razzar stumbled up the steps, two other Lounge members fired at the stallion's body.
The creature's skull burst, splashing purple goo all over the cloak of the naga that had saved Razzar. The lizard shrieked instantly, collapsing to the steps as the ooze melted through his cloak and ate away at his scales. He writhed on the floor while the lavender pool swiftly washed up over his body. His mask crumbled away, and a hint of razor sharp teeth clattered through smoke and fumes.
Razzar stood up straight. Taking a deep breath, he reached down... and grabbed the manacrystals off the naga's back before they could be encased in slime. Swiveling, he reached into his own cloak, produced a belt of mana explosives, and shoved them into the quivering mass that remained of his melting companion.
"Do not stop for anything!" Razzar snarled, firing down the steps in mid-march. Kapow!
The energy blast had the desired effect, blowing back a wave of the purple slime and giving the surviving Lounge room to escape. Not long after, the viscous material recoalesced, floating eyes blinking wide as the quivering mass advanced up the curved steps with rapidly multiplying speed, accompanied by galloping and gliding equines.
Rainbow Dash was the first to emerge in the broad chamber full of vines and thorny branches. Her ruby pendant glowed off the sickly carapace of the large deceased plant in the center of the compartment. Threading her way over and around the dangling obstructions, she paused halfway and turned to face the hallway from which she emerged.
"Quick! This way, guys! Just up the steps and—"
"Look out!" a pony's voice shrieked. Josho, Props, and a few other survivors had already emerged, but they all dove for the floor as something streaked past them, dripping with purple slime.
Rainbow gasped.
The lone, speeding pegasus pinballed off two vines and rose towards the looming ceiling. Its bony feathers dribbled acidic slime as it spiraled about, hissed, and dove suicidally towards the helpless group below. Josho could barely aim at the thing to get a shot off.
"Hnnnngh!" Rainbow Dash courageously threw her shoulder into the body of the undead beast. The two went ricocheting off the floor, crashing wetly through a wooden shelf full of moldy scrolls and ancient texts.
"Rainbow!" Josho shouted. "Watch it!"
"Don't let the damn thing splatter all over you!" Seclorum added, emerging and cocking his crossbow.
Waking up to the danger, Rainbow gaped at the puddle forming between her and the creature. She snapped out of it at the last second, ducking as the thing's mouth snapped violently at her scalp.
Right then, Razzar and two other Lounge members emerged. "Move aside." Razzar squatted and fired without hesitation. Ka-p-pow!
Yellow manafire flew in Rainbow's direction. Thinking fast, she rolled to the side, spiraling out of reach of the zombie pegasus' exploding innards. Purple slime coated the far walls of the granite compartment, sending smoke and steam billowing ceilingwards.
"Dammit, lizard!" Josho grunted as he telekinetically shoved more ponies ahead, boosting them towards their destination. "I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but shooting madly isn't helping!"
"Speak for yourself," Razzar droned. Right then, the thumping beat intensified, echoing throughout the whole chamber. "They are overcoming us! Brothers—"
The other three Lounge members had already formed a phalanx, aiming their manarifles at the tunnel exit. The last stumbling equines gasped, their eyes lit up by the weapons' light. Arcshod and Seclorum hoisted them out of the way just milliseconds before a wall of pulsating purple slime poured out, splashing outward in every direction.
"Fire!" Razzar howled, and then the room filled with thunder. Solid waves of yellow energy surged into the corridor, roasting every square inch of the door-frame. The bubbling ooze rolled back, undulated, and splashed forward with greater speed and viscosity.
The Lounge members adjusted their weapons, intensifying the mana output as they collectively struggled to beat the deadly solution back. In the meanwhile, Razzar turned, snarled, and shoved several ponies towards the far end of the room.
"You wish to go?! Then go!" his voice crackled loudly through the mask. "We'll hold them back as best as we can!"
"Throw yourselves at 'em while you're at it," Seclorum grumbled, then galloped up the stairs, ushering several fellow survivors along in the process. "Keep moving! Head for the door at the top of the stairwell!"
"Move it!" Josho added. He glanced upwards in mid gallop. "Rainbow Dash—"
"I could use some cover!" Rainbow hollered, watching in horror as two pegasi violently slipped past the Lounge's blockade. Set ablaze by manafire, the undead creatures stumbled their way through the vines and dove at a train of galloping ponies, their mouths drooling with lavender acid.
Josho's eyes darted upwards. He aimed his shotgun and blasted at a length of plant branches. P-Pow! A length of vines fell. "Paint bucket—"
"Got it!" Rainbow twirled sideways, spun, and grabbed the loose end of the falling vine in her mouth. Swinging her body around, she flew in a wide arc and clotheslined the two pegasi with the thorny branch. Both creatures twirled from the blow and slammed into a far wall, exploding into wet puddles awash with fluttering eyeballs.
"Quezaat spare us!" a naga's voice could be heard shouting. Rainbow spun a glance over her shoulder. She saw Razzar's phalanx buckling, stumbling backwards as the dense flood of slime finally emerged from the corridor. With deadly splashes, one equine after another galloped out of the mess, charging the valiant defenders. Manafire converged on the undead hoard, sending them collapsing to the floor in wet splashes, spreading the slime thicker and thicker across the ancient granite.
"Retreat, my brothers!" Razzar shouted, nudging the other cloaked figures along. "I shall give you cover—" Just as he said this, a bipedal shape leapt out of the slime, lunging towards him. Holding his breath, Razzar ducked while the creature soared over his scalp.
Props gasped as she and Arcshod jumped in opposite directions. The thrashing creature collapsed against the large plant in the center of the room, a large thick tail whipping as it gnashed blindly at the air with a scaled mouth.
"Nagu'n!" Arcshod sputtered.
"Is that one of the Lounge?" a pony breathlessly stammered from the stairs. "But... it d-died just minutes ago—"
"Hressssshhhh!" The slime covered monster lunged at the ponies.
"Mmmmffnnngh!" Rainbow Dash dove down and slammed into the thing's chest. "It's looking pretty darn alive now!"
"Rainbow, watch out!" Props' voice cracked.
The beast propped itself up on its necrotic tail, swinging a fist full of claws at the pegasus' face.
Rainbow ducked, then flapped her wings so she could backstep from its second lunge.
Sliiiink! The monster's claws grazed the carapace of the plant, spilling bright orange fluid all across the floor. Rainbow Dash inadvertently slipped on the juice, falling awkwardy to her spine. The reptile spun, vomited purple ooze, and pounced towards the mare.
Rainbow flinched—
Pffft-Thunk! A single crossbolt sailed into the thing's neck, pinning it—dangling—to the trunk of the plant. The dead naga hung there above Rainbow Dash, twitching and convulsing. Then, with a sickening pop, its tail snapped clean from its body and fell to the ground with a splash of surging purple slime.
Spluttt! A dollop of the ooze splattered across the room... and caught Props tail. The mare gasped, collapsing breathlessly to the floor as the slime coagulated, spreading through her blonde hairs.
"D-Dashie!" Props whimpered, goggled eyes wide.
"Props!" Rainbow shouted.
Schiiing! Arcshod unsheathed his scimitar. In one massive stride, he swung the blade at full force, cutting off the last third of Props' tail hairs.
The mare gasped, scrambling away from the puddle.
Rainbow grabbed her forelimbs and yanked her safely away while three more undead pegasi galloped up.
"Raaaaaaaugh!" Arcshod howled in fury, lopping two heads off in one swing and skewering the chest of another. The last living corpse stuck itself on his blade, dribbling blood and slime that crept like animated mold up the sword. Realizing that it was a lost cause to salvage the weapon, Arcshod kicked away at the blade's hilt and levitated his crossbolt, skewering the skull of the impaled beast and the advancing pegasi behind it. The muscular Xonan joined the Lounge as they marched backwards up the stairs, firing potshots at the flood of equine death and slime spreading rapidly across the stairs and crawling up the steps after the survivors.
Meanwhile, up above, Rainbow Dash deposited Props' frazzled body besides Josho at the top of the stairs as they all went charging through the doorway and into the immense stairwell beyond.
"Eeugh!" Elma convulsed in Belle's embrace. Her black shell flickered from one coat to another as her eyes fumed with green smoke. "No! N-no, mother, please!"
"Elma!" Bellesmith hissed, dragging her deeper into the confines of a collapsed zeppelin. She tried desperately to silence her. "Elma, you must be quiet! They'll hear us!"
"D-don't do it, mother!" Elma squeaked and writhed. "Don't do it to them!" She curled her forelimbs and sobbed into Belle's chest. "So... so tired... so s-sick and tired of devouring pain..."
"What's happening, Elma?" Belle gulped and stammered, "What's 'mother' doing to who? What is she planning?"
No sooner was she done asking this then a loud series of buzzing sounds flitted past the zeppelin. Belle glanced out a rusted, gaping window just in time to catch streaking black bodies on dragonfly wings.
Pilate winced. It wasn't enough that his visual senses were being overloaded by the Oracular Array of red lines against virtual blackness. The rolling thunder of the Stratopolitan tempest pounded his eardrums, making it hard to walk straight, much less carry the weight of the amber skystone on his back.
Neverthless, he pressed forward, keeping the Lounge's energy rod that Roarke had given him close to his side. He was about to trot past the umpteenth marble pillar when—suddenly—his helm practically vibrated from the sheer amount of information he was receiving. He didn't know exactly how or why, but he sensed a dense cloud of objects surging up from behind.
"What in Spark's name...?"
Pilate's heartrate increased tenfold. Glancing left, he saw a collapsed pillar lying on its side beneath a crashed manaship. There was a niche within that was small enough for his body. He rushed over, slid on the moist balcony's surface, and threaded his body through the narrow crack.
Not long after, several objects zipped by, propelled by blurred wings. Pilate stared out—but realized he didn't have to. Even through the immediate structures surrounding him, he could sense the flying bodies as they streamed through the rain and wind.
"...twelve... seventeen... twenty-two..." He didn't realize he was doing it at first, but he was counting each of the bodies, clearly separating them from the rest of the chaos and noise. "...thirty-five..." His brow furrowed under the helm. "Where are they off to in such a hurry?"
It was then that he started to feel massive vibrations through the floor of the balcony beneath him. Whatever was happening, it wasn't in sync with the thunder.
Determined, Pilate slid back out from underneath the niche and trotted swiftly—cautiously—after the flying figures.
"Th-they're coming!" Props stammered beneath the sound of the rattling mana crystals on her back.
"We can all see that!" Seclorum grunted, pausing along the stairs to reload his crossbow. "Now keep moving!"
The procession of Xonans, Ledomaritans, and Lounge scampered its way up the spiral stairs. Some took the opposite path, so that when they paused to fire down at the advancing muck, their projectiles criss-crossed and converged on their target.
But the danger was growing larger, faster, and more widespread. With each undead pegasi shot, the virulent puddle multiplied in size and speed. Soon, a deluge of the stuff was fountaining out from the chamber below and rapidly rushing up the walls of the place.
"It's no use!" Josho shouted, his voice drowned out by the echoing shrieks of the winged monstrosities. He blasted the brains out of a lunging pegasus and watched as it plunged back down into the curdling depths. "Every time we kill one of these motherbuckers, it only makes them stronger!"
"Then we just have to be faster!" Rainbow Dash shouted, coaching the galloping, breathless survivors on. "Come on! Run like your lives depend on it!"
"Razzar, master, they will overtake us!" one of the Lounge Members exclaimed.
"Then we must gain the upper hand. Come, my brothers!" Razzar ripped his gloves off, exposing gnarled claws and rust-brown scales. He turned away from the fight completely and clamped his fingers into the curved wall of the granite pit. His comrades followed suit, and—with tails thrashing out from under their cloaks—they shimmied swiftly up the walls of the place, easily outpacing the labored equines.
"Gen'salla keemsleen thulien massa..." Arcshod paused in firing to gape at the lizards.
"Mrrrmmf..." Seclorum galloped along, glaring at the steps ahead. "That's just wrong."
"Aaaugh!" a Xonan warrior grunted from far down below.
Rainbow Dash glanced down.
The tattooed mare had collapsed on her chest. Another Xonan rushed over to help her, but it was too late. A bubbling pool lapped up to their limbs. Floating eyes blinked and all turned towards the two victims while the haunting heartbeat intensified.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash blurred down towards the scene. She hoisted one forelimb under the mare's chest and another under the other pony's. Fiercely beating her wings, she took off slowly, floating away from the stairs as they washed over with purple slime.
"Nnnngh! Just... h-how many dang... grasshoppers h-have you been stuffing yourselves with here?! J-jeez!"
"Nagu'n!" the mare in her grasp shouted, for directly beneath them a pair of pegasi emerged—groaning—from the lavender mass and flew at full speed.
"Razzar!" A naga shouted. "Down below!"
In one deep breath, Razzar hung from one arm, pivoted, unholstered his pistol, and fired down the pit.
The yellow energy blasts struck one pegasus in the chest and the other one right between the eyes.
Invigorated, Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and flew faster, streaming up past Razzar and his fellow lizards. The Lounge fired down at the mess while the equines continued scaling the stairs. Rainbow soared away from the echoing chaos, making it to the top level where she safely deposited the two breathless Xonans.
Without wasting a second, Rainbow kicked off the platform, backflipped, and dove back down into the raging battle. "Josho!" she shouted. "We won't make it at this rate! Time to cheat!"
"Yeah, I hear ya!" Josho grabbed Props' waist with one forelimb and Seclorum's with another "This should bring back memories, Secchy, old chum."
"H-huh?!" Flash! Seclorum went cross-eyed as he appeared dozens of meters above in a blink. He grunted as Josho landed with him and Props on the upper platform, dropping them like ragdolls to the granite floor. "Bleaachkk! Ledo's vulva, Josho! Warn a stallion, why don'tcha?!"
"Jee, I'm sorry for giving you yet another lease on life." Josho bravely plunged himself back into the abyss while his horn sparkled. "Gotta jet!" Flash!
Josho materialized halfway down the steps. He reached out and grabbed the closest survivors he could.
"Rainbow?! I'm holding up my end! How about you?!"
"Grnnngh!" Rainbow hissed as she somehow managed to carry two survivors in her arms and one frazzled Ledomaritan on her back. "Working... on... it...!"
Two pegasi suddenly lunged at her. Before she could react, the Ledomaritan on her back fired a crossbolt, sending one creature tumbling into another until they both exploded in the coverging manafire of the Lounge.
"Just fly!" Razzar hollered. "It's our only way out of this!"
"If... nnngh... you th-think for one second that we're even..." Rainbow snarled.
"We can kill each other once we're done killing them!"
"Raaaaaaaaaugh!" Arcshod slammed the skulls of two pegasi with the butt of his crossbow. While Josho ported back down to rescue the warrior's remaining companions, the large Xonan stood his ground halfway up the spiraling stairs, firing multiple bolts at the advancing undead.
The shrieking pegasi wormed their way into a living stream, curling and spiraling their way upwards like a serpent of purple slime. They adapted to the firing patterns of the Lounge, snaking swiftly up the pit and approaching with great speed. At last, avoiding a series of yellow energy beams, they slammed into the bottom of the stairwell just beneath Arcshod.
"Grunngh!" The large unicorn teetered, nearly falling off the stairs entirely. Her heard a cracking sound, and he looked straight down. A deep fracture had formed in the stairs beneath him. Clenching his jaw hard, he aimed his horn at the segment of stairs and pulled with all his telekinetic might. At last, he ripped loose a huge chunk of stone granite. By now, the pegasi had rose to his level, charging like a living serpent's head.
With a loud shout, Archod mercilessly threw the enormous slab of granite straight into the swarm. The air filled with the sickening crunch of many-many bones. The stream of pegasi shattered completely, their limbs and bodies spreading outward as they fell back into the ooze-filled pit. Not long after, a collective mound of undead figures surged through the sea of slime below, slamming intelligently into the side of the pit.
The entire chamber shook. The Lounge struggled to keep their grips, relinquishing the aim of their weapons. The stairs cracked in many places, and Arcshod—
"Gaaaugh—Mmmmfngh—Xon!" He teetered, slipped, and fell towards the lavender mass below.
"Hrnnngh!" Rainbow grunted, catching his left rear fetlock and flapping her wings as hard as she could. With desperate resolve, she kept the large stallion dangling in place just a dozen feet above the rising muck.
Arcshod painted in horror, his eyes reflecting the pool while more and more bodies emerged below.
"Can't... h-hold on much longer..." Rainbow's voice cracked while her pendant flickered. "You're... sl-slipping..."
Flash! Josho materialized on the stairwell parallel to her. He gasped, nearly slipping into the slime himself. He glanced aside, blinking at Rainbow's struggle. "Seriously?!"
Rainbow sweatily nodded. "S-s-seriously," she hoarsely replied.
Arcshod slipped an inch, his lungs emptying with a tiny yelp.
Josho groaned. "Oh sweet... merciful kittens..." With a deep yell, he plunged straight out into the air, grabbed onto Arcshod's body, and fired his teleportation spell.
Fl-Flash! Josho, Arcshod, and Rainbow Dash materialized against the ceiling... and upside down. With a combined shriek, the three plunged a few feet and landed on the platform's edge above the pit of death.
"Ooof!" Rainbow winced as she rolled over, her blue hooves curled against her chest. "Is... is th-that all of them?"
Josho stood up, sweating all over his fat body. "That's... th-that is all of th-them..."
"Dreit..."
Right then, four reptilian bodies scurried up over the platform's edge on all fours, then stood up in their glowing cloaks and masks.
Josho glared. "...present scum excluded, of course."
"They are advancing rapidly," Razzar said. "No time for rest."
"You don't say?!" Rainbow Dash stood up straight, gnashing her teeth as she prepared to yell at him some more—
"Rainbow!" Aatxe's voice rang forth. He galloped past Seclorum and Props and approached the pegasus. The majority of the survivors could be seen from a distance, standing near the brightly-lit entrance to the chamber. "Rainbow, what's going on?! We heard screams and gunfire and..." His eyes narrowed. "Good heavens! Are there less of you?"
"Never mind! We gotta go!" Rainbow Dash shoved him along, pulled Josho and Arcshod to their hooves, and flapped her wings. "We all gotta move! Now!"
"But... b-but what's—" Aatxe stammered in mid-gallop.
"No time to explain!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she soared down the tunnel ahead of the group. The mosaics of rings and defaced pegasi blurred on either side of her. "We gotta get out! And we gotta seal this place up right behind us! Pronto!"
"But... b-but the manacrystals!"
"I've got them!" Props breathlessly chirped. "And so do some of the lizard guys! But trust us! You don't wanna stay down here long—"
"Holy garbage farts!" Seclorum suddenly rasped, skidding to a stop, wide-eyed.
"Huh?!" Rainbow frowned at him. "Why in Luna's name are you stopping?!" She looked ahead. "We've gotta get out—" She froze in mid-air, her ruby eyes twitching.
A changeling stood right outside the door. Then two more touched down. Then five more. Then ten. Then twelve. At last, nearly three dozen shape-shifters stood at the entrance, silhouetted against the swirling gray malaise of Stratopolis. Then, in a burst of green flame, they all took on blue coats with rainbow-streaked manes.
Rainbow Dash's ears folded. "Oh no..."
There was a lavender glow to the doorframe. And then... SLAM! The chamber was sealed with thirty-five times the speed with which Rainbow had first opened it.
"Oh jeebies!" Props squeaked in the darkness. "Oh jeebity jeebity jeebity jeebity jeebity jeebities!"
Seclorum's horn lit up, as did his grimacing face. "They knew it!" He spun to face Rainbow Dash and the others as they all bunched up against the inside of the door. "They knew we'd be in here! They waited for us!"
"Je'klanna semulien rekk'ar threen!"
"Everypony, just calm the buck down!" Josho grunted, then flung Rainbow a glance. "How could they have shut the door?!"
"How else?" Rainbow's voice cracked. "They all turned into me!"
"It's the temple control room all over again!" Aatxe stammered.
"Is all the evil gunk-gunk still after us?!" Props remarked.
Razzar coolly took his position at the rear of the group, aiming down the long hallway where the pit resided. "I do believe you'll have an answer within the next minute or two."
As prophesied, a loud, undulating heartbeat echoed down the chamber, coming to a rumbling peak against the walls that surrounded the nervous cluster of ponies and naga.
"Well..." Seclorum sighed and tossed his forelimbs. "It's been fun..."
"It's not over yet, old friend!" Josho spun towards Rainbow Dash. "The door! Can you reopen the dayum thing?"
"On it!" Rainbow Dash flew over, pendant-glowing, and pressed her hooves against the barricade. A soft lavender glow filled the door, flickered, then faded. "Ah jeez—Come onnn!" She pressed her chest against it, struggling with her whole petite weight. "Nnnnngh!"
"Why isn't it budging?!" Seclorum exclaimed.
"It's... st-staying shut from the other s-side!" Rainbow Dash hissed, concentrating.
"It must be all the 'Dashies' on their end!" Props remarked, sweating. "They're trying to keep us locked in here!"
"Then what do we do?!" Seclorum grunted. "We're running out of time!"
"I don't understand!" Aatxe remarked, staring wide-eyed at everypony. "What's wrong?! What did you find down there?!"
"Hra'mulien threanna!" Arcshod shouted.
"Brace yourselves, brothers!" Razzar shouted as he cocked his manarifle and took aim.
With banshee shrieks, two winged figures flew down the length of the corridor and sailed towards the group. The Lounge's weapons converged on it, melting the beserker pegasus in mid-air and sending its corrosive remains splattering against the walls and floor.
"Mother of mildew!" Aatxe shrieked like a filly. "What are those things?!"
"Our eternal fate, shortly," Razzar droned while taking more pot-shots at the figures flying down the hall. "Now would be a good time to get that door open."
"Dashie?"
"I... c-can't get it to b-budge!" Rainbow Dash squeaked, sweating all over. "They're sealing us in!"
"Then there's gotta be another way!" Aatxe said.
Props gritted her teeth and flashed a look at the obese stallion. "Josho! You got any juice left in your horniness?"
"Nnnngh..." Josho clenched his jaw while his horn flickered a bit. "I think so, yeah..."
"Josho, you'll burn out!" Seclorum said while reloading his crossbow.
"Doesn't look like I have much of a friggin' choice." Josho glanced across the group with shifty-eyes. "Now, who's coming with me?"
The air rang with another shriek. A zombie pegasus took a shot to the head, collided with the floor, and skidded wetly to a stop less than ten feet away. A pile of muck splashed towards the group—causing the ponies to shriek. The Lounge's combined shots beat it back, but then they had to switch their firepower back on the lunging figures from the distant pit.
"No time for delicacy!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Get on the other side and distract them! I just might be able to get this door open!"
"Right." Josho took a deep, deep breath... and grabbed Seclorum's and Arcshod's shoulders. "You two've been drafted, soldiers."
Arcshod blinked, lopsided. "Buh?" FLASH! The Xonan gasped into hurricane winds, surrounded by blue fuzz and rainbows.
"Hocrap!" Seclorum flinched, his face reflected in two dozen pairs of ruby eyes.
"Hckkkt—Gaugh!" Josho wheezed, stumbled forward, and lay prone with his shotgun cocked at the ready. "Well... this should be interesting." Bl-Blam! Blammmm!
Two Rainbow Dashes dropped to the floor when—suddenly—they no longer had their skulls. Five times as many shape-shifters leapt over the corpses of their two siblings and charged Josho, snarling.
"Hraaaaaaugh!" Arcshod galloped forward, slamming through the first wave with his mighty forelimbs. He swung his crossbow from left to right like a club, knocking even more to the ground before taking aim at the center of the floundering group. He punctured the chest of one changeling, spilling green blood into the heavy winds before spinning to tackle another creature charging from the sides.
Three more creatures pounced on Arcshod's flank. A single crossbolt sailed through the neck of two of them and sent them flying off into the gale force winds. Seclorum reloaded his crossbolt and stood flank-to-flank with Josho while his old friend reloaded the shotgun.
"Brings back old memories, eh, fatso?!" Seclorum managed to snarl.
"Secchy..." Josho cocked his rifle and fired again. Blam! Blammm! "You must have found some really funky mushrooms in this Ledo-forsaken place to think this resembles any of our previous scrapes!"
"Hra'dranna sulien threem'assa!" Arcshod sweatily stammered, struggling to beat back thicker and thicker waves of rainbow doppelgangers. "Ra'varnnum rekkhar thien!"
"We won't last at this rate!" Seclorum sputtered. "We need more muscle!"
"R-right..." Josho wheezed, struggling up to his hooves. "Be right back..." His horn started to sparkle.
"Josho, no! You're weak enough as it is!"
"Better a sissy than dead!" Josho grumbled. "Trust me. I've got first-hoof knowledge. Ggrrrrrrrrrrghhh!" His horn pulsed. Flash! He landed upside down within the dark corridor on the other side of the barricade. The sound of manablasts and shrieking pegasi hit his beleaguered ears.
"You're b-back!" Aatxe exclaimed.
"Yeah..." Josho wheezed. "And it's... kaff... k-kaff... a b-bad show out there..."
"Well, whatever you're doing, it's working!" Rainbow Dash wheezed. Howling wind pierced its way into the compartment as she lowered the door slowly—inch by inch—with a lavender glow. "It's starting to b-budge!"
"Maybe it'll work better on the other side, Dashie!" Props exclaimed.
"Sounds good to me..." Josho struggled, ultimately crawling over and grasping her tail. "Ya ready for vomit-town?"
"Josho, h-hold up!" her voice cracked. "Can you even jump again?"
"Seems to be our only t-ticket!"
"At least make it worth it!" Razzar shouted, signaling to one of his comrades. A Lounge member reloaded his manarifle and rushed over while the other two stuck by Razzar's side. "We can hold them off in here, but not for long!"
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash bit her lips, then blurted, "Fine! Anypony else?"
"Can Josho take three with him?!" Props stammered.
"You!" Josho pointed to a random Xonan mare and beckoned her over. "Get your scimitar ready. It's close combat over there!"
Rainbow squinted. "Why her?"
Josho shrugged. "Figured the last ponies I ever hug might as well have someone sexy." Taking a deep breath, he lunged forward and embraced a cluster of scales, tattoos, and blue fuzz. "Zoop!"
Pilate galloped and galloped. To his right, the world was a whirling tapestry of red streaks against a black canvas. Before long, crimson bodies surged in and out of the finely woven mess.
Holding his breath, he dashed behind a pillar and pressed his body against it, hugging the mana-powered rod to his chest with trembling forelimbs. He found that the longer he sat in one place, the clearer an "image" he got of the architecture dead ahead of him. Dozens of winged equines were converging upon one spot, and his ears detected the sound of an ongoing structure.
Just then, his Oracular Array fluctuated all over. He winced, sensing a surge of mana feedback through his helm. As soon as the pulse of energy dissipated, he detected six bodies pressed against a wall. From their movements and jerking patterns, he guessed that they were fighting off the waves of equines ganging up on them. One was a unicorn, significantly bigger and more muscular than the rest. Another was a creature of slender, lithe built with a thick tail—a naga, Pilate guessed. Last but not least, he sensed an obese equine lying prone to the ground and a winged figure hovering directly above it.
"Rainbow..." Pilate's lips slurred.
The fight carried on and on. The sound of mana blasts and whizzing crossbolts filled the air.
Pilate hugged the energy rod to his chest. He closed his eyes, but the red lines and crimson figures did not vanish. That's what finally made him frown, summoning a guttural snarl from deep within his striped being. Hooves clopping across the wet granite, he pulled himself into a heavy gallop.
"Josho!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, shaking and jostling the collapsed stallion's shoulder. "Come on, ya big lug! Say something!"
"Mmmfnnngh... bordello..." Josho's eyes rolled back in his head while his horn pulsated at random. "One night in the red room, pl-please," he gurgled. "Not much R&R left, darling..."
"He's pooped!" Seclorum shouted, smacking away a changeling. "Do your door-thingy, dammit!"
"Rrrgh!" Rainbow Dash spun about and slapped her hooves across the center of the Urohringr symbol. "Just keep them off from us a little bit longer!"
"Jaat'sanna kraddit threem!" Arcshod shouted as the fellow Xonan warrior joined his side, fighting off the shape-shifting waves with her scimitar.
"Right! Easier said than done!" Seclorum howled.
"It's... st-starting to budge!" Rainbow Dash said between panting breaths. Sure enough, the barricade began its slow descent downwards. Rainbow's pendant glowed as her essence gradually overcame the spell that her doppelgangers had put on the barrier. "Hey! Can you guys on the other side hear me?!"
"Loud and cl-clear, Dashie!" Props' voice faintly squeaked.
The engineer stood up on her hind legs, balancing the manacrystals on her flanks as she shouted through cupped hooves. "It's about enough space now to slip and slide through!"
"Just h-hang on!" Rainbow grunted against the howl of hurricane winds and thunder. "I'll get this thing open all the way soon!"
Props would have answered, but just then a decapitated pegasus head splattered against the wall beside her, forcing her to shriek. She spun and looked down the corridor.
A solid line of galloping undead equines had formed. Razzar, his comrades, and a line of survivors with crossbows were firing wave after wave of projectiles at the rampaging hoard. Their charge refused to buckle. Sloshing waves of purple muck swept from wall to wall, rolling towards the group like pulsating lava flow.
"Uhhhhh..." Aatxe sweated profusely, glancing back and forth from the line of death to the thin space at the top of the doorframe. "That's good enough!" He motioned to several ponies, then propped his body against the base of the door, straightening his back. "Hop on and hop over! Move! Move! Move!"
Sweating, she flung a glance over her shoulder. "Tell 'em to get ready for a fight!"
"Hraaaaaugh!" Arcshod charged a throng of rainbow-maned doppelgangers, headbutting them with his massive horn. The winged shape-shifters surged back, swung around, and grabbed at his neck and flank.
"Hnnngh!" The Xonan mare charged to her superior's side, swinging the scimitar and lopping off a length of green carapace. The wounded changeling fell—hissing in agony—while Arcshod threw the rest of the bodies off him. Shape-shifters flailed in the air, momentarily losing cohesion of their blue coat and feathers.
P-Pow! The naga's manarifle shot through two of the airborne changelings in one blast. He cocked his weapon and glanced over his shoulder. "More from the upper clouds! Incoming—" A pair of changelings rammed into his side. "Ooof!" The naga fell hard to the floor, his manarifle rattling loosely to the side.
Panting, Rainbow Dash glanced over from the door while ponies slipped through the frame, one at a time.
Several prismatic doppelgangers galloped over the conked-out naga and attacked Seclorum's side. They shoved the aged stallion up against a pillar and wrestled the crossbow from his telekinetic grip. He yelled and struggled with them, but was swiftly overwhelmed. A cluster of changelings pulled at his forelimbs and lifted him skyward—flailing.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, glanced at the door hanging halfway open, then clenched her jaws. Planting her hooves against the Urohringr symbol, she coiled her muscles, kicked off, and propelled herself like a missile towards Seclorum's plight. "Rrrrrrrgh-Haa!"
Wh-Whud! Rainbow bowled mercilessly through the shape-shifters. Their bodies turned black as they spun into the whipping-winds. Breathless, Seclorum plunged towards the depths of Stratopolis.
Grip! Rainbow clasped onto Seclorum's forelimbs, spun completely around, and tossed him back towards the balcony.
Arcshod twirled, gasped, and activated his telekinesis just in time to catch the thrown Ledomaritan. The two slid back to the wall while more and more ponies poured out, joining the battle with crossbows and makeshift bludgeons.
"Wh-what?!" Seclorum glanced up, blinking. "Oh, great!" He blanched at the sight of a virtual dogfight of blue coats and rainbow manes. "Now who do we know which one is the real deal?!"
"I'm the only one who's awesome!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. She was too busy flinging her hooves, elbows, and leg-joints into any body part that presented itself. Spinning like a blue top inside the floating melee of gnashing changelings, she shouted at the group. "Don't worry about me! Just make sure the rest of the survivors get out and—"
A savage uppercute silenced the pegasus, and she flew back into a granite pillar, hard.
"Aaaugh!" Rainbow slumped down. She trembled, spitting up blood. Looking up, her ruby eyes narrowed on a solid line of diving doppelgangers. Stealthily, she rubbed a hoof around the front of her pendant. Then, just as they descended on her, she stood up straight, tilting her neck back and dousing the group with an unmitigated blast of enchanted light. "Say cheese!"
Several of the doppelgangers instantly flinched, hovering backwards in midair as they covered their eyes and groaned. One by one, their bodies morphed from blue coats to black shells.
The naga glanced up through his mask. "That works..."Clakka-Clak! He took aim and fired a mana pulse at the thick group of exposed changelings.
Pow! The resulting blast showered black limbs and green blood over Rainbow's figure. She flew back, collapsing by Josho's side with a grunt.
"Nnnngh!" Sputtering, she wiped her muzzle clean of the insectoid slime and snarled. "Dang it! Did Razzar at least teach you a thing or two about—"
Th-Thap! Three glaring Rainbow Dashes landed directly in front of the real-deal, glaring down at her with identical, devilish smirks.
Rainbow's ears folded. "...bad end."
The doppelgangers crouched, preparing to leap all at once. It was precisely then at a red energy blast sailed in, smacking one changeling across the skull and sending it reeling against the others.
Breathless, Rainbow Dash looked up—then did a double-take.
"Hnnngh!" A striped stallion in a black helm landed. He snarled into a glowing staff gripped in his muzzle. Twisting his whole body, the zebra knocked the legs out from beneath all three shape-shifters and fired an energy blast into their collapsing sides for good measure.
"Pilate!" Rainbow Dash gasped, her smiling jaw hanging wide open. She hopped up, ears perked. "Omigosh omigosh omigosh! You're..." She blinked, her eyes contorting. "...a friggin' cyborg."
Pilate's whole body twitched. He spun sideways and shouted—muffled—into his staff. "Behind you!" Z-Zap! His energy rod fired a crimson blast at a pair of blue changelings descending on Rainbow Dash. Without a second breath, Pilate galloped, leapt over her and Josho, and mercilessly pummeled the stumbling creatures into submission.
"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash stared numbly. She gulped. "...Derp?"
"It's..." Josho wheezed, slowly becoming cognizant again. "It's... one of the br-broodlings?"
"I highly doubt it."
Josho coughed. "How do you kn-know?"
Rainbow slowly shook her dumbfounded expression. "I don't think there's enough imagination in 'em..."
"Hraaaugh!" Pilate shouted before slamming his staff into another hopeless skull.
"Don't stop climbing through!" Aatxe shouted, heaving another pony over his shoulders while Props and two more equines helped. "We gotta get outside!"
"They're almost here!" a mare shrieked.
Her voice was swallowed up by the sound of several muck-covered bodies bounding their way. The Lounge's energy blasts knocked the undead pegasi to the floor, inadvertently collecting a puddle of deathly slime just a few spare inches in front of the group.
While his two companions reloaded, Razzar stepped back and shouted into a communicator on his wrist. "Vaughan, brother! We need you! Bring the ship around to our mana signatures and prepare to take us off the platform!"
There was no reply. The air grew louder and louder with a deathly drumbeat as the ravaging pegasi drew closer and closer.
"Vaughan!" Razzar hissed. "We have the mana crystals! But there's a grave problem here! We need an evacuation!"
Further silence.
His voice dripped loosely out of his mask. "Why doesn't he answer...?"
"Brother, look out!"
Razzar looked up. His body quivered under the shadow of a leaping pegasus. He jumped back, swinging his rifle at the ready. The naga was too slow, and the zombified creature bucked the weapon out of his hands and prepared to pounce at his torso. Th-Thunk! The sharp end of a wrench flew into the creature's neck. Gurgling up purple goo, the pegasus fell over in a meaty slump.
Razzar glanced breathlessly to his side.
Props' body was frozen in a heavy toss. She leaned back, breathing deeply. "We've got most everypony through! Time to go!"
"It's now or never!" Aatxe sputtered as he helped the mare over.
Outside, Pilate sensed Props' body being slid out the tiny frame in the door. He sensed Aatxe, the three naga, and the wall of frenzied equines charging them from the other side. As a matter of fact, Pilate sensed almost everything with a thirty-foot radius. It just so happened that he was currently preoccupied with slamming his staff against several changeling skulls.
"Hnnnngh!" The zebra hissed into his toothy grip of the bludgeon. "Mmmmfhh-ghhh!" Every violent impact was rewarded with a wild splash of bright red streaks across a black slate. He even sensed the inner juices of the changeling anatomy swirling and becoming inflamed with each major hit to their bodies. His helm fluctuated a series of cross-hatches over their exoskeletons, betraying the fact that they were struggling to maintain their fake exteriors.
"Dashie! Is that...? Oh blessed soot stains! Is that really—?"
"Don't hug the zebra right now, girl!" Rainbow Dash retorted. "He's kicking flank!"
"I thought you trotted in here with that fellow being blind!" Seclorum's voice breathlessly growled.
"I did!"
"Then what's the deal?!"
"Uhhhh—"
"Rainbow?!" Pilate spun, sweat pouring down from beneath his helm. "Rainbow!" He focused on a winged figure that was currently fending off and uppercutting a trio of similar shapes. "I'm glad I found you! This is a case of dire circumstances! You must help me with—"
"You're telling me! This is about as dire as—wait a second..." With a grunt, the wing-flapping figure kicked off a doppleganger and pivoted towards him. A solid red pony planted her hooves against her dangling hips. "How do you know that I'm the real me?"
Pilate staggered in place, pausing to pant. "I... I-I'm not sure. You're... uhm... d-denser?"
"Excuse me?"
"This helm! It shows you in a different light than the rest of the—"
"And just where in the heck did you get that?!"
"Roarke gave it to me! She also provided me this piece of skystone which I must somehow—"
Whooosh! The one crimson shape suddenly flew up to Pilate, gripping his shoulders. "Roarke gave this stuff to you?!" Rainbow's voice cracked in his face. A beat. She shook his shoulders. "Roarke is here?!"
"Yes! Rainbow, there's no time! We gotta bring this skystone to—"
"We're out!" Aatxe's voice stammered as his body slipped out of the door. "Everypony's accounted for!"
Razzar's joined in. "That includes us. You may wish to know that the menace is right behind."
"Dashie! You gotta close it!" Props squeaked.
"On it!" Rainbow zoomed back towards the door.
Right at that moment, Pilate sensed a pair of changelings diving down at his flank. Within a second, he judged that they'd be smashing his legs out from under him.
Snarling, he spun and aimed the sparkling end of his staff. However, to his surprise, there was nothing there. The changelings were gone.
He gulped. "Is... is it m-malfunctioning?"
He heard a few lingering blasts of manafire, followed by Seclorum's shouting voice. "They're leaving! The shape-shifters are bugging out!"
"I'll give you one guess as to why," Josho grumbled.
"Everypony, away from the door!" Aatxe shouted.
"Keep your distance, brothers!"
Props' voice rang, "Do you need help—"
"No!" Rainbow grunted. Pilate sensed her petite frame propped up against the door and its circular granite impressions. The barricade was slowly... icily grinding its way up the stone frame while every pony and naga trained their weapons on the thin space above. "Just stay back! I got this! Only I can close this!"
"It would benefit us all greatly if you made haste..."
The first river of slime jettisoned through the crack in the doorframe to Rainbow's right. She flinched, nevertheless keeping her hooves pressed to the Urohringr symbol as the barricade slowly, slowly rose towards the ceiling.
Then a second stream of muck poured through. The shrieks of the survivors echoed in horror. Rainbow caught the sight of bobbing eyeballs in her peripheral. Her ears filled with the rhythmic bass beat of the evil within. Then, all in one accord, the floating eyes on either side swiveled to face her.
"Dashie! Look out!"
Rainbow flinched. She glanced up. A curtain of purple goo was raining down on her. She flapped her wings and rotated to the left, rolling out of the path of the falling gunk. Fumbling and breathless, she struggled to plant her hooves flat against the door to the heart of Stratopolis once again. The ooze was pouring down in three places all around her, slowing the door's ascent by tenfold. Before she knew it, undead bodies started rising from the impossibly thin spaces that the growing lavender puddles occupied.
"Rainbow, you're surrounded! They're bursting out all around you!" Josho's voice shouted. Already, hooves were storming off into the distance as half of the survivors simply turned and ran.
"I... can... cl-close it...!" Rainbow sputtered, even as necrotic wings twitched on the edge of her vision.
"Rainbow, stay alive!" Pilate's voice shouted through the mess. "More than anything, we need you alive!"
"Don't leave us, Dashie!"
Rainbow snarled. At this point, all she could hear was heartbeat. Her nostrils filled with rust and decay. She took one glance up, and her ears drooped. There was five times as much space left between the door and the ceiling than she had anticipated, and now the purple muck was gushing through like a waterfall.
"Gnnngh!" she bucked against the wall, threading her way through two pouncing pegasi and barely skirting above the quivering pools of death ooze. Twirling about, she shouted at what was left of the group. "Go! Gallop back to the hold!"
"B-but—!" Aatxe began.
"Don't stop for nothing! Get someplace where you can seal yourselves up!" Rainbow had to shout over the sounds of shrieking undead. "And whatever you do—don't let them touch you!"
Four winged ponies took a running start and leapt wetly into the air. Three of them soared after Rainbow Dash while a fourth streaked towards the survivors on the other side of the balcony. Props flinched and Josho reached weakly for his shotgun.
"Raaaaugh!" Arcshod stepped in, swinging a piece of rusted airship parts at full force. He batted the creature away, sending it flailing into the hurricane winds beyond the balcony's edge. Spitting into the gale, Arcshod turned and shouted to his fellow Xonans. The group galloped along, although Arcshod trailed slightly behind, keeping eye contact with the last hub.
"Well, old friend..." Seclorum tugged Josho telekinetically to his hooves while Aatxe supported the stallion's other end. "That's our cue!"
"We'll never outrun them at this speed!" Aatxe stammered.
"I don't think it's our job to!" Props said.
Everypony looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying rapid figure-eights in the air. By this point, a cluster of six undead pegasi were clinging to her six. At the sight of the limping group of survivors, two winged ponies broke off, swooping down on them with muzzles dripping with the purple slime.
Rainbow Dash saw the breakaway group. Pivoting her wings, she spun a sharp turn to her right, bravely flew through the cluster of pegasi soaring after her, and bucked off the spine of one of the monsters, plowing it wetly to the floor. The other pegasus noticed her in an instant. It broke off from pursuing the survivors and chased after Rainbow Dash instead.
"Careful!" Seclorum shouted, looking back. "Touch them in the wrong place and—"
"Will you just friggin' go?!" Rainbow panted in the middle of backflipping and twirling towards the far end of the balcony, away from the retreating ponies. "I'll keep them off your back! Tell Lasairfion and the rest—I'm gonna distract them!"
"But... b-but..." Props fidgeted.
"You heard the mare!" Seclorum and Aatxe dragged Josho along. "Let's go! Let's go!"
Props reluctantly joined them, turning away from Rainbow Dash completely.
Rainbow, in the meantime, was skirting her way clockwise around the structure's balcony. Squinting, she caught something that made her frown. The Lounge were already dozens of meters away, running as fast as they could from the scene.
"Guess those slimy salamanders didn't wait for nothing." Rainbow looked to her right in mid-glide and gasped.
Pilate was standing his ground, twirling and flailing with the staff gripped in his muzzle. All the while, winged ponies closed in on all sides, surrounding him with a solid ring of bubbling purple ooze.
"Luna Poop!" Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth and hung a sharp right. From the shrieking breaths behind her, she realized the creatures were a lot closer to her tail than she had anticipated. In quick order, she darted in and around various granite pillars along the balcony, forcing the undead train of mindless cretins to crash and slam into random structures. "Pilate! Get a move on! What in the hay are you doing?!"
"I c-can't run away, Rainbow Dash!" the zebra exclaimed between panting breaths. "I have to get this skystone to the city's core!"
"Dude! This death ooze?! I dunno if you can see it, but the inside of Stratopolis is simply pouring with it!"
"I don't care!" Pilate frowned, backing up to a wall as a trio of limping undead stalked him. "I-I have to find a way! Roarke tasked me with the only means of destroying this city! For my beloved's sake... for everypony's sake! I gotta see it through!"
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. Her ears ached from the horrific, undending shrieks and bass rhythm. Beyond that, winds howled and thunder roared. Somewhere, in a place of safety and power, Chrysalis and her brood watched all of this hell unfold, succulently devouring the misery that poured out from the heart of Stratopolis.
"Nnnngh!" Pilate smacked a pegasus in the face and uppercutted another with his staff. He leaned back, his muzzle grimacing under the helm as he sensed the ooze creeping up towards his fetlocks. "Oh blessed Spark..." He shuddered.
Swooosh! Rainbow Dash plucked Pilate from beneath the balcony. The two of them spiraled out of the reach of lunging pegasi, then soared into the hurricane winds. By now, enough slime had poured through the door to spawn a veritable squadron of undead.
Pilate stammered above the rising salvo of shrieks, "Rainbow! Please! We can't retreat! Not like the others! We have to—"
"We're not!"
Pilate's jaw dropped. "Huh?!"
Rainbow struggled to fly them steadily through the whipping winds and outpace the zombified ponies on their tail. "Tell me more about this crazy plan of Roarke's!"
"Oh, Rainbow, bless you!"
"Don't bless me yet," Rainbow grunted into the rainwater. "You picked one heck of a bad day to see again..."
"Vaughan! Vaughan!" Razzar's mask rattled as he shouted once more into his communicator in mid-sprint. "In Quezaat's name, brother, wh-what's happened to you?!"
The other three naga came to a stop at the jagged end of the balcony facing a scattered swarm of half-demolished temples. "Razzar, master, what are your orders?"
"We have enough energy in our packs to bring these manacrystals to the ship!"
"Vaughan has failed to respond. The changelings may very well have gotten to him—" Razzar froze in mid speech. His gloved knuckles morphed into fists. "Unless..."
A series of loud shrieks echoed from above.
"Master!" One naga pointed straight up. "Look!"
Razzar tilted his mask up into the pouring rain. In a flash of lightning, he saw Rainbow Dash and Pilate soaring through the maelstrom in a yellow streak. The source of that yellow color was a particularly large skystone shard. Razzar inhaled sharply, then exhaled through a hissing voice: "Make your way to the temple where we last left the ship."
"What of you, brother?"
"There is one pegasus yet living in Stratopolis," Razzar said, even as he jumped onto a pillar and scurried up onto the domed roof of the structure. "I may indeed have to fix that..."
The other three naga exchanged masked glances. In tight formation, they faced the ship's edge, leapt, and ignited their manapacks. The three soared off on yellow beams of energy, threading their way through the storm as they made for the first platform with solid footing.
Bellesmith's ears twitched. She tilted her head up, panting.
"Do... d-do you hear that?"
Elma shivered, clinging to her. The exhausted changeling stammered, "Hear what?"
"It... it almost sounds like... like..." Belle's chestnut eyes narrowed. "...screaming."
"Mother... I mean..." Elma winced. "She sent them away. The brood..."
"No, it's not changelings," Belle said. She stood up and trotted towards the battered hole in the rusted side of the collapsed dirigible. "It's... almost animalistic. Primal. I... I don't understand..."
"Belle?" Elma squinted towards where the mare stood, her green eyes squinting. "What are you doing?"
"Something's not right here," Belle murmured. "This place is older than you, me, and just about anything we've stumbled upon." She turned and looked over at Elma. "What if it was hidden here for a reason?" Out from the hole, a decayed pegasus head entered, shrieking loudly.
"Belle!" Elma shouted, her shell flickering stripes for a blink.
"Gaaaie!" Belle fell, scooting backwards from her flank.
The undead pony rammed and rammed and rammed its battered shoulders into the frame of the hole, struggling and scuffling to get in. As it spat and snorted, copious streams of purple goo fell to the floor of the airship's hollow chassis.
Belle grimaced at the pooling ooze, trying not to vomit. The metal frame of the vessel shook, and the hull cracked in four different places, allowing the zombified creature to squeeze through.
With a birdlike yelp, the thing pounced on Belle. Its bone wings spread wide, scraping the edges of the ship's interior and producing sparks.
Belle rolled aside, panting for breath. She fumbled her way across the interior on her belly while the pegasus loomed above. Wincing, she flung a hoof forward and swooped up Eagle Eye's shield. The mare spun around and swung the thing blindly, successfully smacking the skull of the monster.
Crack!
The thing's jaw snapped clean off. Nevertheless, it icily pivoted its cranium back down at the horn-less unicorn. A stream of lavender slime trickled out of the gaping hull in its maw. With a gurgling sound, it lunged at Belle again.
"Hnnnngh!" Belle planted the shield flatly against the ends of her lower hooves and reverse somersaulted.
Clannnng! She uppercutted the beast, knocking it towards the dilapidated cockpit of the vessel. There, it crashed and rattled about, drowning in loose junk and danging manaconduits.
Before the shield could completely rattle to a stop, Belle grabbed it and used its weight to stand. She watched—breathless—as the wings of beast protruded in and out of its buried struggle. She heard more shrieks, and she looked straight out the cracked hole in the airship. Her twitching vision caught sight of various winged figures streaking across the gray clouds. Then, Bellesmith heard an eerie hiss. Like steam. She looked down.
A puddle of the pegasus' purple drool was spreading right before Belle's eyes. Bubbles formed, only to produce lids that fluttered open. Bright eyes rotated around, eventually locking on Belle's figure with one collective stare. Almost immediately, a low thumping picked up, like a drumbeat summoned out of the void. Then, with slow and frightening grace, the slime-slick skull of a pony emerged from the paper-thin pocket of ooze.
Belle hobbled backwards, her eyes glossy with terror. She nevertheless bit her lip, dashed over to Elma's side, and threw both the changeling and Eagle's shield over her flank. "We have to go."
"Go?!" Elma gazed sickly at the floor giving birth to a lurching abomination with featherless wings. "Go wh-where?! These... these creatures..."
"We can't give up!" Belle panted and stammered, galloping briskly out of the manaship and into the gray rain. "We must keep moving!"
"But..." Elma shivered as she gazed through the thick precipitation at multiple waves of shrieking beasts. "But th-there are so m-many—"
"We must!"
"Pilate, you're good with words!" Rainbow huffed and puffed as she rocketed the two of them through the rain. "Not to mention super alive. Both of which are totally awesome! So... in two sentences or less... do ya think you can explain to me what in the hay Roarke is doing here and why she set you up to be friggin' robo-zebra?!"
"Beneath us!" Pilate shouted, his helm rattling as he dangled in the pegasus' grasp. "About five of them! Try and fly to your right!"
"Pilate, dudeguy, I think I know what I'm doing—" Five separate shrieks sounded off from below. "Crapazoid!" Rainbow's voice cracked as she suddenly jerked left, flinging both of them away from the intercepting pegasi. "Luna on a unicycle! You weren't kidding!"
"Two more! Up top! High!"
Rainbow flung her eyes up, squinting through the rain. In a flash of lightning, she saw two pairs of skeletonous wings. Just as drops of purple slime fell towards them, she spiraled about, backflipped, and dove straight down, hurling their combined weight towards the top of the domed structure.
"All seven of them are still on our tail!" Pilate stammered. "And there's a group at your nine o'clock! Coming in fast!"
"Friggin' flank buckets!" Rainbow Dash griped and performed the necessary twirl and dodge motions before ultimately flying a wild loop around the broad circumference of the building. "How do you even see all of this?!"
"It's the Oracular Array!"
"The Oracle Aria?!"
"No! Oracular Array! Combination of Searonese and Naga technology!"
"Naga?!"
"Lounge! It was built by the Lounge, okay?!" Pilate winced, almost slipping from Rainbow's grip on the last turn. Rainbow tossed him and picked him up again in one motion so she could hold onto him better. "Nnnnngh... Roarke... sh-she snuck aboard Razzar's ship weeks ago! She's been passing herself off as one of the Lounge ever since!"
"No friggin' way..." Rainbow Dash weaved in and out of the pillars, trying to throw the monsters off her tail. "What in Celestia's name for?"
"Presumably to f-find out who the Lounge were..." Pilate shivered as he held tight to the Lounge staff in his hooves. "And pr-provide us safe passage through the Wastes!"
"After all I said and did to her..." Rainbow Dash's rainsoaked ears drooped. She heard the shrieks of the pursuers, snapping out of her momentary daze. Frowning once more, she barreled hard to the side, flew daredevilishly through a throng of zombie pegasi, then dove deep into the clouds lingering beneath the structure. For a brief moment, she and the zebra were alone with the mists and thunder. She nevertheless continued her high-velocity flight. "So why'd she hook you up with all of that gizmospunk?!"
"This crystal on my back?!" Pilate shouted above the howling winds. "It's sk-skystone! But a very specific kind! Material you can only find along the north edge of the world—not too far from here!"
"Yeah?! Your point?!"
"More like Roarke's point!" Pilate shouted. "She tasked me with getting this to the center control room of Stratopolis!"
"What in the buck for?!"
"She says that Razzar tortured enough changelings to gather information about this place! Someway or another, the shapeshifting hoard know about a control room in the very heart of the central structure. You place a piece of skystone like this on the center dais, and Stratopolis immediately flies toward the corresponding cardinal direction!"
"And just what will flying this towards the skystone fields accomplish?!"
"Rainbow Dash..." Pilate gnashed his teeth against the rain. "It's not about flying this place. It's about crashing it!"
Rainbow Dash blinked, then gulped as she coasted the two of them through the clouds. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. I can get behind that."
"But our friends—"
"—will have to find their way off the platforms," Rainbow said with a nod. "Hopefully Props, Josho, and the others will get their flanks to the Tarkington. They've got what they need. As for the Noble Jury—"
"She's safe!" Pilate exclaimed while errant shrieks picked up in the distance. "She's still flying through the windy reaches of Stratopolis!"
"What?!" Rainbow glanced down at him. "When?! How?!"
"Rainbow, trust me! I saw it... I-I mean I felt it!" He winced. "Sensed it! Nnngh... it's... an awful lot to take in and then try to explain..."
"Heh, you and me both, brother."
The shrieks intensified. Rainbow Dash glanced back and saw several dark figures bursting out of the upper clouds and soaring after them.
"Yes and no! I don't think she had any idea they would have come from the heart of Stratopolis or else she wouldn't have tasked me with delivering the skystone!"
"I dunno. I mean, this is Roarke who we're talking about."
"Rainbow Dash, what do we do?!"
"You're the clever zebra. You tell me."
"Rainbow," he growled.
"Alright. Fine. You take your time and think. I'm gonna... uhm... screw with gravity some more." Holding her breath, she flapped her wings hard and shot straight up. Pilate stifled a yelp as he felt his body flinging with her movement. The two rocketed upward, piercing the dark mists while winds blew at them from randomly switching angles. All the while, the pegasi pursued, undaunted, fueled by the panic in their prey's flight.
Bellesmith galloped, breathless, over the rainslick edge of the building's curved balcony. Looking down, she could see decayed bodies swishing through the sky in the reflective rain puddles. She slipped once, yelping, scampering to avoid a violent plunge off the edge of the structure.
Gathering speed once more, she sprinted along, the weight of Elma flouncing on her back. The changeling whimpered, looking up with fuming eyes.
"So... s-so hungry..." Elma stammered. "I... I-I can taste their misery." Her green eyes twitched in the wet wind. "No life... and yet so much suffering..."
"Don't savor it, Elma!" Belle sputtered in mid-run.
"No wonder... M-Mother brought her brood here..."
"You're not going to feast on pain ever again!" Belle exclaimed. "That's not the way for you to live! Do you hear me?! You have to—"
Gunshots.
Belle skidded to a stop, splashing water across the nearest row of columns. She stood still, panting. She sensed movement up ahead, along the curved balcony. Shouting voices, stomping hooves, and shotgun blasts acted as violent percussion to a symphony of animalistic banshee cries.
"That's... that's Josho's gun," Belle murmured. "I'd recognize it anywhere." She blinked, her jaw dropping.
Within view, several ponies appeared—all of them galloping Belle's way. The panicked group constantly turned and glanced behind them, many of the equines holding position as they fired crossbolts into an incoming swarm of winged beasts. Aside from a fleeting glimpse of an obese stallion and a blonde mare, the group consisted entirely of strangers. Among the lot, Bellesmith saw tattooed coats, and she gasped.
"Xonans... and Ledomaritans?" Belle stepped backwards, shivering. "How... h-how long have they been here?" She froze in place. Glancing aside, she looked worriedly at a scrap of zeppelin wreckage, then back at the group. She gasped, then clenched her teeth. "Elma..."
The changeling stirred on her back.
"Elma!"
"Mmmf... Belle...?"
"You must change! Take on a form! Don't let them see you as a changeling!"
"But... but th-they'll just—"
"No arguing!" Belle hissed. "Do it now!" There was a flash of green light. Belle looked over her shoulder and did a double-take at the stripes. "No! Not my beloved! They've seen Pilate take a plunge!"
"But... I-I don't know what else—"
"Eagle Eye!" Belle exclaimed. "Change to Eagle Eye!"
"H-how?"
"You know how! Think about him! Dwell on your memories of him! And if you can't, then dwell on my memories of him!"
Elma blinked. She shuddered, and soon a rain-slick mat of purple hair drooped around her velverty lavender coat. "Nnnngh..." she exhaled in Eagle Eye's breath, draped limply around Belle's shoulders.
Biting her lip, Belle marched bravely forward.
The group came within range so that their errant shouts took on coherent meaning:
"We're almost there! This is where we exited! It'll take us back to the hold, everypony!"
"Keep switching! Reload your crossbows and fire!"
"Th-there's too many! And I'm almost out of—"
"That's fine! Josho's got us covered with his ammo! Isn't that right?!"
"Dammit, Secchy! Don't distract me when I'm killing!"
"Hraa'junna faleel sulien thren'nar meen!"
"I swear! They've quadrupled since we began running!"
"Don't stop now! We're almost—" Seclorum turned, spotted Belle, and nearly pratfalled onto his face. "Ledo's stones!" He fumbled to unjam his crossbow.
"Please!" Belle waved two hooves out, panting into the rainy wind. "Don't shoot! It's me! Bellesmith—"
Clakk-Clak! Arcshod loomed above her, aiming a crossbow at her skull. "Grrrrrghh—Fekk'lovlien hraasta ven'mulien threatta, dreit?!"
Belle flinched away from him, gritting her teeth. "I'm friends with Rainbow Dash! You've all met her, haven't you?!"
"What's holding the friggin' line up?!" Josho howled from the middle of the group. While the rest of the ponies surged on towards the structure's interior, he glanced over their shoulders and blanched. "Bellesmith?!"
"Belle?!" Props gasped, hopped, and scampered over. "Belle! It's you! Soot saddles on fire! That's so fancy pants—!" Seclorum's hoof blocked her, holding her in place.
"You picked a bad time to try and get the drop on us!" Seclorum's eyes narrowed. "But we have no time for this. Big fella?"
Arcshod nodded and aimed his crossbow at the mare's skull.
Props gasped and flung a wrench at the Xonan's horn. "What the penguins are you doing?!"
Bonk! "Aaaaugh!" Arcshod clutched his skull and hissed. "Ledomulien trentte!"
"She's on our side, ya big meanie!"
"She's one of the shape-shifters!" Seclorum grumbled. "Can't you see that?!"
"Kiiiiiinda dealing with something a little bigger here, Einstallion!" Josho barked in between loud blasts of his shotgun into the attacking swarm.
"Please! It's us! It really is!" Bellesmith sputtered. She gestured towards Eagle Eye on her back. "Right before the temples started flying into one another, we rushed here to find what happened to Rainbow, Pilate, and the others! That's when the changelings attacked! Now Eagle's hurt! After rescuing me from death, I gotta make sure he gets somewhere safe!"
"Hey!" Aatxe shouted from the inner corridor, waving his hoof dramatically. "Almost everypony's through! What are you standing around for?! Move!"
"We absolutely cannot afford to make any exceptions!" Seclorum shouted. "Come on, let's go!"
"Please! Take us with you!" Belle shrieked. Breathless, she looked at Props.
Props blinked.
"Please..." Belle gulped. She then mouthed two words: "For Elma."
Props brow furrowed. Her goggled eyes glanced up. She saw a long scar running across the back of Eagle Eye. Her jaw fell slightly.
"Guys..." Josho started to pant, backing up and reloading his steaming shotgun while more and more pegasi dove towards them. "It's now or never."
Suddenly, Props spun, stomping a hoof into the rain-slick puddles. "If she doesn't come along, then neither do I!"
Arcshod did a double-take.
"You're shitting me," Seclorum droned.
"And if Unky Prowsy doesn't get his niece back, then how can you bet on him lending his sexy blunderbust skills in getting everypony to the Tarkington?!"
Seclorum grumbled, "If you think for one second that I'm going to lower my defenses for such a stupid, juvenile threat, then you've got—"
Josho rushed in, telekinetically shoving Props, Bellesmith, and Eagle Eye down the corridor in one magical swoop. "Welcome to the club! Now carry Princess Rain-Soaked into safety!"
"Okie dokietron!" Props chirped, helping Belle carry the limp stallion.
"Josho!" Seclorum howled. "Are you out of your mind?!"
"Yes!" Josho blasted his weapon into the hurricane winds as he, Seclorum, and Arcshod backtrotted into the corridor, covering the rear of the group. "Have been since the battle of Blue Nova! And I've been loving every minute of it!"
"You're going to be the end of us!"
"It's called having friends, Sechhy! You should try it sometime!" Josho fired one last shot, turned, and galloped full-force into the tunnel. "Shoot me later if you don't agree! For now, run!"
"Oh, for all that's good and sparkly..." Seclorum rolled his eyes and barked, "Hey! Bighooves! You know what to do!"
Arcshod nodded. He holstered his crossbow, stepped back, and charged a solid stream of mana into the walls on either side of him. "Hnnnnghhrghhh... mmnnngh... Nagu'n rath'allam sesukra'kkan melodriel! Nnnngh!"
The entrance to the corridor cracked, buckled, and collapsed. A solid mountain of granite fell down, miraculously blocking the shrieking wave of pegasi at the last second. They slammed into it, thrashing and clamoring, leaking all over the rubble with blood, pulp, and purple.
Eagle Eye's ears twitched. At the sound of a loud, deep hum, he spun to face the clouds opposite the cyclonic winds. A large metal body was hurling towards him. Its red skystone crystal shone brightly through the haze of Stratopolis.
"Hey!" he sputtered, soaking wet with rainwater. "Hey! Guys!" He scampered towards the edge of the platform he was on and hopped up and down, waving. When that didn't seem to work, he aimed his horn at his sword and fired a basic illumination spell. The sword lit up, and he waved it left and right through the air like a bright baton.
And yet, despite Eagle's best efforts, the Noble Jury soared over head and cruised right past him, continuing on its perpetually circular flight.
"Come onnnnn!" Eagle Eye whimpered, frowning. "I'm right here! Can't you see me?!" He stood, panting in the wet rain. "Seriously, since when was Floydien ever that blind... or bored?"
He heard another sound, this one a great deal higher in pitch... not to mention louder. A veritable chorus of shrieks pierced the air, growing nearer and nearer by the second.
Eagle's heart rose to the bottom of his throat. Gulping, he spun to face the center of the storm. "What... the fluff...?"
That's when he saw a squadron of dark shapes flying overhead, all of them carried aloft on bony wings. They flew with supernatural precision, their haggard and decaying bodies slicing through the wind like knives. With a twitch, a third of the hellish valkyries broke off formation and dove down at him, drooling purple goo and liquid gore.
"Bad fluff... bad fluff!" Eagle Eye shrieked as he turned and ran.
His hooves splashed wetly across the floating temple as he made a mad dash for the stairwell that led down towards a lower level. The pegasi closed the distance all too quickly, streaking down at him and attempting to rip his flesh off with gnashing jaws. He dodged to the left and right, barely avoiding their aerial assaults. Then—at last—two of them got a better idea and simply plunged into his backside.
"Ooof!" He rolled through the splashing puddles, ended upright, and slashed upwards with his sword. "Haaaaaugh!"
A pegasus' chest and neck split up the middle. As its body collapsed to the ground, a long puddle of purple goo landed between Eagle's legs. Almost immediately, eyeballs emerged from the slime, rotating around to blink at him.
"Ay-jee-jee-jee-jee!" He scooted backwards from the abominable phenonemon. He was almost too busy wretching to see another pegasus diving towards his forehead. He swung his sword and decapitated it in one swipe.
The mosnter's body flew into the hurricane winds while its cranium ricocheted off a granite pillar and landed on the floor. Almost immediately, the skull sunk into the ground, becoming a large lavender puddle. Within seconds, two equine shapes were emerging from the puddle, covered in slime.
Grimacing, Eagle Eye stood up. At the sound of more shrieks, he galloped as quickly as he could towards the lower level of the temple. From the sound of flapping wings immediately behind, he knew he wasn't alone.
"Almost got it stabilized," Ebon Mane sputtered, sweating as he adjusted a series of knobs in the Noble Jury's engine room and brought the fluctuations of the lavender tome down to a minimum. "Heck, at this rate, I might even be able to redirect power anywhere! Heh... and I always thought it looked so hard, Propsy—"
There was a resounding thud, and the entire ship shook. Several of the knobs Ebon had worked hard on adjusting rotated loosely.
The stallion's jaw fell. He shook and gritted his teeth. "Nnnnnngh... Zaaaaaid?!" He reached over to an intercom and slapped a hoof over it. "I thought you said you were gonna keep the ship steady—"
Thud! The ship shook again.
This time, Ebon Mane wobbled, his ears folding atop his head as he grimaced.
"Uhm... Zaid?"
No response.
Ebon started to panic. In quick order, he flung the engine room door open and scampered towards the bow of the ship.
Climbing up two decks to the top floor, he emerged in the cockpit. "Zaid, you're alive!"
"Uhhhhhh..." Zaid sat in the seat, his eyes locked on the windshield.
"You scared me half to death!" Ebon frowned. "Why didn't you answer the intercom?"
"Sorry, food dude. I was... uhm... a little distracted?"
"Yeah? By what?"
WHUD! A decaying zombie pegasus slammed against the windshield.
"Cheese and crackers!" Ebon hid behind the pilot's seat, shivering.
"Not a good time to make me hungry!" Zaid sputtered.
"Whatisthatwhatisthatwhatisthatwhatisthat?!"
"I dunno... but it seems to have a lot of brothers and sisters."
"Huh?"
"What, you can't see?" Zaid flung his hoof over several instruments. "Let's see... nope... nope... uh uh... nope... ah! Here we go." He activated the windshield wipers. The twitching pegasus was peeled off the window. Once it was gone, the two stallions could easily see a flock of black necrotic shapes populating the grey thunderclouds. "There they all are! Aren't they cute?"
"Cute?!" Ebon stammered, gripping hard to the back of the pilot's seat. "They're hideous! Where in Spark's name did they come from?!"
"Well, Ebony, when a zombie mare and a vampire pigeon love each other very much—"
"Zaid!"
"Look, I have no friggin' clue. One moment, it was clear gray nightmare. The next... it was a fluffy gray nightmare with undead winged ponies four croutons!"
"Why's everything gotta be a food analogy with you?"
"'Cuz I'm friggin' starving, okay?! You picked one hell of an afternoon to become an engineer!"
"Blessed Spark..." Ebon grimaced at the denser and denser squadrons of the undead. "You think... you th-think they could have gotten to our friends?"
"I dunno. Seems to me they're content to just fly around and enjoy the breeze." Zaid pointed. "I mean, look at 'em! Just like a graceful flock of birds!"
"Uhhh..." Ebon shivered as his pupils shrank. "They're... uh... th-they're flocking this way."
"Oooh!" Zaid smirked over his shoulder. "You too are a fan of Michael Critrot?"
"Zaid, do something!" Ebon shouted as the creatures drew close enough for the ponies to hear their shrieks.
"Yeah... uhm..." Zaid gripped the controllers. "Say, I have an idea. Did you like playing Starfilly 64?"
"Starfilly what—Gaiiiiie!" Ebon clung to the pilot's seat for dear life.
The Noble Jury spun around on an invisible axis, thereby drilling its way through the rampaging sea of pegasi. Necrotic bodies went flying, their purple gooey innards dissolving into the wet, drenching rain.
The rest of the undead soared after the Noble Jury's hull. In a desperate move, the vessel dove down low, skirting past the underbellies of several buildings as it made its way to the far end of the floating nightmare city.
"You h-hear that?!" a Ledomaritan stammered as the group of survivors galloped through the dark, twisting corridors that led towards the Hold. "They're breaking on through! I just know it!"
"There's no way they can sense us through the walls!" another survivor exclaimed. A gulp, and she timidly glanced at the others. "Is th-there?"
"Just keep friggin' moving," Seclorum said in a growling tone. "We have enough bullcrap to deal with." His glaring expression swam over Bellesmith's face.
Belle bit her lip, carrying "Eagle Eye" on her shoulders.
"Don't let 'em get to you," Josho said, regaining enough energy to march in full stride. "Old Secchy just needs an excuse to be abrasive with somepony."
"So I can imagine." Belle gulped and muttered, "Do you believe that I am me, Mr. Josho?"
"Let's put it this way..." The stallion shrugged in mid-step. "Even if you are in fact a snake-in-the-grass shapeshifting metamorph that leeches off of emotion... I'm happier to have you along than Secchy."
Belle bit her lip. "Well, uhm... th-that is certainly a good thing to know—"
"Nnnngh..." Aatxe collapsed against a wall and slumped to his knees.
Props gasped. "Mr. Aatxe!" She turned around and scampered towards the trembling stallion. "What's the matter, guy-guy?! Get up!"
"I... I-I can't help it..." He panted, his face awash with sweat. "So much galloping around... so much pandemonium..." He gulped, staring ahead with a feverish stare. "I've gotten so out of shape since my piloting days."
"Just take deep breaths and walk it off, dude-bro!" Props shook his shoulders. "We need to get to the Tarkington, and that makes you the pony of the hour! Stick with us, buddy!"
"Easier s-said than done..." He smiled weakly at Props. "Even if I made it out of this place, I'm afraid I don't have much energy to go back to living a normal life." He gulped and patted Props' golden head. "I'm just glad to meet somepony whom Prowse cares so much for. He raised his niece very well..."
"D-don't talk like that! We're gonna get you out of here!" Props looked up, wincing. "Please! Somepony! Anypony! Help me out here—"
The hallways shook with a resounding crash of noise. Rust-tainted air billowed down the corridor, making every pony's muzzle shudder from the purely rancid scent.
"Th-they're breaking on through!" a mare stammered.
"Rehmm vreen threadd siul Nagu'n!"
"Darn it!" Seclorum snarled, breaking into a full gallop. "I knew this was too good to be true!"
"Everypony! Pick up the pace!" Josho shouted, levitating his shotgun at the ready.
"Please!" Props stammered, tugging and pulling at Aatxe's exhausted form. "Help us! They're gonna clobbermunch 'em!"
"Somepony!" Bellesmith stammered, shivering where she stood. "We can't just leave—" A large body galloped past her, nearly knocking her and "Eagle Eye" into the wall.
Arcshod skidded to a stop, telekinetically encased Aatxe in a levitation spell, and threw him over his shoulders. "Hmmph... rekkha'three siurna blen'silaat threem..."
"Easy f-for you to say," Aatxe said through an exhausted grin.
Arcshod galloped forward on thundering hooves. Not far behind him, dark shadows coalesced and surged along the walls. In the penumbra of flouncing manalight, several white eyeballs glittered like stars, multiplying in density along the crest of a rising heartbeat.
"Run, girl!" Props squeaked as she shoved Bellesmith along. The two ponies sprinted away from the sloshing madness while Elma's disguised body clung to Belle's flanks. "Run run run run runnity run!"
"H-how can th-they be this fast?!" Belle panted in mid-sprint. "It's like an animated sea of d-death!"
"Yeah, well death is gonna get a whole lot deader!" Josho stood his ground, firing loud shots into the rampaging mess behind the group. As the walls echoed from his thunderous salvos, he backtrotted briskly, reloading and discharging the shotgun—just as pegasi shapes emerged from the rippling wall of muck. "You're almost to the Hold! Keep going!"
"Blessed Spark, preserve us," Belle stammered, her eyes growing teary. "Preserve Pilate, my beloved..."
"Let us through!" Seclorum shouted. Up ahead, the group had reached the barricade, and the front line of unicorns—both Ledomaritans and Xonans alike—were unravelling the obstruction brick-by-brick with levitation spells. "We've got manacrystals for the Tarkington—but things went from worse to uber worse! Now let us in!"
They were greeted on the other side by a line of ponies with crossbows. The nervous, shivering sentries stammered, "W-we're not letting you in until we g-get a blood test!"
"A blood test?" Belle exclaimed.
"Oh for the love of—" Seclorum rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not a fan of it either, but if you don't let us through now, something a million friggin' times worse than shape-shifters is gonna rip us all a new one—changelings or ponies alike!"
"S-sorry, sir. But it's your rules! Nopony passes through unless—"
"Rrrrghhh!" Arcshod thundered through, spitting at the tattooed half of the group. "Fre'mukkyr hava'klanna vreem siul rasta, resen vekkomulien trenna'dren! Xon!"
The Xonan warriors shuffled backwards, ears drooped like shamed canines. Arcshod marched on through with Aatxe on his back.
Blinking, Seclorum shuffled along.
"What exactly did the big lug say?" Josho remarked
"You don't wanna know, old friend." Seclorum motioned forward. "Okay, everypony! Into the Hold! Quick, before—"
"It's too late!" a stallion bellowed.
The hallway filled with shrieks.
Seclorum spun around to see the first of many slime-covered pegasi rushing the barricade. With a leap, he threw himself into the torch-lit chamber beyond, then tugged Bellesmith and Props forward with telekinesis.
"Form a line!" Seclorum shouted. "All ponies with a weapon! By me!"
On either side of the chamber entrance, unicorns were feverishly attempting to stack up the debris wall to keep the charging undead out. But at the weak speed at which they were doing so—
"Th-they're here!" Props whimpered, covering her goggled face. "We're gonna be slime pony kibble!"
Josho gritted his teeth, aiming down the corridor as he could now see the whites of the zombie pegasi's glazed eyes. "Well, here goes nothing—"
The ragged monsters climbed the walls, kicked off the floor, and leapt off the ceiling with a combined banshee cry—
Krakowwwwwwwww!" A solid stream of sun-bright mana billowed down the corridor, burning the first wave of pegasi to a crisp and sending the next two layers of undead flying backwards like a puddle of burnt oatmeal. The hallway went dark at the end of the discharge.
Seclorum and Josho glanced aside, muzzles agape.
Prowse leaned on his good three legs, panting. Meanwhile, he held his prosthetic forward, its crystalline tips still flickering with electrical energy. The manaconduits hummed and flickered from the inside out, illuminating his sweaty, stubbled face.
"And that, lads and lassies, is how you fix a bloody boomstick."
"Unky Prowsie!" Props leapt and clung to his upper body with a clingy-clingy hug. She nuzzled his neck and beamed. "Heeeeee! You're the bestiest of the bestiest!"
"Heh... just capitalizing on your genius, lass." He nuzzled her in return. "Glad to have you back."
"Hey, uh..." Seclorum wheezed, his eyes briefly sparkling. "Can I get a nuzzle too?"
"Fart yourself sideways, ya bloomin' bastard."
"Heheh... right..." Seclorum cleared his throat and gestured towards the nearest line of unicorns, snapping them out of their awestruck stupor. "What are you idiots waiting around for? Seal it up! They'll be back any moment!"
Josho leaned in with a smirk. "There's still hope for you yet, Secchy."
"Zaidddddddddd—" Ebon whimpered and hid his face behind a pair of curled forelimbs.
"There's no gettin' off this Nancy Jane we're on!" Zaid cackled while barreling the vessel through another wave of pegasi. Yet more splatters of guts and purple goo flew across the ship's windshield. "H-hey! Ten points! Twenty!"
"Really, Zaid?! Really?!"
"What?" The stallion looked over his shoulder. "I lost my ability to scream in acute terror over two hours ago."
"At least watch what you're barreling into while you barrel into it!" Ebon shrieked, pointing straight ahead.
"Whoah, dayum!" Zaid jerked up and down at the controls—inadvertently bunny-hopping the skystone craft in mid-air as it bobbed and weaved its way around floating temple shards. He twirled past a leaning column of rain-slick granite and soared his way under a particularly large, looming temple. "You gotta admit, they're pretty darn persistent for a bunch of nasty-wasty distant cousins to Rainbow Dash!"
"We h-have no clue who these creeps are related t-to!"
"Why not? They share her same social graces!" Thud! "Aaaaaand thirty points, fillies and gentlecolts!"
"Zaid, you have to get us someplace where they can't see us!" Ebon stammered. "I dunno what that yucky muck is that's dribbling out of them, but I think it's some kind of acid!"
"That's what a diet on rotting pigeons will do to ya."
"Zaid!"
"Hold up!" Zaid craned his neck, looking upwards through the windshield. "What do we have here?! Who's a pretty pony?"
"Huh...?" Ebon did a double-take, then gasped as beams of mana shot down in bright bolts, impacting the pegasi and clipping their wings before they could get within clawing distance of the Noble Jury's hull. "Where's that coming from?"
"Up there!" Zaid pointing towards a temple twirling in the wind alongside the Noble Jury's trajectory. A lithe figure was galloping along the crest of the temple's edge, aiming his horn into the maelstrom and taking pot shots at the creatures swarming around the vessel. "Well well well..." Zaid grinned from ear to ear. "It's fitting that he'd protect such a beautiful ship."
Ebon's muzzle quivered. "EE...?"
"You're gonna have to whimper your true love's name in a slightly higher volume, there, chief."
"Eagle Eye!" Ebon practically climbed over Zaid, waving and flailing his forelimbs like mad. He gestured desperately against the cockpit windows in hopes that the stallion could see. "Over here! We're right here!"
"Dude, chillax!" Zaid wheezed and shoved Ebon back so he could re-grip the controls with ease. "It's obvious he sees us! He's fending the monsters off for a reason!"
"Oh jeez! Th-they'll swarm him too! And he's out there all alone! St-stranded!"
"In another minute, we'll have sped past the floating temple's velocity."
"Then we g-gotta slow down... or s-something!" Ebon hyperventilated, jumping and squirming in place. "Anything to let him hop back on board! It's obviously a whole lot safer in here!"
"I don't think I can slow the ship fast enough! All I can do is steer!"
"But Zaid—"
"However..." Zaid glanced over his shoulder. "If some loverboy was to get his sailboat flank to engineering—"
"I'm on it!" Ebon was already gliding down the stairwell and landing on the bottom deck. His voice shouted upwards as he scampered towards the heart of the ship. "Get us in close to the temple! I'll slow us down so that Eagle Eye can make the jump!"
"Hey—uh—if I get a good whiff of his sopping wet mane, I swear, it'll totally be by accident!"
"Alright!" Josho spun from the collapsed mound of mortar and debris. "We're sealed off!"
"But not for long," Seclorum muttered, staring warily at the clogged corridor as loud thumping noises issued from the far side. "They'll get through eventually. They made it past Arcshod's barricade at the outer entrance, did they not?"
"They seem to operate under a one-track mind. Long story short, we ain't going back out the way we came." Josho swiveled to face the others. "Is there another way out of this place?"
"There is," Prowse said with a nod. He continued priming his weaponized prosthetic while he squinted at the frazzled, rain-soaked team. "Why? Are we going anywhere soon?"
"These aren't the same as changelings," Josho said. "Whatever these creatures are, they aren't just happy with you guys staying here." He turned to glare at everyone. "Nopony will be safe here for long. They have powers the likes of which I've never seen."
"And when they touch you, you become one of them," Seclorum said.
Several ponies gasped and murmured.
"Ya can't be bloody serious," Prowse stammered.
"I've seen it happen to a Xonan and one of the Lounge," Seclorum said. He turned towards Arcshod and his fellow warriors. "I'm sorry for what happened back there, big guy. But if we stayed too far behind, half of us would be on the other side trying to barge in right now."
Thud! Another reverberation echoed through the chamber.
Props squeaked and clung—shivering—to Prowse's side. The manacrystals on her back rattled.
Josho glanced at them, then at the others. "Then there's only one course of action. We're not safe here forever. We have to find a way to go mobile."
"The Tarkington..." Aatxe remarked.
"Right."
"But even if my old ship could keep us safe once it's powered up, how in the hay are we going to get there?!" Aatxe exclaimed. "It's at least two floating temples away and none of us can fly!"
"What happened to Rainbow Dash and Pilate?!" Bellesmith remarked. "Where'd she take my beloved?"
"Darling, your beloved watch a few notches above resident badass last time I saw him," Josho said. "Apparently Roarke slipped in among the Lounge and used their tech to give him an elbow up on the situation."
Belle's jaw dropped. "What... wh-what kind of an elbow up?! What's Roarke and Rainbow up to?!"
"I-I thought they went to distract the creep-jeepies!" Props exclaimed.
"Well they're not doing a very good job of it," Seclorum grumbled.
"Bite your tongue, Secchy!" Josho snapped. "Rainbow and Pilate are the main reasons we got out of that hell hole in the end!"
"Right." Seclorum gulped. "The longer we stay here and discuss it, the sooner we all become dead meat."
"But how will we even get to the Tarkington?!" Aatxe growled. "How is that even a viable option?!"
Josho glanced at Seclorum. "Queen's Convoy?"
Seclorum nodded. "Yes... yes... it might work. But in this weather?"
"We've done it in worse."
"Done what?" Bellesmith asked.
"It's a seldomly practiced Ledomaritan military maneuver where—to span a gap—multiple unicorns line up and act as mana-buffers, spreading a levitation spell across a wide area."
"You mean..." Prowse gawked. "...you horn blokes form a levitating bridge through sheer willpower?"
"Depends on how much junk we can find to utilize for it," Seclorum said. "And if there's enough of it facing the direction of the temple where Aatxe's old ship is."
"Well, I say it's bloody brilliant!" Prowse nodded. "Let's do it!"
"But if we gallop out in the open now—we'll be risking absolutely everything—"
"Risk is part of the game, laddie!" Prowse gestured at a stockpile towards the back of the room. "We have weapons! We have bludgeons! Hell, we even have my trusty old mortar shells from my expedition!"
"There's no telling if the fuses for those work still—"
"No sense in not tryin'! Besides, the more explosions on your side, the better!"
"I'm with Unky Prowsy!" Props said.
Josho glared. "You're always with Unky Prowsy."
"This time I'm with him with fries on the side!"
"Hey... uhm..." Bellesmith shuffled nervously with the weight of "Eagle Eye" on her back. "This is supposed to be a closed-in hiding place, right?"
Everypony looked at her.
"Right..." Seclorum slowly nodded.
"Then... uhhh..." Belle squinted. "Why does it feel so breezy?"
Props blinked.
Josho glanced around. "Did anypony seal up those holes that the temple shards smashed?"
One Ledomaritan shook her head. "No... th-they were too big."
Prowse added, "I kept my boomstick trained on it for if any wayward... changelings... flew in..."
Everyone was dead silent.
Josho craned his head... then followed the motion with a limp side-shuffle. He rounded the corner, once again seeing the large gaping rifts in the bottom of the building where gray wind and wet rain billowed through.
He stood there for a few seconds, biting his lip.
Not long after—
Three shrieking pegasi burst in at once, skittering like crickets across the ceiling and vomiting ooze out their ravenous muzzles.
"Nagu'n!"
"Great Spark!"
"Unky—!"
"Everypony stand back!"
Krakowwwww! Pow!
"Nnnngh-Guh!" Ebon sweated hard as he pulled back on a lever. Steam vented from the bulkheads encasing the Noble Jury's engine room. "Okay, Zaid!" he wheezed as he felt the ship buckling around him. "That should decelerate us to something within r-running speed!"
"Neato keano! I'm pulling up along the temple now!"
"Is h-he there?!" Ebon responded to the crackling intercom. "Does he see us?!"
"Just chillax and let me assist him with the hurricane-defying leap of death! Okay?! Now keep it at this speed!"
"Hurry up!" Ebon panted. "If I h-hold us back for t-too long, we m-might stall!"
"Almost got him... almost got him..."
"Come on, EE..." Ebon heaved and hissed. "Come on..."
"Hnnnngh-Gaaagh!"
Eagle Eye dove forward, rolled out of the way of a diving pegasus, and stabbed his sword straight up into the gut of another one flying through the narrow chamber after him. The creature split in two, splashing into wet purple puddles against the far side's columns. The first attacker came around for another swipe, but Eagle Eye was ready, blinding the thing's glazed eyes with a magical attack. When it flew past him, he gave its wing a deep cut, ripping it from the stalk.
As the creature spun into the lightning and thunder, Eagle Eye saw an odd sight in the distance.
The breathless stallion stood up, leaning tiredly on his glistening sword. His expert eyes squinted, and he gasped.
The Noble Jury was pulling up along a temple, and a petite lavender shape was bravely leaping off the platform and landing on the ship's top deck just beneath its flickering red skystone. From afar, the tell-tale flash of an opening cockpit struck Eagle's vision, and then the Noble Jury picked up speed, outflying a rampaging flock of pegasi.
"No..." Eagle Eye stammered. "N-no... that's not me..." He gnashed his teeth and ran up to the edge, shouting against the thunder. "That's not me!" He shivered and yelped, "Don't let him on board, guys! Don't let—"
More shrieks echoed behind him.
"Gnnnghh!" Eagle hissed into his clenched teeth, swiping blindly overhead. The pegasi nipped and snapped at his ears, barely missing him by a hair. Puddles of quivering muck collected thicker and thicker as he hopped over the mess, scampered around a series of columns, and struggled in vain to catch up with the runaway manaship. "Noooo! Come back! Please! Come b—"
Josho's frantic cries dissolved against the maelstrom of noise that filled up the hold. From wall to wall, rabid pegasi stampeded on ragged limbs. Several of them leapt up and skittered across the ceiling for a better angle on their fleeing targets. With wretched gurgling sounds, they leapt at random, pouncing on the backs of helpless ponies. Four equines fell to their charge in an instant. All the survivors could register was howling and the scraping of hooves against brick—and then the wave had advanced before the rest of their horrific fate could be witnessed.
Prowse finished priming his gun. Against Props' protests, the stallion spun about in mid-hobble and discharged his energy weapon at the swarm nipping at their tails. He blasted the attackers in two, taking a good chunk of the invaded hold along with it. Gaps in the floor appeared in random patches, filling the claustrophobic air with wind and rain water. The rest was a goop of purple mess, sloshing ever so dastardly forward.
Several ponies looked back, hung between shrieks and sobs. Arcshod, Josho, and several other warriors urged them along while a few Xonans and Ledomaritans dismantled the barricade to their last and only exit.
"Props!" Bellesmith shouted from where she hobbled beside Josho. "Props, you and your Uncle need to m-move!"
"Unky Prowsy!" Props tugged and tugged on the stallion as he held his ground. "Please! Let's g-get out of here!"
"Them bloody wankers ain't stoppin' for nothing!" He spat, priming his prosthetic with a dull bass hum. "We're all that stands between them and the others!"
"Unky, until that boomstick of yours reloads, it's useless to us too!"
"What are you two waiting for?!" Aatxe and two other ponies scuffled to a stop, panting. "We have to make it to my ship—"
A pegasus dove through the hazy air and pounced onto the stallion to Aatxe's side. Aatxe and his companion stumbled aside, gaping in horror.
"Gaaaa-aaaauchkkk!" The stallion flailed beneath the ravenous creature. Its every bleeding orifice soiled his quivering flesh with gallons of the deathly muck. As the thing bit and tore at his shoulder, he looked up with what was left of his tear-stained face and reached a melting hoof out. "Nnngrauhhhhkkk—pleeeease...!"
Aatxe sat, slumped in frozen horror.
Seclorum charged up, wide-eyed. He heard a rattling sound and glanced to the side. He stood next to Prowse's little hovel in the hold, and the nearest crate of junk held several explosive ordinances. Seclorum reached in, twisted a knob with his teeth, and tossed the object into the nightmarish scene. The explosive erupted in flames and shrapnel as soon as it landed. The monster and its victim were instantly incinerated while the wave of undead beyond staggered from the blast.
"Props! Prowse!" Belle hopped and craned her neck from a distance. "Come on! Run!"
"You heard her!" Seclorum shouted as he took two more explosives and shoved the crate towards the stallion at Aatxe's side. "We don't move? We don't live! Now get your flank into gear!" He looked fixedly at the stallion. "Will you lend a hoof?"
The stallion nodded and reached in for an explosive.
Seclorum was already tossing another. "Prowse! Get your niece and her manacrystals to the surface or I'm breaking both of your legs and dragging you myself!"
Prowse gnashed his teeth, shaking his half-charged prosthetic in frustration. He begrudgingly hobbled off, leaning on Props' shoulder for support while more explosives went off behind them.
"Burn in the Spark's abyss, you smelly bags of piss!" Seclorum sputtered. Once he had lobbed his last explosive, he shoved Prowse's crate towards the thinning crowd behind him and shoved the stallion along. The pony carried the crates along while Seclorum backtrotted from the flame and smoke. He bumped into Aatxe in the process, then gaped at the numb equine. "Hey! Hey!" He shook the pony's shoulders. "I wanna get out of here too! That's gonna be hella hard if I have to carry you! So wake the buck up!"
Aatxe nodded in a cold sweat. "Yes... y-yes..." He spun about and hobbled on, wincing. "Must... st-stay alive..."
As the shrieks picked up once more in volume, Seclorum spun and dashed down the hazy corridor just as the rest of the survivors poured through the empty barricade beyond.
Schwissssh! The rear door to the Noble Jury's cockpit opened to the rain and wind. Eagle Eye's soaked figure trotted through. He sheltered himself with a cushion of telekinetic force while Zaid yanked the door shut behind with a lever beside the cockpit. Slowly, with cold purple eyes, Eagle Eye looked up.
"There's the stallion of the hour!" Zaid beamed, glancing over his shoulder briefly as he drove the skystone ship through the soupy maelstrom. "Didja catch any fish?"
"... ... ..." Eagle Eye smiled. "You're a funny one."
"Nawwww, in a seriousness, though..." Zaid smirked. "It's great to have you back on board. We thought you were a goner, dude! Well, granted, we thought we were all goners, but—"
"The ship is in one piece?" Eagle Eye asked.
"Pfft. As good as it's ever going to be." Zaid motioned down below deck. "Poor ol' Floydien knocked his head up worse than a jackrabbit on her honeymoon. We think he's doing alright... for a giant space elk suffering a coma, that is. But, in the meantime, yours truly is having to pilot the ship so that we don't blow up. Then, maybe, we'll run into Rainbow Dash and the others... and then blow up. Ya feel me?"
"I do, Zaid," Eagle Eye said. "Is everypony else okay?"
"Uhhh... all I can tell you is that Kera's snug-as-a-bug in the observation room..." Zaid smirked with thin eyes. "...and Ebon's playing engineer in Props' place. Maybe you should go down there and say 'hey.' Help him grapple with levers... so to speak."
Eagle Eye smiled. He then smiled some more. "So he is in the engine room?"
"Yup! He'll be super jazzed to see you, among other 'j' words. Hell, I'm so happy to see you I just about j—"
"I should go check on the engine room," Eagle Eye said—then paused briefly. He turned to say, "And Ebon."
"Righto! Heheh! So nice to have you around, guy!" Zaid pivoted the chair just enough to stretch out his hoof. "Gimme some fetlock! Up top!"
Eagle Eye silently shimmied down the crawlspace.
Zaid was left hanging. He blinked, then frowned. "Hmmph... Just because I'm straight doesn't mean I'm gonna slice you up or nothin', bro." He pivoted towards the controls with a sigh. "Wonder if the poor sap even notices how much his mane sucks right now."
The engine room door creaked open. Sweating, Ebon glanced over. After a blink, his gaping jaw curved into a bright smile.
"EE..."
The unicorn stood at the far end. His lavender coat shone in the matching light of the Noble Jury's flickering engine core. His gaze lingered on Ebon Mane, and eventually he smiled back. "Ebon..."
Ebon Mane's breaths came in shallow little squeaks. Fighting the urge to shiver, he released his heavy grip of the lever. The ship shook as the engines regained their thrust. "Zaid! She's all yours!" Ebon sputtered into the intercom, leaning up against it with a pair of twitching hooves. "Take us out of here!"
"Aye, cook, my cook!"
The room rocked slightly from side to side as the ship once again picked up speed. Ebon twirled with a suppressed squeal. "Omigoodness! I'm sooooo glad to see..." He blinked at nothingness. "...you?"
"Everything is operating efficiently?" Eagle Eye had crossed the length of the room.
Ebon swiveled to face him, blinking. "Uhm... y-yes! I mean... it wasn't easy to keep this thing running." He trotted over with a nervous smile. "Ever since Mr. Floydien went k-kerplunk, Zaid and I have been chomping at the bit to keep from crashing the ship into a temple or some other floating structure. Neither of us exactly know how to slow the ship down or even land it... but so far... uh... so g-good?"
"You've done magnificently," Eagle Eye said, staring at the floating tome inside its cage. "Bless the Spark for having stallions like you around."
Ebon smiled. He leaned in and nuzzled Eagle's damp mane. "That's not all I'm thankful to the Spark for."
Eagle Eye turned towards Ebon.
Ebon smiled, biting his lip.
Eagle Eye brought a hoof up, caressed Ebon's forelimb... and gently brushed the stallion aside. "How about the engine core?" he asked while trotting across the room.
Ebon stumbled, blinking loosely into the bulkheads. "Uhhhh..." He snapped out of it and glanced over his shoulder. "Huh?"
"Is it damaged in any way?" Eagle Eye asked, studying the wires connecting the core to the wall consoles.
"Uhmmmm..." Ebon teetered back and forth on his hooves. After a few more blinks, he cleared his throat and said "No... I-I mean... I don't th-think so. Everything's operating smoothely."
"That must mean that Rainbow Dash is still alive."
"H-huh?"
"Rainbow Dash and the book have a connection..." Eagle Eye murmured. Silence. He turned and brandished a dashing smile. "Don't they?"
Ebon slowly, slowly nodded. "Yes... I figured as much..."
"So, if the book is in one piece, then that must mean Rainbow Dash is still alive somewhere in this city." Eagle Eye trotted up to the core again. "This is a good thing, don't you think?"
"Well... uhm... of c-course, Eagle Eye. But you're alive as well! I mean... we're so lucky..." Ebon's voice trailed off.
"Where do you suppose she may be at this moment?" Eagle Eye asked, squinting into the lavender light. "You think this thing is capable of indicating that?"
Ebon bit his lip, starting to tremble.
Eagle Eye slid, scampered, and rolled across the rain-slick temple platform.
No less than three pegasi scraped against the floor beside him, barely missing him in their deadly swoop.
At his lung's breaking point, Eagle Eye jumped up, slid backwards, and levitated his sword in a twirling slash. He lopped off the front limbs of one undead and lacerated the face of another. A third pounced on him, but the ex-mercenary rolled backwards and used the creature's momentum to fling him out into the twirling winds.
Kipping back up to his hooves, Eagle Eye stumbled forward and leaned—panting—against a column. His dazed eyes squinted through the maelstrom.
A familiar red streak was surging back towards him on its clockwise rotation. Within a minute, the Noble Jury would be once more in leaping distance. However, at its maddening speed and even crazier distance—
Shrieks lit up behind Eagle Eye.
He looked over his shoulder, then raised his sword at the last second.
A snarling pegasus slammed into him, its mouth snapping at his muzzle. Eagle Eye blocked its teeth with his sword—but took the brunt of the impact. His body plunged over the side, plummeted, and fell onto a craggy cliff of broken granite below.
"Ooomf!" Eagle Eye winced, pain wracking through his body.
Three sets of legs landed on either side of him. His ears heard the thumping of a demonic heartbeat through the rain, and he saw dribbling curtains of purple leaking over the granite in his peripheral.
Gritting his teeth, Eagle spun three hundred and sixty degrees on the wet surface, slashing the sword out in every direction. A dozen legs were reduced to ribbons in a blink. The howling undead collapsed all around him, forming a ring of bubbling purple.
Eagle Eye hopped over the acidic ooze, standing precariously now on the edge of the platform. Hurricane winds pelted his face with needle-sharp drops of rain. He teetered, wheezing, his eyes thinly gazing at the Noble Jury.
The craft was streaking below at this point. Within seconds, his last window would be missed.
Eagle gritted his teeth. He heard more banshee cries and looked up.
A solid line of undead soared his way. Eagle could see the whites of the eyes marinating in their gashed flesh.
Taking several deep breaths, Eagle frowned. As the air lit up with thunder, her twirled the sword until it was directly in front of him...
And he leapt suicidally into the deathly flock, his body one with the storm.
"See? It pulses brighter and dimmer." A lavender hoof pointed at the glowing tome across the engine room. "Could it be resonance from proximity to Rainbow Dash?"
"I... never thought that hard about it, EE," Ebon Mane said.
"If it's true, then we could use it to find Rainbow Dash."
"Uh huh..." Ebon Mane clenched his teeth. He looked left. He looked right. A large wrench hung off the edge of Props' workbench.
"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Eagle Eye asked, his nose nearly brushing with the dark cage housing the tome. "Having Rainbow Dash here would solve so many problems."
"Yes... perhaps..." Ebon silently, stealthily picked up the wrench. Holding it in the crook of one hoof, he shuffled ever so gradually towards Eagle's flank on his other three. "Like what kind of problems?"
"Well, certainly we need to save the others," Eagle Eye said. "But we'd have to save ourselves first."
"Save ourselves..." Ebon held his breath and loomed directly behind the stallion, holding the wrench up high. "...from what, EE?"
"This is a very dangerous place, Ebon. Only Rainbow Dash is the key."
Ebon said nothing. Already wincing, he nevertheless flung the wrench towards the back of Eagle's skull—
Th-Thwwpp! Eagle's violet-streaked tail morphed into a black tentacle that spun three time around Ebon's neck.
"Snkkkkkktttt!" Ebon wheezed.
Eagle's head spun one hundred and eighty degrees, glaring at the stallion. Half a second later, his eyes flickered green... and he smiled.
Thwoooosh!WHAM! The tentacle slammed Ebon into one wall—Crasssh!—then straight through Props workbench, scattering tools and metal nick-nacks everywhere. Ebon collapsed hard on the floor sputtering and wheezing.
Eagle Eye twirled his tail back to normal, spun, and morphed his right forelimb into a crab's pincher. The black claw reached up and yanked a manacable loose from the circular frame of the caged engine core. Sparks spat out its ends as the changeling took one massive stride to the wall, grunted, and shoved the electrocuting mess deep into the intercom system. The lights of the Noble Jury flickered instantly.
Up in the cockpit, Zaid blinked. His instruments were going haywire.
"Whoah whoah whoah whoah!" He released his grip of the controls, flinching away from the splashing sparks. "What the fart?!"
A bright light strobed to his left.
Stupidly, the stallion glanced towards it.
The intercom system flickered, sparkled, then outright exploded. Bands of burning mana shot out from the overloaded soundstones and leapt into the pilot's nervous system.
"Gaaaaaaahhckkkt!" Zaid shook, quivered, and slumped to a limp, smoking heap beneath the pilot's seat. His eyes rolled back as he lay still against the bulkheads.
Its skystone engine flickering, the Noble Jury teetered to its port. It veered awkwardly through the mess and into the looming path of wayward floating platforms. The ship was soon lost in the wind and rain as it barreled along its suicide path.
With a glicker of greenflame, "Eagle Eye" smirked at himself. He swiveled around from the Noble Jury's damaged intercom and approached the far end of the engine room—
Clanggg! A dislocated steam pipe slammed across his skull.
With a hiss, the changeling jolted backwards, breaking face with a wincing expression. It turned back into Eagle Eye long enough to glare across the cabin.
Gripping the pipe in his teeth, Ebon Mane paced himself from the shape-shifter, flicked his tail, and came in for another strike. "Gnnnnghhh!"
Eagle Eye easily side-stepped him, ducked a second strike, swiveled about, and bucked Ebon Mane in the fetlocks.
"Ooomf!" Ebon pratfalled, collapsing against the teetering floor of the runaway vessel's interior. He struggled back to his hooves—only to have the weight of the changeling slamming down against his spine. "Guhh!" He quivered as his grinning nemesis clutched his chin and scalp in separate hooves, pressing inward from both angles and threatening to crush his skull. Wincing, Ebon squinted forward. His hoof danced around until it grasped the dangling electrical manacable that had been detached from the ship's engine core. With a grunt, he jabbed the cable up and into the changeling's fake horn.
"Gaaa-aaa-aaa!" The shapeshifter rolled off of Ebon.
The stallion scampered up to his hooves and ran forward. He crossed the distance of the engine room and yanked a metal tool off the nearby bench. When he spun around to face his foe—a tentacle had wrapped around his waist.
Snarling, the half-mutated changeling pulled back, flinging Ebon along the full length of his morphing appendage. The stallion slammed into the wall, another wall, and was finally sent—crashing—through Props' workbench. Ebon rolled limply to the floor, whimpering in pain.
With thudding footsteps, the changeling trotted icily towards Ebon's twitching figure. He retracted his tentacle, morphing it slowly back into a hoof. "You've given me quite the workout. I would gladly feed..." His hoof spread into five sets of digits as it became a reptilian hand in the changeling's possession. "...if only you weren't such a blank slate." Then, with a snarl, he formed all five fingers into a fist and slammed it straight into Ebon's muzzle.
High above the Noble Jury's plummeting plight, a flock of undead pegasi flew in circles. There was no rhyme or reason to their aerial patterns. This may have had something to do with the fact that one of their numbers was being ridden like a bucking bronco.
"Grrrr-rrrr!" Eagle Eye hissed into the pelting rain. He straddled one of the larger pegasi, stabbing his sword straight down through the creature's skull. Telekinetically twisting the hilt of his blade left and right, he awkwardly steered the creature, struggling for dominance of its flight pattern.
Beneath him, the monster hissed and spat purple vomit at every turn. Its labored wings deteriorated under Eagle's weight. Its already mangled body was dissolving, shred by shred, losing its pulpy muscles in the merciless rain.
"Come on... c-come onnnn..." Eagle gnashed at his teeth, feeling the pull of gravity nip and bite at his senses with every thrashing move that the monster made. He heard shrieks rising around him in intensity, and he ducked his skull with folded ears to avoid the passing pegasi from biting chunks of skin off his head.
Down below, the Noble Jury loomed within view. Through the rain and lightning, Eagle Eye nervously spotted a gigantic temple hovering in front of it at a distance—a distance that was swiftly closing.
Eagle Eye bit his lip. Around that time, he felt a dip in the monster's flight. His sword's hilt grew looser and looser. "H-huh?!" He glanced down.
Purple goop was crawling up the blade, just inches from Eagle Eye's body. The zombie pegasus was literally melting from the inside out, and twirling white eyeballs peaked out of every lacerated orifice in the beast.
Eagle Eye took a deep breath. He ducked the swooping attack of another pegasus, then stood up on the creature's back with wobbly legs. With an inward shout, he ripped his sword out from the monster's head and tossed the infected weapon skyward. It skewered the bodies of two more pegasi, breaking off their attack.
While they were distracted, the ex-mercenary swan-dove off the spine of his liquified mount. He straightened his body into a lavender arrowhead, plunging towards the ship far below. As its rain-slick bulkheads grew close enough for Eagle Eye to spot every rivet of detail, he concentrated hard and encased his entire body in a magical field. The wind wipped against his face, forcing him to blink. When he next opened his eyes, he could only see moisture. So, in a desperate shout, he flung himself forward with the force of a telekinetic booth, and stretched both forelimbs out...
The door to the Noble Jury's engine room hung open.
One shuffling hoofstep after another, the changeling crept through the navigation room and approached the observation room at the ship's bow. Despite the rattle of the bulkheads and the shrill whistle of the hurricane winds outside, he kept his pace slow, methodical, and calm. He glanced down at Floydien's meaty body, smirking at the bruises lining the elk's skull. As he stepped gingerly over the creature's limbs, he approached a little bundle of a figure lying on the hammoc in front of him.
Kera lay in a fetal position, her glazed eyes reflecting the figure as he drew close... and closer.
"Hmmmmm..." The changeling squinted at her. Slowly, his smile returned. "Yes..." He grinned harder. "Oh yes..." As he came closer to the filly, his hair grew in length, turning gray around a pale coat. "You have so much misery to give..." One of his eyes scarred over while a cold voice murmured through the Prime Enforcer's throat. "...so very delicious."
Kera's breaths grew shallower and shallower through her nostrils. A slight tremble ran through her figure, and a tear rolled down her tattooed cheek.
The changeling's one good eye flickered green. Fangs glistened from under his lips as he reared his muzzle over the filly's throat—
WHAM! A pair of legs slammed across his skull.
"Ooomf!" The changeling slammed into the wall, morphing into an equine insectoid. Snarling, it glared angrily across the observation room.
Zaid finished sliding down the ladder of the vertical crawlspace. "Httt!" He landed across from the changeling, his mane sticking out at every angle with electrical sparks fizzling at their ends. "Did I ask for this 'fro, bra?! Did I?!"
"Hsssssssss..." The changeling cracked the joints in its neck and hissed, "When I'm done feeding off of her, I'll shove her useless flesh down your throat—" A horseshoe ricocheted off its skull. "Aaugh!"
"Buck you, pal!" Zaid snarled, yanking another horseshoe off and tossing it. "Buck you and the horse you rode in on! So, in other words, buck you squared!"
The changeling dodged the second shoe and charged viciously across the chamber. "You were doomed before you even came into this city—OOF!"
The shape-shifter's words came to a stop, for Zaid had unabashedly speared him with his diving body. The stallion plunged the two of them across the cabin so that they rolled over the floor and ended up with Zaid on top. The stallion brought both forelimbs together to smash the changeling's face in. The shape-shifter swiftly turned into Josho and head-butted Zaid savagely. Zaid stumbled back, sputtering, and the creature pounced on him in the form of Rainbow Dash.
Kera's body swung in the hammock from the ship's perilous flight. Her unblinking eyes reflected the two equines locked in combat. One shape repeatedly punched the other while its opponently finally returned with an uppercut and a slam to its gut.
"Gnnkkt!" The changeling spun, slamming chest-first into the wall of the observation room. Before it could peel itself away, Zaid pressed into its backside. The stallion gripped the insectoid's skull and slammed it repeatedly into the bulkheads. "Do not!" WHAM! "Threaten!" WHUD! "The filly!" SMACK! "It's totally!" THWACK! "Not!" THUD! "Sexy!"
In a flash of green flame, the changeling rematerialized with its head on backwards. With a hiss, it lunged forward and bit its fangs into one of Zaid's forelimbs.
"Aaaaaugh!" Zaid wailed in pain, repeatedly bopping the thing's skull in desperation to dislodge it. "D-dude! Not on a first date—"
In the meantime, the changeling's tail morphed into the bottom half of a snake. The reptilian limb coiled around Zaid's rear legs and lifted him off the floor. After tossing the stallion towards the ceiling, the creature leapt up, morphed into Arcshod, and bucked Zaid's body in midair.
"Ow ow ow ow ow—" Smack! Zaid winced as his muzzle mushed up against the doorframe to the crawlspace. "...owwwwwwwwww." His front hooves dangled against a fire extinguisher.
Grumbling, Arcshod morphed into Seclorum and marched forward—Clangggggg!—and right into a swinging fire extinguisher.
Panting, Zaid trotted forward, swinging the bludgeon about in the crook of his hoof. "Jee, is it cold and lifeless around here?" Smack! Thud! Whack! "Or is it just you?!"
After the last impact, the changeling spun around and turned the end of its tail into a razor-edged blade. It sliced the fire extinguisher down the center, spilling flame retardant goop all over the floor.
Zaid stood in place, blinking dazedly at the two halves of the extinguisher in his grip. "Dude... not cool." WHAM! A hoof at the end of a tentacle savagely uppercutted him.
Wasting no time, the changeling wrapped the appendage around Zaid's throat and slammed him multiple times into opposite walls. At last, he dropped him to the observation room floor and loomed above the groaning stallion. The creature morphed its two forelimbs into barbed insectoid stingers and aimed them at the nape of his neck.
Zaid gulped. "What I wouldn't have g-given to get laid once m-more..." He sputtered. "...with cheese."
"Mother spare me," the changeling snarled, spitting green blood and saliva. "The Austraeoh wasted all of her time on a ship of fools. And to think that this task almost offered me a challenge—"
Flasssssh!
A fountain of electrical energy soared into the creature's gut. Zaid gasped as the changeling flew off him and slammed into the bubble windows at the very front of the room. Wincing all over in manafire, the changeling looked across the cabin.
Floydien was sitting up, awake, and very pissed off. His antlers crackled as they summoned an even brighter charge this time. "Get off my Nancy," the elk slurred. Zaaaaaap!
The changeling let loose one scream before its melting body was shoved like grinded meat through the shattered glass. Dissolving in a green spray, its limbs flew off into separate directions, carried off by the shredding gales of Stratopolis. The cabin instantly flooded with wind and rainwater.
The first thing Zaid did was grab Kera's body and shelter her with his figure. He hobbled over and crouched beside Floydien with his back to the pelting maelstrom.
"H-hey there, big guy! Bodacious wake-up ultra! My aching flesh would have liked it if you did it a minute or two earlier, but—"
"For the love of hush hush..." Floydien groaned, rubbing his bruised scalp with a cloven hoof. "Does the boomer ever shut up?"
"You have no idea how glad I am to hear your deliciously wonky voice, duuuude!" Zaid shouted above the howling winds. "Still, did you have to get medieval on your own windows? It's not exactly Mareami Beach outside the Jury, y'know—"
"Nancy Jane..." Floydien's red eyes twitched as he gawked at the smashed front window behind Zaid. "...where is Floydien's beloved headed to...?"
"Huh?" Zaid held Kera tight as he glanced over his shoulder. His pupils shrank. "Oh pineapple tits!"
An enormous temple loomed just within view. The entire ship was ten seconds away from smashing into a rusted pulp.
"Get Floydien's flank to the cockpit!" The elk stammered, struggling to get up on wobbly legs.
"I'm... tr-trying...!" Zaid grunted, shoving his shoulder hard into Floydien's enormous side. "But Floydien's flank is so darn flankity!"
"Floydien... can... h-hardly trot balance-side-up..." The elk slumped helplessly against the doorframe to the crawlspace. "Nancy, forgive Floydien... so much dizzy dizz...."
"Come on, ya big lug!" Zaid resorted to kicking the elk repeatedly in the rear. "Just jump or something! You can make it up there..." His voice cracked as he felt the whole ship tilting upwards. "...make it?"
Floydien gasped, gazing awkwardly towards the bow.
Through the shattered windows, the temple could be seen swaying out of view. The clouds shifted, and the heart of Stratopolis evened out. The vessel had lifted to a higher elevation on its own.
"Floydien didn't..." The elk murmured. "...then what boomer did?"
Zaid blinked, then blinked again. With a gasp, he lay Kera down in the doorframe to the navigation room and scurried swiftly up the ladder.
Up in the cockpit, the door to the Noble Jury's top deck had been forced open halfway. Rainwater seeped over Zaid's body as he ascended from below. He gazed in shock at a sopping-wet figure seated at the controls.
"Don't ask," Eagle Eye sputtered, evening the vessel out so that it spun clockwise once more around the heart of the floating city. "You wouldn't b-believe me even if I told you."
"Lavender Unicorn!" Zaid lunged forward, hugging Eagle Eye from behind and nuzzling the back of his soaked mane. "Heeeee! You totally pulled a Han Soloats!"
Eagle Eye shivered and said, "The name's Eagle Eye, y'know."
"Don't ruin the moment." Zaid smirked. "Egads, look at you! It's like you just got an invite to a wet saddle contest and your mane was caught unprepared." Suddenly, Zaid blinked, then leaned back with a suspicious squint. "Wait. How do I know it's you?"
Eagle Eye sniffled. He glanced back with sparkling eyes, biting his lip. "My... mane isn't t-too ruined, is it?"
Zaid stood perfectly still. At last: "Yeah, okay. 'You' enough."
"Please tell me the others are alright!" Eagle Eye exclaimed.
"Thanks to you, a bunch of us are."
"Define 'a bunch of us.'"
"Kera's in one piece. Floydien recovered just in time to paint the skies with shape-shifter intestines. I'm still all around best background pony—"
"Ebon..." Eagle Eye gasped, his eyes growing wider. "Where's Ebon? Is he...?"
Zaid blinked, then smiled. He tugged at Eagle's forelimbs and switched places with him. "Let me be the autopilot pony once again until Floydien's ready. You go down into the engine room and check on yours turly, Romeoats."
"Okay..." Eagle Eye panted, shimmying swiftly down the crawlspace. "Okay okay okay..." He galloped straight past Floydien and Kera, practically throwing himself into the engine room beyond. All was silent for the space of a minute, and then the door to the room closed slowly, shutting the two inside.
"We're not even remotely safe yet!" Seclorum shouted as he urged the stampeding group of survivors along. The frenzied ponies galloped their way down the twisting granite corridors of the building, making their way outward from the heart of the place. They ascended steep stone stairs and approached the distant light of day ahead. "They're four times as fast as all of us combined! Don't even think about stopping!"
"Secchy!" Josho shouted from where he stood up ahead, covering a junction of hallways with his levitating weapon while he urged equines along. "Prowse and his niece are taking point with that boomstick of his! How's the rear?!"
"I'm the rear!" Seclorum growled, galloping closer within earshot. "Where's Arcshod?"
"Covering the middle along with Aatxe!" Josho said. "How many did we lose back there?"
"About five since the monsters burst through," Seclorum panted as he reached Josho's side. "Josho, old friend, I've never run into anything that's moved so fast—" As he said this, there was a disturbingly loud noise from far down the corridor. Seclorum flashed a terrified look behind. "They broke through the last barrier!"
Bellesmith skidded to a stop and looked back, panting. "Th-the large Xonan has them!" She shifted the weight of "Eagle Eye" on her back. "Up ahead!"
"Dammit—Arcshod!" Seclorum hollered down the tunnel. "Get your tattooed flank here and bring the grenades! We gotta close up another corridor or something because—"
"They're already here!" Josho hollered, discharging his shotgun as punctuation to his shout.
"Ledo's sponge!" Seclorum twirled and fired two crossbolts at the rampaging wall of pegasi and purple. The undead mass of limbs, hooves, and teeth gnashed their way towards the helpless group. "We gotta hold 'em off so that the rest of the group can get out to safety!"
"Wait!" Belle exclaimed. "Then that means—"
"My life's been full of last stands, lady!" Josho snarled, firing constantly at the unstoppable wave. "I'm good and prepared."
"But—"
"Tell that lump of princess fluff on your back that he's alright." Josho gnashed his teeth, sweating. "I never had myself a kid... that I know of. But if one exists somewhere, I hope he's half as good as Eagle..."
"Shhhh..." Belle backtrotted, misty-eyed. "It can't... it can't end like this—"
"Just take off, already!" Seclorum shouted, forcing the mare back with a blast of telekinesis. "Changeling or not, you don't wanna be at the biting end of these things!"
"Spark dammit!" Josho hollered, his eyes reflecting a sea of undead faces. "So dayum fast—"
Seclorum spun around. He flinched, for the shadows of the leaping pegasi were already upon him.
And just when they were within inches of snapping into the stallions' throats, they were viciously thrown back. The entire corridor lit up with manasparks. Even the ragged flesh covering the creatures' limbs caught fire as they rolled backwards with pained shrieks. The entire flock of undead was held back, at least for the moment.
Breathless, Seclorum and Josho turned—along with Belle—to see who or what was responsible. That's when they saw Lasairfion standing dead-center in the junction of corridors, channeling all of her masterful energy into the buckling wave of death. The regal unicorn gritted her teeth while her elaborate tattoos shimmered in a majestic pattern. Despite the strain of her exercise, she managed to speak succinctly out the corner of her muzzle: "S'lanna mela'thulien s'renna norrem hala'thrasta rekkhar hem'iliel threen." Her glowing eyes darted aside. "Arcshod, Xon-Nagu'n?"
Instantly, the stallion thundered over and bowed low. "Dreit, Lasairfion, Xon-Nagu'n?"
"Me'lasimnelien siul hasta k'raan."
"Dreit." Arcshod trotted forward and urged Belle towards the front of the group.
"I... uh..." Belle called back in mid-gallop. "I think she's providing us the window of opportunity to make our exit, gentlecolts!"
"But it's too risky!" Seclorum stammered, staring at the quivering manafield. "Prowse's ordinance should do the trick! Just hoof us over a grenade or two, big buddy, and we'll—"
Two enormous forelimbs gripped Seclorum and Josho. Arcshod's scowling face leaned in.
The massive stallion hissed: "The asses. It moves them. Yes?"
Josho and Seclorum only had to exchange glances once. "Dr-dreit." Kicking up dust, they galloped briskly after Bellesmith.
Lasairfion watched carefully amidst her mana-discharge. Once the ponies had galloped by—including Arcshod—she let loose a glorious shout. Her tattoos pulsed from flank to spine, and she fired her last reserve of energy into the corridor ceiling. A chunk of granite fell just in time to block the secondary charge of the purple oozing pegasi. The undead dealt with the latest blockade while the Xonan Princess turned tail and ran to join her royal subjects.
"Rainbow Dash, at the risk of sounding like a stick in the mud, have you—perhaps—outflown your welcome?"
Rainbow Dash grunted, twirling through the clouds above the large structure. "A little busy here, Pilate..."
"We've 'distracting' this flock for an eternity!" the zebra sputtered from where he dangled in her grasp. "Surely they can't still be chasing us!"
"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder. No less than four dozen winged freaks emerged from the foggy depths behind her. "Hate to break it to ya, zebra dude, but they're angrier than ever." She gulped as she glided forward. "And don't call me 'Shirley.'"
"Rainbow, we can't do this endlessly!" Pilate spoke over the rattle of the skystone shard in his satchel. "At some point, we have to make for the core of the structure! Only there can we hope to eliminate the evil of Stratopolis once and for all!"
"Pilate, you were never in the heart of this building!" Rainbow grunted as she swung hard to the left and blurred around the structure in a sharp turn. "It's filled to the brim with that goey purple death stuff! There's no friggin' way we can make our way inside!"
"Well, we've got to find a way! Or else everypony we know and love is dead in this place!"
"What in the h-hay?!" Rainbow Dash sputtered, glancing straight down.
"I mean it, Rainbow! It's not like we have the resources to escape on our own! Not even Roarke!"
"No, I mean—what in the buck's going on down there?!" Ranbow Dash exclaimed, staring at the first of several survivors popping out onto the balcony of the structure. "Why'd they come out from hiding?"
"Rainbow, even with this helm, I can't possibly see that far. Who are you talking about?"
"The survivors! Josho, Props, and the others! Even Lasairfion!"
"Perhaps the evil has spread further than we anticipated?"
"Or maybe..." Rainbow Dash gulped in mid twirl. She pulled up and flew skyward from the shrieking pursuers. "M-maybe they're going after the Tarkington."
"The Tarkington?"
"It's Aatxe's stranded ship. We accessed the core of the building to get manacrystals that would power the thing up. I'm guessing that the ponies are desperate to jump-start the thing and escape the infestation, but with the temples spread apart and crud, I dunno how—"
Pilate suddenly gasped. "Rainbow! Look out! Three o'clock sharp!"
Rainbow Dash looked slightly to her right. Three pegasi soared in from nowhere, barreling straight towards her.
With a grunt, Rainbow backflipped to avoid their attack. The first two streaked past her. The third, however—
WHUD! The undead pony tackled Pilate, yanking him from Rainbow's grip and carrying him—gasping—down into the thunderous maelstrom of Stratopolis.
"Pilate!" Rainbow Dash shrieked, hovering in place.
A pegasus tackled her from behind. She snarled, bucked it away, and propelled herself off the thing's chest. Soaring straight down, Rainbow Dash fearlessly threaded her way through the mess of pegasi just as they caught up with her. She spun and spiraled, yelling for good measure. Wingbones snapped and strips of flesh melted all around her. The mare barely managed to squeeze her way safely past the splashes of acidic goo. Once she emerged on the other side, she caught sight of Pilate once again—dangling in one monster's grasp. The creature was leaning its muzzle in to bite onto his neck; the zebra defended himself by blocking the attack with his glowing staff, but he was starting to slip from the freak's grasp.
"Hang on, Pilate! I'm a'comin'!" Rainbow Dash angled her wings, dove like a missile, and practically bowled herself in between the zebra and the zombie. There was a splash of purple goop in the air. Rainbow swiped Pilate up and hooked a single wing out, throwing the two of them into a sharp corkscrew and narrowly missing the splash of slime.
However, this slowed them down, making them prime targets for the creatures soaring down from above. Two separate monsters caught up with Rainbow, spearing her and accelerating her suicidal descent. Rainbow struggled and fought them back, but the four of them still became a tangled mess. Out the corner of her eye, Rainbow spotted the domed ceiling of the structure emerging through the storm.
"Rainbow!" the zebra gasped, his helm flickering from the inside out.
"Brace y-yourself!"
Crasssh!
Rainbow and Pilate sailed through the middle-most panel of the stained glass ceiling. They plummeted among a sea of rainbow colored shards. Somehow, in the last few dozen feet afforded her, Rainbow succeeded in flipping herself and her foes around. They impacted the floor of the room with the zombies striking the granite first. Rainbow and Pilate went tumbling in separate directions, rolling over broken staves and black crystals.
Above, thunder and rainwater poured through the fresh hole in the glass ceiling. Then came the pegasi, slipping through one at a time, shrieking at the top of their decaying lungs.
Pilate was the first to get up. "Rainbow! Look out—" With gnashing teeth, he gripped onto his staff and spun about in time to impact a diving zombie. He bucked a second attack, sending the thing's decrepit body sailing off and smashing through an ancient barricade along one of the adjacent corridors.
Rainbow Dash climbed over a broken monolith, jumped over a splash of purple muck, and landed with a jump kick against a recovering pegasus' chest. "We gotta get out of this place! Pilate, gallop towards one of the tunnels and I'll—"
Two creatures tackled Rainbow from behind, shoving her to the floor and preparing to spill their slimy innards over her wings.
"Rainbow!" Pilate smashed the skull in of a beast, galloped forward, sensed a creature diving from behind, and kicked up a staff from the ground with his hoof. He spun—knocking the debris back with his weapon—sending it slamming off the skull of the diving creature. Once again regaining his stride, he sped in and smashed one monster off of Rainbow's backside, then aimed and fired an energy blast at the chest of the other.
Rainbow rolled to safety in the middle of the room—only to hear Pilate grunting. She looked over and saw two creatures tackling him from behind. "Oh no you don't!" She jumped up, kicked her legs against the center cylinder of the room, and propelled herself at the fight. She speared both zombies at once, knocking them off Pilate's shoulders and shoving them clear across the room.
The three of them slammed into something hard. Rainbow's ears rang with the smashing of granite slabs. She rolled across the ground, coming to a stop with a pained groan. When she looked up, the first thing she saw was the cracked face of an equine effigy.
"Commander Hurricane...?" She glanced behind to see the tomb smashed to bits. The barest hint of a petrified skeleton lingered in the rainfall. "Awwwww shoot."
Just then, the chamber filled with hellish shrieks. Rainbow jerked a glanced upwards. The pegasi had stopped slithering through the hole in the domed ceiling. They flinched in place, thrashing about.
"Uhhhh..."
"Rainbow!" Pilate exclaimed.
Rainbow spun around—but had to squint.
The zebra nervously stood a few feet from her, but even then it was next to impossible to see him. An exceedingly bright aura of gold light was obscuring his figure, including the bodies of the zombified monsters squirming nearby.
"Something's happening," the stallion wheezed. "They... th-they appear to be overcome by something!"
Rainbow squinted, hovering a hoof over her brow as she approached the source of the light. "No friggin' way..." she slurred. "You're not going to believe this..."
"Uhhh..." Pilate gulped as he aimed his helm at the paralyzed creatures. "At this rate, you're welcome to try me."
Rainbow reached into the blinding light. Her hoof felt something and gripped around it. Upon physical touch, the light dimmed slightly, eventually becoming visible in the mare's grasp. It was a long, double-edged sword, guilded down the center with six studded, multi-colored gemstones. The metal of the blade was an immaculate golden color, and the hilt bore the image of a regal alicorn.
"The Sword of Solstice..." Rainbow Dash murmured, her jaw hanging agape.
"Huh?"
Rainbow glanced at the smashed tomb of Commander Hurricane, then back at the blade. "Of course... of course!"
"Rainbow, help me out here! What's going on?"
"I think a little bit of sunshine has returned to Stratopolis."
The zebra cocked his helm slightly to the side. "Is that a weapon in your grasp?"
"And how..." Rainbow looked aside at the beasts quivering in pain. The goo on their bodies evaporated with little puffs of steam the more she held the sword in their direction. "Still, only one way to find out." She gripped the hilt of the sword in her teeth, dove in, and gave the beasts a wide slash.
The creatures literally split in two, and whatever was left of their purple-stained flesh melted into dark ash. Two creatures suicidally plunged from above, but Rainbow was more than ready. She grunted into her grip of the weapon and swung the Sword of Solstice in a high arc. The monsters caught flame for a brief second, then split apart on either side of her, littering the ground with flakes of ash.
"Great Spark!" Pilate wheezed, flinching from the bits and specks of undead flesh littering around him.
Rainbow backed up into him, holding the sword in her hooves. "Pilate, I now know how Hurricane beat back the infestation far enough to seal the heart of this place."
"Then that means..."
Rainbow nodded. "We just might be able to retrace her path and get to the core again."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"Pfft! Who said anything about waiting?" Rainbow grinned, then launched herself at a writhing mass of undead. "Haaaaugh!" The room flashed with gold as the zombified pegasi met their burning fate.
No less than half a dozen zombie pegasi met their burning end in one fell swoop. Each swing Rainbow Dashmade of the sword sent the undead reeling instantly. The air filled with black ash as the purple muck evaporated from the proximity of the Sword of Solstice.
Rainbow Dash sweated from the sheer heat of the weapon's righteous fury. As she cleared out one end of the circular room, Pilate busied himself with the other half.
"Haaaugh!" The zebra came down, slamming the skull in of a beast with his staff before spinning about to block the attack of another diving monster. He sensed two flying at him from behind, so he twirled to meet their attack. However, in the midst of his spin, he realized he had moved too slow. He winced, expecting the teeth of either monster to sink into his neck at any moment.
Thunder cracked—a great deal louder than previous strikes of lightning. Suddenly, the two pegasi slumped to a soggy end at Pilate's hooves.
The zebra stood, panting, his brow furrowed beneath his helm. He sensed movement, and he tilted his head straight up. The hole to the top of the domed ceiling was clear, though he could have sworn that the faint traces of red-on-black lines denoted a streak leading away from the scene. He teetered for a while in dull confusion, then turned towards Rainbow Dash.
The mare was busy clearing away her half of the room with relative east. She was too preoccupied to notice a creature slipping through the melee and leaping at her flank.
"Rainbow!" Pilate shouted, immediately galloping her way. Without a second thought, the stallion leapt and threw his weight forward through his shoulder.
Wh-wham! The zebra plowed the monster to the ground with a clatter of metal armor.
Rainbow Dash felt the impact through her hooves. Twirling about, she saw the zombie pegasus reeling from Pilate's blow. She immediately spat the sword out, held it in the crooks of both forelimbs, and lunged forward with a massive down-thrust. "Haaaugh!"
The creature's skull split in two and the rest of it turned to ash. Rainbow Dash leaned forward against the sword, panting. She threw her mane back and murmured aside.
"Way to go, Stripesy." Her muzzle curved as she glanced at him. "Guess I got carried away there—" Her ears folded. "...Celestia."
Pilate lay on his side, convulsing. Half of his flank was covered with purple ooze, and it was spreading.
"Hnnkkkt..." The zebra clenched his teeth, his helm rattling as a hissing breath escaped his muzzle. "Blessed Spark, it burns."
Breathless, Rainbow Dash slumped down by the stallion's side. She watched with twitching eyes as the acidic muck thickened, as if a dozen unholy things were spawning from somewhere deep within.
"Rainbow..." Pilate hyperventilated, his voice squeaking in pain. "Please... tell Belle... t-tell her that I love her..." He gulped. "And I'm sorry."
Clank! Rainbow stabbed the sword into the ground half-an-inch from Pilate's prone body.
The stallion wheezed. "Rainbow...?"
She said nothing, gripping the hilt as she narrowed her gaze into a righteous glare. Between them, the Sword of Solstice glimmered with golden energy. The air grew warmer by the second, resonating with pulsating heat.
Suddenly, steam rose from Pilate's flank. The stallion winced slightly, then lay still as—inch by inch—the purple stain dissipated cleanly from his body. Within the space of a minute, the substance had completely evaporated. Pilate's flesh lay unblemished.
The zebra breathed easier and easier. He moved his lower limbs and was surprised to find that all the pain was gone.
Rainbow reached a hoof out. He grabbed it and was helped back to his hooves.
"What..." Pilate reeled, still stunned from the ordeal. "I-I mean... how? How did you do that just now?"
"I dunno..." Rainbow Dash said, pivoting the sword against the stone floor, gazing at it. "It just came to me naturally." She blinked, and a faint smile came to her lips. "Just as naturally as it once came to Hurricane, I bet."
Pilate stared at her, smiling awkwardly. He flinched, then spun towards the far ends of the room. "It's... so still in here..."
"I know..."
"What happened to all of the pegasi?"
"I think we cleared them all away, dude."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Spark alive... were they once Hurricane's soldiers?" Pilate glanced back at Rainbow. "Or a far more ancient race?"
"Who knows. Maybe both?" Rainbow Dash shrugged, glancing at the etched grooves in the floor. "Hmmmm..."
"What is it?"
Rainbow smirked. "Call it another natural hunch." She picked the sword up and trotted forward on three legs. "But I think I can make life easier for the other survivors in this place."
"Where are we headed?!" Bellesmith sputtered in the rain as she ran with the group along the outer rim of the circular structure. "This ship—the Tarkington—is it far away?"
"Over there!" Seclorum exclaimed, pointing with his hoof. "That large temple floating beneath the dark thunderloud!"
"Blessed Spark..." Belle stammered. "That has to be at least one hundred meters away!"
"There's another temple between us and them!" Prowse exclaimed. He spun around from where he stood along the windblown edge of the structure. "Alright, you bloody spark starters! Let's get a bridge made!"
"Spark... st-starters?" Josho remarked.
"I believe Unky Prowsy means 'unicorns,'" Props said.
"Hmmmf..." Prowse cocked his weaponized prosthetic. "Nopony asked you to be a bloomin' translator, lass."
"Hey, I gotta be useful at something!" Props blinked her goggled eyes. "Besides—of course—carrying the manacrystals and looking booty-full."
"We need to hurry!" Aatxe said, breathless as he leaned against Seclorum's side. "The beasts are right behind us! There's no telling how many more are out there in the storm clouds!"
"Then let's get this show on the road!" Seclorum pointed at a mess of zeppelin parts and overturned pillars. "Arcshod?! Why don't you get the bridge started?! You're the strongest of the bunch and—"
"What in Ledo's lingerie box?!" Josho barked.
Belle turned with "Eagle Eye's" body stirring on her back. "Josho, what is it?"
"Look for yourself!" The stallion pointed.
Murmurs ran across the thick crowd from Lasairfion to Prowse to Aatxe himself. Everypony watched in a shocked stupor as the two temples—the fractured one close to them and the distant structure with the Tarkington—floated ever so gradually towards them in a slow hover. Within the span of a minute, they both became three hundred percent easier to scale.
"It's... it's a miracle," Belle murmured.
"No way..." Josho rubbed his scruffy chin, then turned to squint towards the domed roof of the structure behind them. "Somehow, I smell a rainbow..."
"Is... is it working?" Pilate stammered.
"I'm willing to bet!" Rainbow Dash said through a smirking muzzle. She had stabbed the tip of the Sword of Solstice into the groove of the room's floor. Golden energy surged down into the niche, filling the grooves where the broken staves had once before. "If Hurricane wielded this thing, then I don't see why I can't work magic with it either!"
"What's the source of its power?"
"I'm not really sure. But I think the rainbow colored gemstones is something of a clue."
"They're rainbow colored?"
"Can't you tell?" Rainbow glanced up, blinking at his helm. "Oh. Right. Guess you can't."
"I wish all miracle devices worked the same, Rainbow."
"Heh. You and me both, brother." She reached a dead-end and had to pull the sword out. "Okay. I think that's as far as I can drag the temples outside."
"You're sure about that?"
"No. But we can't waste too much time second-guessing ourselves." She rushed over and grasped him by the hoof. "We got somewhere to go. You along for the ride?"
Pilate gulped and nodded with a rattle of his skystone shard. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Think happy thoughts." Then, with a deep breath, she took off for the hole in the domed ceiling, carrying the determined stallion along with her.
"You need help on the up and up?" Zaid asked, glancing occasionally over his shoulder at the crawlspace beneath the Noble Jury's cockpit. "Want me to paint your nose red so you can fly up here or something?"
"Floydien's returned from a near-death experience," grunted the elk as he climbed up the last few remaining feet. He emerged upon the cockpit, wincing. "And even still, the boomer does not amuse him."
"Seriously, though. You've just had your melon seriously fudged up." Zaid smirked as he returned his attention to the debris and stormclouds ahead. "The least I could do is let you chillax a bit longer while I improve on my flight skills—Whoah dayum!" Zaid had just been thrown to rear of the cockpit by a massive cloven hoof.
"Boomer must have skills in the first place that stand improving!" Floydien frowned, wincing as he climbed back into his own seat. "Nnngh..." He gritted his teeth, firing sporadic beams of mana into the consoles as he controlled the ship in his own unique way. "Glimmer shimmer on ice!" he exclaimed. "What has the boomer put Nancy through?!"
"So I've b-been testing her endurance!" Zaid sputtered, lying upside down against the sealed door to the outer deck. He righted himself up and said, "Granted, I could have attempted deceleration or even a landing, but then we'd be kind of sort of dead, considering I know as much about piloting as I do about making love to a porcupine."
"Considering boomer's history in stupidity, that would not surprise Floydien."
"Buh?"
"Let Floydien bond with Nancy," the elk grunted. "Floydien knows how to land his beloved somewhere safe so that the boomers can reunite."
"That's just the thing." Zaid gulped and gestured. "We don't exactly know where Rainbow Dash and the rest are all having their hurricane party, or else we'd be on them like vomit on crazy bread."
"Floydien says he will find the boomers and he will!" The elk flashed a frown over his shoulder. "The least you can do is check up on the cuddle cuddle."
"Huh?" Zaid blinked,then twitched. "Ohhhhhh. Right." He trotted forward. "I knew I was missing out on something warm and fuzzy—Gaaah!" He tripped and tumbled down the stairwell. A few seconds later. "We're good!"
Floydien grumbled, decelerating the craft slightly as he repositioned her and flew perpendicular to the wind. "Nancy will never be dirtied by an idiot's hooves again. Floydien promises her..."
Meanwhile, Zaid was stumbling through the navigation room and approaching the door to the engine room. "Hey! Hey!" He knocked several times with a shaking hoof. "Eagle Eye! Ebon! Is everything cool in there?"
Silence.
Zaid bit his lip. "Guys? For real. Are you both okay? Can I have a look—or are you two being a pair of sticky stallions?"
At last, a muffled voice returned, "We're doing j-just fine, Zaid."
With a furrowed brow, the ex-cultist leaned forward and opened the door. He peered into the engine room.
Under flickering lavender light, Eagle Eye could be seen cradling Ebon Mane's limp body. A pair of glossy violet eyes glanced over.
"Everything's okay," Eagle Eye squeaked.
Zaid blinked. "You... uh... you s-sure of that?"
Ebon stirred slightly, murmuring unintelligible words. Eagle Eye immediately nuzzled him, planted a kiss on his forehead, and glanced over with a sniffling smile. He slowly nodded.
Zaid bit his lip, smiled awkwardly, and backstepped out of the engine room.
As soon as he was gone, Eagle Eye exhaled through a grimacing expression. He held Ebon tight, gently rocking the stallion's figure as he stared—worriedly—into the nearest bulkhead. Around them, the compartment buckled as the Noble Jury flew into the thunderous depths of Stratopolis.
"It's still a bit far away," Bellesmith said, holding Elma's weight on her shoulders. "How will we cross the gap?"
"How else?" Seclorum threw a look over his shoulder. "Arcshod?"
"Dreit." The large stallion was already levitating a chunk of rusted metal over. He positioned it until it was hovering at a tiny distance from the outer balcony of the large round structure.
Seclorum motioned a fellow Ledomaritan over. The two of them timed themselves, then leapt over onto the levitating platform while Arcshod steadied it. Then, with simultaneously glowing horns, they floated over another chunk of a battered zeppelin, floating it just another space over. Seclorum hopped onto it while the other unicorn remained on the first platform. One by one, a precariously floating bridge was formed between the balcony's edge and the temple that was looming just two dozen feet away.
"That's the trick, Secchy!" Josho exclaimed. "We'll be crossing in no time!"
Shrieks lit the air, emanating from the corridor in the structure behind them.
Props gasped while Prowse spun about, teeth gritting. "We aren't the only ones!" The pale stallion cocked his prosthetic weapon and aimed at the exit behind them. "Get a move on! I'll hold the buggers back as much as I can!"
"You mean we will!" Josho galloped up to his side and trained his shotgun at the same space. A Xonan and a Ledomaritan formed up along the phalanx with their crossbolts. "We'll take out the first freaks in the wave!" Josho exclaimed. "You wait to blast the bulk of 'em with your boomstick. Sound like a plan?"
"I can certainly dance to that tune!" Prowse spat. "Propsicle! Get yer arse a'movin', lassie!"
"Okay..." Props nodded nervously, then turned around. "Come on, Belle!" she exclaimed, scampering towards the bridge as the unicorns finished making the bridge. Under the insistence of Arcshod, Lasairfion and her subjects were the first to cross.
"They'll be coming any moment now," Aatxe murmured, then gazed up into the swirling maelstrom of lightning and thunder. "Just where is Rainbow Dash...?"
"It's simple!" Rainbow Dash said, carrying Pilate around the broad, curved balcony of the structure. "We make it back to the door with the Urohringr symbol—"
"Urohringr symbol?!" the stallion sputtered.
Rainbow Dash went on. "I clear the slime from the area, then open the door. You watch my back, and I'll carve us a path back into the heart of the city!"
"Uhhh..."
"Together, we can get that friggin' skystone to the place where Roarke wants it to go!"
"Assuming it all goes well, then how do we get to the others?"
"Uhhhhm..."
"I mean, if we're flying Stratopolis to its doom, then it stands to reason that there won't be any platforms left for us to make into a safe haven!"
"Well, Seclorum's and Lasairfion's group are making their way to the Tarkington."
"Yes." The zebra nodded. "And the Jury?"
"I'm pretty sure we'll still have time to find them and grab them!"
"We will?"
"I will!" Rainbow frowned, then glanced back at him through the glow of the sword. "Look, Pilate. I've got a cybernetic zebra and a glowing godsword."
"Uhhhh..."
"What I'm saying is that it's best not to look a gift-horse in the mouth and just make do with what we've got! Any delay, and we'll actually be putting our friends in danger—"
"There's something ahead of us," Pilate stammered.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked ahead. Sure enough, the pegasus could spot an equine figure standing at the half-open barricade to the interior of the structure. It was a mare, and her hooves fearlessly stood within inches of the bubbling purple muck. "Belle?"
Pilate was already gnashing his teeth as his helmet flickred. "Rainbow, that's not my beloved—"
"Like I'm really that stupid," Rainbow grumbled. She hovered to a stop, frowning. "Look, I've got no time for you shape-shifting creeps anymore! Now get out of the way!" She shook her back, rattling the sword sticking out of her saddlebag with a glow for good measure.
The doppleganger stood in place, staring placidly up at the pegasus.
"Rainbow... I-I don't like this," Pilate wheezed.
"Yeah, well, she's about to like this even less." Plop! Rainbow Dash touched down a safe distance from the ooze. While Pilate teetered on dizzied limbs, Rainbow reached her muzzle back and grasped the sword's hilt. She marched forward with a righteous glow. The muck spread away from her hoofsteps as she trained the sword at her target. "Mrrrmmf..." She spoked in a muffled yet assertive tone. "Unless you wanna become fake pony parmesan, you'd better turn carapace and run. Ya hear me?"
The fake Bellesmith stood her ground.
Pilate tilted his head back and forth. His ears twitched, and he suddenly craned his head towards the cloudy sky.
"Last warning, bucko!" Rainbow Dash took a swipe at the ground. The Sword of Solstice showered sparks, making the slime retreat with ashen fright towards the barricade. "You have no more business here!"
"Belle" blinked... then smiled. "That's impossible, for Mother wishes to speak to you."
Rainbow Dash's eyes twitched.
Pilate gasped. "Rainbow—" He tried reaching for his staff, but it was too late. No less than a dozen shapes broke camouflage, leaping off the contours of the balcony where they had been clinging all this time. Like moths, the materializing monsters swarmed the two, knocking Pilate back onto his spine. "Ooof!"
"Mrmmmf?!" Rainbow Dash spun. Her eyes bugged, and she thrusted forward with the blade.
The line of shape shifters effortlessly split formation, evaded the sword slice, and lunged their limbs forward in a mixed cornacopia of tentacles and pinchers.
"Graaaugh!" Rainbow Dash thrashed back and forth, struggling in the odd array of animal appendages. She slashed her sword at everything that moved, but the creatures anticipated her every tactic. Collectively, they swung her back and suplexed her hard into the balcony's edge.
Cl-Clakkk! The Sword of Solstice flew free, landed, and slid across the granite steps. It came to a rattling stop several feet away, leaning precariously into the wind gusks of Stratopolis along the structure's edge.
Pilate sensed it. He scuffled over, reaching a shivering hoof forward. A hoof stepped on his fetlock, forcing the zebra to yelp in pain. A half-dozen changelings wrangled him off the floor and slammed him against a pillar across from the sword, holding him in place.
In the meantime, the rest of the creatures swarmed Rainbow Dash. Dozens and dozens more came out of the niches and shadowy crooks of the place, until the pegasus was certain that she was being smothered with Stratopolis' entire changeling population.
They covered her like termites, affording her only one sliver of space to see through. Rainbow's twitching eyes glanced past the black shells and quivering wings, and there she saw the smile on Belle's face. It morphed into a fanged maw as a line of green flame cascaded down the undisguised shape-shifter's face.
"Mother would like to thank you, Austraeoh, for unwrapping the greatest gift she could possibly ask for," the creature said as the rest of the monsters lifted Rainbow Dash off her hooves. "The black heart of Stratopolis."
By the time Bellesmith hopped off the levitating bridge and onto the fractured temple, she had no chance to breathe with relief, on account of Elma's body twitching involuntarily.
The mare gasped, glancing over her shoulder at the changeling. "Elma? Elma, what's the matter?"
"It's her..." Elma squeaked in Eagle Eye's voice. The lavender coat started to fade, giving way to a black shell and smoldering green eyes. "I... I-I can feel her... oh good heavens, she's here!"
"Elma!" Belle winced. She glanced over at the procession of survivors hopping off the makeshift bridge and onto the platform. One by one, the ponies formed a dense cluster in the center of the temple. Trotting stealthily to the side, Belle knelt beside an overturned column and laid Elma onto the ground. "Pssst... Elma! Look at me!"
"I'm so sorry..." Elma bit her lip, her teeth forming and losing fangs in every other blink. "Please... d-don't devour me... I was so blind... I-I had no idea..."
"Elma. Please. You must maintain your shape." Belle winced. "I mean EE's shape! Focus on me! Focus on my voice!" She smiled reassuringly, caressing the shapeshifter's cheek.
The creature looked up, its face fluctuating to and from a lavender sheen. At last, Elma took on the form of a petite stallion. A solitary tear trickled down a fuzzy cheek.
"Now..." Belle leaned forward, her eyes set on Elma's. "Who is here?"
Elma gulped, ultimately stammering in Eagle Eye's voice. "Mother."
"Grrrkkk!" Rainbow Dash felt herself being lifted up, up, up into the hurricane winds. A solid cluster of changelings were gripping her every limb, floating her two dozen feet off the balcony's edge.
Down below, Pilate shook and struggled in the grip of several burly shape-shifters. With clenched teeth, he tilted his helm to the side. He sensed the Sword of Solstice's shape several feet away, wobbling along the balcony's edge. Try as he might, he couldn't get his limbs to budge a single inch under the pressure of the creatures tackling him, much less reach towards the glowing weapon. All he could do was tilt his head up at the sound of buzzing dragonfly wings.
Rainbow squinted through tearing eyes. She was being pivoted to face the upper rim of the balcony just above the overhang that led to the Urohringr barrier. Clinging to the roof's edge, several changelings scurried and clustered together. More and more arrived from the distant stretches of Stratopolis, all skittering on porous black hooves. At last, when there were over seventy of the obsidian wretches, they pressed against one another, forming a tight black ball of rattling carapaces and folded dragonfly wings.
Then, gradually, that ball took shape, its edges morphing out and turning into jagged edges and rough joints. Two points formed to the top left and the top right, followed by a spike of clumped bodies in the center. Last but not least, the lower half of the cluster of changelings dangled loosely from the top half, hanging off by a "hinge" of sorts. Then—with a cadence of cricketsong—the changelings all fluttered their wings in sequence. A line of flame wafted once, twice, three times over the entire cluster. At last, the collective black sheen of the multiple segmented bodies glossed over into the facade of one polished surface. A face had fully formed, complete with fangs, a drooping webbed mane, and a pair of piercing green eyes that burst open with dual pulses of blazing emerald.
And then that face spoke:
"Ohhhh, how I do love to make an entrance," the voice rang with a nauseating vibration that tickled the hurricane gales.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. She helplessly stared into the massive muzzle. "Chrysalis," she sneered.
"Austraeoh," the face of Chrysalis smiled. Tiny puffs of green flame flickered randomly across her visage, revealing the ghostly shadows of limbs, wings, and more limbs. Then all was clear once again. "You have proven most fortuitous. Misery has followed you east across the continents. And now, misery has followed you through ten thousand years of forsaken time. If I didn't know better, I would have guessed you were hatched instead of foaled."
"Too much of a coward to actually see me face to face?!" Rainbow snarled.
"But we have seen each other face to face," Chrysalis said, her massive face morphing through green flame to bear a hurt expression. "On the Lightning Bearer. You see, I had to know that you were something worth manipulating." A flicker of flame; a smug grin. "You did not disappoint."
"Don't drag me into your stupid puppet games!" Rainbow Dash spat. "You're responsible for the deaths of thousands of lives!"
"Tens of thousands, actually. Isn't that a lovely number? Sometimes I count it to myself while I fall into hibernation so I can wake up the next hatching season with a smile." A pair of fangs glimmered to life. "Every death... every wound... every horrible consequence of war that you deem abominable is simply a seed that'll grow for my hive's glorious harvest."
"Is that your friggin' plan?!" Rainbow Dash sputtered, struggling against the changelings holding her. All was futile. "Nnnngh... You're sowing misery all across the world so you can feed your children?!"
"It's about destiny, Rainbow Dash. As the Austraeoh, surely you've become well-acquainted with that. I have a destiny too." Chrysalis' eyes narrowed into glimmering slits. "But unlike yours, my future is comprehendable, for it is a goal I've set for myself and myself alone since long before your insipid nation was born. No stars foretold my journey. I'm not blindly led by deteriorating books and a scattering remnant of foolish zealots defending some indefinable cause."
"It's about Tchern, isn't it?!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "All of this is some pathetic attempt to impress your lame sister on the dark side of the world!"
"I will not have a pathetic mortal pawn like you insulting the legacy of my elder sister and Queen! She has sacrificed far too much and far too long to deserve that sort of abuse!" The flickering head leaned back, hissing with the assistance of dozens of dragonfly wings. "Tchern is righteous, but she is also stubborn. She doesn't realize that our combined strength alone is not enough to achieve victory in the Trinary War. That is why I've taken it upon myself to pursue this most glorious undertaking. By siphoning the dreadful emotions of the sunlit realm, I shall amass a well-fed army powerful enough to return full-force to the dark side. Once reunited with Tchern's hive, the Twin Queens shall be unstoppable. At last, after thousands of years of chaos, we will unite the fragments of Endrax and lay claim to the Sarcophagus of Ages. Both the Sarosian and Night Shard armies will be driven into ruin, and we will have our rightful claim to the powers of harmony and chaos that keep this plane adrift."
Rainbow Dash's pupils shrank. "The 'Sarcophagus of Ages...'" She blinked. "Wait, you mean the Midnight Armory?!" She frowned. "And just what in the buck happened to Endrax?!"
"She was nothing but a relic of the Age before the Sundering," Chrysalis said with a flickering smile. "Her vigil was over long before it began. The Three Armies overran her bastion eons ago. After all, we now live on the fragments of a broken world, and everything is dying. Including you, Austraeoh, the supposed spark that the empty runes of old claim will reunite the pieces of Urohringr." A thunderous cascade rolled through the air in the form of ghostly laughter. "A perfect epoch is perfect only once. There is nothing to restore, and yet there is everything to reinvent. I know this now, for one of the Sentinels from before the Sundering is now in my possession, and I have you to thank for that."
"What in the hay could you possibly accomplish with a floating death city full of zombies?!"
"I shall master its nagivation, and carry it on a path of destruction to the far reaches of the world, through the Grand Choke and beyond. The cursed infestation of the past shall pour forth from the heart of this Sentinel, waging misery across the continents. All the while, my beloved children will feed and grow strong, starting with the kingdom where I have now settled. It is a bountiful place, full of many souls ready to scream and sob. They shall serve as my springboard here, and when the rest of the sunlit world becomes covered in blight, my hive will have rejoined with Queen Tchern on the far side, initiating an Age of Glorious Night."
Rainbow Dash's muzzle hung open. "Val Roa," she murmured. "You're already in Val Roa as we speak..."
The Queen's eyes billowed with green flame. "And what a succulent sepulcher it will become..."
Seclorum gritted his teeth, concentrating on the plank of metal he was levitating in place as the middle of the "bridge." He glanced out the corner of his eyes as a solid line of pegasi swooped down at them. "The last ponies are hopping over now! We need cover!"
"On it!" Prowse shouted, running to the edge of the temple on the other side. "Propsicle, I hate to ask ya for it, lass, but—"
"All in the family, Unky Prowsy!" Props rushed over and braced his flank with her spine. "Fire away!"
Now with a firm hoofing, the stallion aimed his prosthetic at the thick of the undead flock, charged up the crystal batteries, and fired. A burning stream of mana flared through the hurricane winds, evaporating the rainwater as it traveled towards its targets.
Six pegasi melted instantly. The rest of them split on either side of the energy discharge and came swooping at opposite angles.
"Brace yourselves, everypony!" Josho exclaimed, firing pot-shots at the creatures on the left.
Two of them fell. The rest swooped low, biting and clawing at the heads of several equines.
The survivors ducked low while the winy air filled with criss-crossing projectiles from the ponies' makeshift weapons. In the meantime, a thick line of pegasi swooped down from the right. Josho pivoted to fire at them, but it was too late.
With a deep breath, Lasairfion rushed in and blasted a stream of energy from her horn. She erected a forcefield that succeeded in blocking the first line of winged undead. Several more seeped around the edges of the barrier and came soaring down at the platform.
"The last pony is through!" Seclorum shouted as Arcshod and the other unicorns began hopping along the remains of the bridge, carrying levitating platforms along with them. "Quick! We've gotta make it to the other side—"
"A little busy here, old friend!" Josho grunted, slamming his shotgun across the snout of a zombie and firing its barrels deep into its quivering gut.
"Watch it!" Seclorum shouted as he and Arcshod made it onto the platform. Puddles of purple muck was starting to form along the temple's surface. "We gotta off 'em in the air! Keep them away!"
"Tell them that!" Prowse growled as he spun and swung his prosthetic into the mangy face of one creature after another. "Come and get some, ya bloody sods!"
"We don't want to win the battle!" Aatxe stammered. "We want to avoid it!" He pointed to the far end of the platform. "Come on, everypony! Just one more bridge to the Tarkington!"
"Secchy!" Josho shouted. "You, Arcshod, and the others go! We'll hold them off!"
"This many of them?!" Seclorum wheezed as he galloped across the landscape with his heavy metal plank floating after him. He sweated from the constant telekinetic effort. "We won't last a minute!"
"Lasairfion's got her magic and Prowse's boomstick is recharging! We can do this—"
A pair of pegasi dove out of the clouds and coasted straight towards Josho.
Belle saw it. With a gasp, she let go of Elma and picked up a chunk of granite. "Josho! Watch it!" Grunting, she threw the rock with all her might.
It flew in a curved arc through the wind and ricocheted off one pegasi's skull. At the sound of the pained shriek, Josho turned and ducked before the creature could rake its teeth across his neck. Shouting, he swung the butt of his shotgun agains the skull of the second monster.
The battered pegasus veered left and right, bounced off a column, and partially dissolved in midair.
"Look out!" a Ledomaritan shouted as everypony ducked its careening body.
"My ship!" Aatxe shouted. "I can see it! Arcshod, over here—" The stallion grunted as the pegasus' corpse slammed into him.
"Aatxe!" Seclorum yelped.
Arcshod spun with wide eyes. Snarling, the large stallion marched over and swung his metal plank like a bludgeon, knocking the quivering mess of a creature off of Aatxe's shoulders.
Seclorum scampered over, standing by Arcshod's silent figure. He grimaced.
"Gnnngh... mmmfffnngh..." Aatxe curled up in a quivering ball, his eyes tearing. Purple muck oozed down the sides of his body, causing tiny columns of steam to rise. "It... it b-burns..." He looked up, muzzle quivering. "How... h-how bad is it?"
"Xon..." Arcshod exhaled.
Belle covered her gasping muzzle from afar.
For once, Seclorum was at a loss for words.
"I don't care how many minions she has at her command!" Pilate sputtered from where he lay in the grip of several changelings along the structure's balcony. "She's obsessed with agony! And that makes her as corrupt and short-sighted as every other thug we've run across, Rainbow Dash! Don't give into her despair—" One of the shape-shifters holding him down gave his chest a hard punch. "Aaaugh!"
"Stop it!" Rainbow hissed into the face of the changeling queen. "Don't hurt him! Or, I swear, I'll—"
"You'll what?" The face smiled with a flicker of green. "The only reason you've had friends these last few months is because I've allowed it."
"Okay, now I know you're just spewing bullcrap," Rainbow grumbled.
"Do you seriously think that all I've ever known of you has been gathered from leeching your emotions alone?" Chrysalis' eyes flashed, and her face took on a white sheen with a mane of rippling pastel hues. "Your kingdom is home to more than the average mortals," she said in Celestia's voice. In a flash of green, Luna's face loomed. "The night doth belong to creatures far more cunning than all that thou hath allied with." The face went pale again, accompanied by eyes brimming with eternal wisdom. "My children are everywhere," the vision of Whitemane said. "And they all have eyes. My eyes. When I sensed opportunity in the Ancient Homeland fading, I sent the bulk of the brood to investigate. I found a world nearly sundered by a chaotic rift, and then there was one survivor—one miserable, miserable survivor heading east. I didn't realize it at first, but she was bringing the delectable chaos to me." The air filled with nauseating laughter as Whitemane vanished and Chrysalis' visage returned full-force. "And that is why I ultimately decided to keep my station in Xona and turn my focus on Val Roa. You see, an inexplicable agent of chaos would soon be in my grasp. So long as I led her to the Sentinel, there was no backtracking required."
"I... am not an agent of chaos," Rainbow Dash snarled. "I am the last Element of Harmony! I am—"
"The divine 'Spark' or some other such nonsense, yes?" Chrysalis' face morphed into a contemptuous scowl. "I believe in the style of the runic prophecies my brood have discovered in the Sentinel and beyond. I don't take quite as much stock in the substance. You are destined to make your trip east, yes. Hmmmmm—But there's simply been no declaration set in stone over who you were making this trip for."
"I am not going to be your device to make horrible things happen in Val Roa or anywhere!" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"And yet you're so good at it," Chrysalis said with a resonating chuckle. "From kingdom to kingdom, you leave death and destruction in your wake. I sometimes think to myself that I don't need the Sentinel and its black heart at all."
"It's... it's n-not true..." Rainbow Dash seethed, avoiding the image's gigantic gaze. "I'm not a monster. I'm the Element of Loyalty. I'm... I'm awesome..."
"Oh, admittedly, you did need... a boost from time to time. Misery is like sheep; it has to be herded and managed to properly graze on the living. That's why I had my children intercede in little ways to make sure you arrived in this city..."
Rainbow Dash sneered. "Prowse..."
"And, of course, why not feed on those unfortunate enough to be herded along with you? Honestly, I couldn't help myself. The thirst for anguish made it too much to pass up. All it took was putting some of my children in the right places at the right times."
"What..." Rainbow squinted. "What are you even trying to say?"
"Are you really so blind, Rainbow Dash?" Chrysalis fanged teeth showed. "Are you so pathetically loyal to the idea of your own lonely plight that you can't see through pure coincidence and see it for the masterfully constructed mechanization it really was?"
Rainbow's muzzle hung agape in confusion.
"He was blind too. His tenacity and determination made him a great deal like you. But madness had dissolved his resolve, and—unlike you—he was so... so very easy to manipulate. This should be no surprise to you, since one of your best friends had manipulated him before."
Rainbow's eyes quivered. "Shell..."
Pilate glanced up, breathless.
"You... y-your broodlings guided Shell... to Lerris...?" Rainbow murmured.
"To a feast, Rainbow," Chrysalis thundered. "And you, the Austraeoh, shall bring the Sentinel to the greatest banquet of all in Val Roa..."
Josho blasted the face off of a diving pegasus. He and several other ponies ducked as the creature dove past the edge of the temple, gargling purple ooze. In the meantime, the obese stallion turned and shouted at a train of Ledomaritans and Xonans levitating metal zeppelin parts towards the large structure with the Tarkington. "Get the bridge built! Or else this is our last stop!" He took another blast at the swarm, ducked their swipes, and slid over to where Arcshod and Seclorum stood crouched over the twitching figure of Aatxe. "H-how bad is he?!" Josho breathlessly asked.
"He... he..." Seclorum grimaced.
"Grkkk—Hauckkkt!" Aatxe—wide eyed—vomited a dollop of violet-tainted bile onto the granite beneath him. He curled his limbs to his chest as the slime slowly spread across his coat. "Like... I'm m-melting... my insides..." He hissed in pain, then squinted up at the group. "Gentlecolts... I-I never once thought I'd see my ship again." He gulped. "Much less flying."
"Knock it off, dammit," Seclorum sneered. "You just got sprayed with the crud! It's not like they bit you or—"
Josho's hoof rested on Seclorum's shoulder.
The old soldier clenched his eyes shut, taking several deep breaths. "Arcshod..."
The Xonan jerked a glance at him.
"The other ponies need you to finish the bridge."
Arcshod scowled.
"Well?!" Seclorum turned to glare at him. "What are you waiting for, ya big oaf?! We're all dead if we stay here!"
"Grnnghhh..." Arcshod's nostrils fumed as his tattoos glimmered in sequence with his horn. "V'renna sela'thenmar rekk threen..." He stormed off, wrenching his gaze off of Aatxe's tortured figure.
More shrieks filled the air, carried along the hurricane winds.
"Elma, we have to move..." Bellesmith stammered, heathing the breathless fascimile of Eagle Eye over her shoulder. "Hold on tight to me. Listen to my voice, not hers!" She scampered over to where Arcshod was forming the rest of the bridge. "Props!" she shouted.
Props stood in the dead-center of the temple, gazing with misty eyes at Aatxe's figure.
"Props!" Belle exclaimed louder. "We need you to cross over first! You're carrying the mana crystals!"
"Do as she says, blondie," Josho said as softly as he could, glancing over his shoulder. "And make sure Lasairfion follows you close behind. We need the Queen's magic to defend the Tarkington as it takes off."
"Right..." Props sniffled and galloped along. "Right righ right..."
Prowse watched her, panting, then flung his gaze towards the sky. "The... th-the buggers are coming in from all directions! I don't know where to aim my boomstick!"
"Prowse..." Aatxe wheezed, flinching in the rain. Unable to form words, he instead motioned with what was left of his left hoof.
The pale stallion immediately rushed over, standing over the steaming figure. "Yes, laddie?"
Aatxe gulped. "Those th-things want blood. And I-I have some in me still..."
"What are you even getting at?"
"Do... d-do you have those explosives still?"
Prowse clenched his jaws. He glanced at the others.
Josho was silent. Seclorum hung his head... before slowly nodding.
"Awww Hell..." Prowse unhitched the crate of rattling charges from his backside. "Even if you took an entire squad of them freaks out, this place still has ten times as many to toss at us—"
"It doesn't matter... none of that m-matters..." Aatxe spat up more ooze... but smiled. "My ship is a fast ship... a b-beautiful ship..." He hissed and spat. "And th-there's no better grease monkey to bring her b-back to life than you, Prowse..."
"Aatxe..."
"Face it. I lived my life here... in th-this wretched place..." Aatxe curled up again, wincing. "Hckkkt... pr-promise me, friend, th-that you'll get the others out of here so they can live their lives elsewhere..."
Prowse nodded firmly. "I will. I swear on what's left of my banged-up body and soul, I'll get these ponies—and your ship—off this slime drenched crud heap."
Aatxe gripped the edge, tilting it over so that the explosives rattled to a stop against his body. He limply scooped several of them up at once. His eyes darted over to Seclorum. "Hey... soldier..."
Seclorum stared at him through foggy eyes.
Aatxe smirked. "Never stop fighting..." He coughed, snorted, and breathed, "But find some time to love as well..."
Seclorum slowly, slowly nodded. He reached his forelimb forward.
Aatxe lifted his. With an inch to spare, however, both stallions avoided making contact, settling for an imagined hoof-bump. Slime spread over Aatxe's body, forcing him to whimper slightly in pain. He rolled over, causing the explosives to rattle like loose pebbles.
"Okay! Everypony else is across!" Josho shouted, backtrotting towards the bridge as he aimed his shotgun at the sky. "Incoming—"
"No!" Aatxe managed to yell. He stood up on wobbling legs, his body dribbling purple muck to the floor as he shuffled towards the middle of the platform. "Don't fire! Let them come... let them c-come to me."
Josho gnashed at his teeth. With a grunt, he turned and galloped full-speed across the floating bridge while Arcshod maintained it. Prowse followed short behind, glancing over his shoulder. "Seclorum! Time to go, laddie!"
Seclorum held his breath, turned, and sprinted across the bridge. The unicorns holding up the rear dropped their zeppelin pieces and ran after him—one levitating plank at a time. At last, Arcshod drew up what was left of the rusted chunks and threw them to the winds of Stratopolis. As for the pegasi—
"Hey!" Aatxe's gargling voice sliced through the winds. He tossed one grenade high into the air. It burst overhead, illuminating the gray malaise of the storm with a brief plume of fiery orange. "Over here, you mangy death pigeons! Dinner's served!"
The diving figures spiraled about, ribboned their way through the air, and converged on the platform where the sputtering stallion stood. He fell back as they pounced on him, but fought and struggled with a stifled howl.
"Raagghhhgh—Is th-that all you've got?! Grrhghhh—I've been waiting eightteen years for th-this dance!"
A sheet of heavy rain shot between the platforms, obscuring the struggle.
Bellesmith watched from the cover of a granite pillar. Props stood, shivering in the rain, while her uncle paused at her side to steady her with a natural hoof. Lasairfion and Arcshod stood in reverant silence while the survivors rushed for cover behind them. Among the galloping ponies were Josho and Seclorum, the latter of which stopped within stone's throw of the stranded Tarkington to turn and glance at the platform beyond.
It would not last for long. Kapowwwww! In a brilliant spray of combined explosions, the battered temple evaporated with a spray of purple mist and limbs. The hurricane winds carried off the gore and debris before it could remotely make its way towards where the survivors were currently perched. For a heavenly spell, the air was devoid of undead shrieks... or the bellowing shouts of one brave stallion.
"You have done a marvelous job serving my brood from the outside," Chrysalis' image said with each flickering shift of her grinning jaws. The massive cluster of shapeshifters leaned forward so that her leering face was practically "breathing" on the restrained pegasus. "But it is now that you join the fold, Austraeoh."
"Grnnnghh!" Rainbow Dash hissed and spat as she struggled in the changelings' grip that was hovering her in place.
Fangs glistened in the wet gray air as the Queen spoke, "I will feast on your pain and assimilate your essence into the hive. At last, my children shall wield complete control over the Sentinel and the beacons of Urohringr beyond. You'll no longer have a reason to fear dying before the end of your flight, Rainbow Dash, for you shall live on in us. Your journey is now our journey, and victory awaits us with our sister Tchern at the Sarcophagus of Ages."
"Rainbow Dash!" Pilate gasped.
"Darn it, don't do this!" Rainbow growled. "I don't care how bloody the Trinary War is! Nothing is worth trashing the entire light side of the world just to get what you want!" She seethed. "You have so much friggin' power and influence! Why can't you do use it for something good or harmonic for once?"
"Oh please, Rainbow..." Chrysalis face briefly flashed to Luna's. "We both know that pain and destruction is all we're good for." The brood queen's dark and glossy visage returned. "I am not converting you so much as I am completing you. At least now the Austraeoh's destiny will be a slow burn instead of a tragic conflagration." She tilted her massive head aside and nodded towards a source above Rainbow Dash. "Proceed, my child."
Rainbow Dash struggled to look up. One changeling flitted out from the massive swarm and flew down to her level. It converted its dangling left forelimb into a massive stinger, dripping with frightening green venom.
"Induct her into the hive," Chrysalis said with a hissing smirk.
The changeling loomed closer, aiming the stinger for Rainbow's chest.
"Snkkkt... please..." Rainbow Dash stammered through clenched teeth, twitching. "Don't do this. I've got friends..." Her eyes went glossy. "I've got ponies to save. We all have ponies to save. Don't listen to her. You don't have to..."
The changeling reached into the mass of shape-shifters holding Rainbow Dash and gripped the back of the pegasus neck. It then pressed the stinger to Rainbow's sternum.
Rainbow shivered, a tear forming along the edge of her right eye. "It d-doesn't have to be like this..."
Pilate watched from below, frozen in fear.
The changeling reared its stinger, coiled its muscles to puncture Rainbow's chest... then suddenly thrusted its head forward, kissing Rainbow squarely on the lips.
"Mmmmmmffff!" Rainbow gasped into the creature's fangs, cross-eyed. When the long kiss ended, she jerked back, breathless.
The changeling caressed the back of Rainbow's head, gazing at her closely. One by one, freckles appeared across its cheek, followed by a fuzzy orange complexion. "No more tears, sugarcube..."
Rainbow's lips quivered. "It's... it's you..."
"What is going on here?!" Chrysalis' voice boomed as the face flickered from left to right with furious green flame. "Pierce her heart! Make her one of us!"
"Shhhh..." Applejack stroked Rainbow's cheek, fluttering backwards with a rosy-cheeked smile. "It's gonna be alright." Green eyes sparkled. There was a glint of something fiery, like sunshine on apple orchards, and the shape-shifter spun around, spiraled, and plunged full-force into the gaping mouth of the massive Chrysalis facade.
"Graaaauchkkkt!" Chrysalis' skull reared back against the temple. Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the orange bands suddenly rivuleting across her face, one changeling at a time. "Hnnnghhh... what... wh-what is happening?! What d-did you do?!"
Rainbow Dash buckled. She gasped, glancing aside. The changelings gripping her were wincing, their faces wrought with confusion and dizziness.
Down below, the creatures holding Pilate fell to their sides, clutching their skulls as tufts of green fumes billowed from their eye sockets.
As thunder rolled, the windy air filled with the cries and wails of the changelings. One by one, the face of Chrysalis dissolved as the shape-shifters constituting her face loss cohesion.
"My children... nnngh—no! Listen to me! Listen to your Queen! Graaughkkt!" The face thrashed from left and right as more and more orange bodies overtook the solid black gloss. "Stop! Your mother commands you! Do not... gnnngh... do not feed on it!"
At last, the creatures could no longer hold onto Rainbow Dash. They all drifted to the granite surface of the balcony, joining the twitching figures who fell from the dissolving face of their brood queen. Rainbow flapped her wings, hovering a few feet above the scene. Everywhere she turned to look, changelings were curling up into fetal positions, lost in sobs and murmurs of confusion.
Pilate jerked about, his rattling helm struggling to take the situation in. At last, he scampered freely to the edge and scooped up the Sword of Solstice in the crook of his hoof. "Quick! Rainbow Dash!" He galloped straight for a tight cluster of dazed changelings. "While they're down for the count—"
"No!" Rainbow Dash held a hoof out, stopping him in his tracks. "Just... just wait..."
"Wait?!" Pilate panted and panted. "Wait for what?"
"Something's happening..." Rainbow Dash slowly, slowly smiled, tilting her head up towards the mass of changelings. "Something awesome..."
Pilate stood by her side and gazed up as well.
"Stop! It will make you weak! We need to keep strong!" Chrysalis sputtered and hissed, but there were less and less changelings making up her face and mouth to maintain the speech. "Don't feed on it! Mother needs you! I need you to be strong! My s-sister... grnnnghh—obey me, children! Obey... m-m-meeee... aaannnghh!"
Chrysalis' skull yanked upwards, and when it came back down it was in over forty separate pieces. The changelings collapsed across the balcony, and they did so in a splash of rainbow color. Coats of orange, lavender, pink, yellow, white, and sky-blue.
Rainbow couldn't help it. She flinched, leaping into Pilate's side and bracing herself against his shoulders. She hyperventilated slightly, her ruby eyes reflecting a sea of Twilights, Rarities, Pinkies, Fluttershies, and Applejacks. Pilate, confused at the doppelgangers pooling around him, nevertheless gave Rainbow's hoof a firm reassuring squeeze, and the mare's breaths calmed slightly.
Whurrrrr—Clank! The side door to the massive green hull of the Tarkington finally slid open.
"We're in!" Prowse sputtered through the rainwater coating his face. "Props! C'mere with the mana crystals, lass! We gotta jump-start this beast like there's no tomorrow!"
"Make it quick!" Seclorum growled. "Aatxe gave us one hell of a window and it'd be a shame to put it to waste!"
"Just point and click and I'm there!" Props said, sliding into the ship's interior. "Oooh! It's even got that metal musk smell!"
"Savor it later, Propsicle." Prowse threw a look over his shoulder. "Josho! How're the eyes on the sky?!"
"We're in the clear!" Josho exclaimed, cocking his shotgun with a beam of telekinesis. He gazed thinly into the rainy wind. "Nothing's coming this way anytime soon! Say, did Aatxe say whether or not he had gun turrets on his baby? Cuz that would be a friggin' goddess-send—"
Just then, several groaning voices sounded off. Everypony stopped what they were doing to turn and look. Out of the group, two Ledomaritans and three Xonans suddenly buckled, collapsing to their hooves as they clutched their skulls in pain.
"H'raanan siul mess'okuun?" Arcshod stammered as he stood protectively beside Lasairfion.
"What's their problem?" Seclorum exclaimed. "Have they been infected?!"
"No..." Josho icily trotted towards two of the collapsed ponies, raising his shotgun. "It's something else..." His brow furrowed. "I've seen this before, Secchy..."
Bellesmith watched breathlessly. She felt Elma quivering on her back. "Elma...?" She turned to look at the shape-shifter. She had lost Eagle Eye's image entirely. "Elma! For Spark's sake! You have to—" Belle paused in mid-speech.
Elma was sobbing. What's more, she had a smile on her face. She gazed up with green, evaporating tears. "She's... she's gone..."
Belle blinked. "Who is...?"
"Mother..." Elma smiled painfully. "She lost us... she lost her children..." A sniffle, and a happy sob. "We found something better than what she feeds us..."
Belle's jaw hung open. She flashed a look at the collapsed ponies. In the place of Ledomaritans and Xonans, she saw hauntingly familiar coats and manes. "Rarity... Fluttershy... Applejack..."
As soon as she said this, the coats disappeared, and the changelings gained their black carapaces back. By now, their spasms had stopped, and they huddled in a tight circle on the floor, gazing about in lucid confusion.
Arcshod scowled. With a suppressed growl, he whipped out his crossbow and aimed it at the huddled creatures.
Josho stepped forward, shotgun aimed.
Belle gasped. In a blink, she dropped Elma, galloped forward, and slid to a stop directly between Josho and the changelings. "No! Stop! Don't!" she shouted with hooves outstretched.
"Belle, step away," Josho grumbled.
"No..." Belle gulped, and smiled hopefully. "They're no longer of any threat to us!"
Josho and Arcshod silently exchanged glances, then glared down at Belle.
The mare smiled warmly in the rain. "Trust me..."
One by one, the changelings on the balcony of the large structure stood up, exchanging weak glances and blinking off their separate spells.
Pilate trotted around in a circle, gawking at each and every one of them. At last, he swiveled about and looked towards Rainbow Dash.
The mare trotted forward, approaching one of several changelings still collapsed on its knees.
The shape-shifter shook and quivered, hanging its head as it was overcome with sobs. A blue hoof tilted its chin up. It stared painfully into Rainbow Dash's face. Slowly, its black shell turned into an orange coat, topped off with a violet mane. "I'm... I'm so sorry," Scootaloo's voice stammered. "I didn't know... we didn't know..." Tears trickled down the foal's face. "How c-can there possibly be something better? It's... it's all sh-she ever gave us... and we b-believed her..."
Rainbow Dash ruffled the filly's mane. Slowly, she smiled. "Guess all you guys needed was a change in diet."
The doppelganger sniffled, smiled, then flew forward, hugging Rainbow Dash as it buried its sobbing face in her fuzzy blue chest. Rainbow reached down and stroked its back, even as the black shell returned, accompanied by fumes of green tears.
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash looked up from the crowd of blank-faced changelings. Her eyes fell on the Urohringr door, still coated in purple slime. At last, she glanced back at her friend. "Pilate..."
"Yes... Rainbow?"
"Give me the sword."
The zebra nervously complied.
Rainbow parted the hug with the changeling and gripped the glowing blade in the crook of her hoof. She took a deep breath, facing the barrier and the deathly slime beyond.
"Lookie!" Props shouted, pointing a hoof at the peak of the maelstrom.
Several of the survivors swiveled away from the Tarkington, squinting up at the rainy sky. In thin threads of winged flight, several black bodies lifted from the large central structure and vanished amidst the gray malaise of Stratopolis.
"Is it another wave of undead?!" Prowse exclaimed.
"No," Josho said, shaking his head. "It's the changelings."
"Where in the heck are they going?!" Seclorum exclaimed.
"Their work is done here."
Everypony looked at Belle.
She stared back at them, speaking, "They're no longer bound to the same hive mind."
Several ponies exchanged nervous glances. Arcshod silently fumed while Seclorum held his breath.
Josho looked past Belle's shoulder. Eagle Eye was gone, and in his place was a changeling with a familiar scar across its back. He turned to squint at Belle in particular. "You've known all this time...?"
Belle didn't respond. She kept her position in front of the shivering cluster of changelings atop the platform.
Josho took a deep breath. His brow furrowed. "Belle..."
"They've released us, Josho," she quietly said above the pitter-patter of rain. "It's time we released them."
Silently, Josho turned to look at Seclorum and the others. Arcshod was frowning, but at the shuffle of hooves, the large Xonan stepped aside. Lasairfion stood in the midst of the group. She looked at Belle, then at Josho, and slowly nodded.
Seclorum closed his eyes. After a deep breath, he turned towards the changelings and spoke icily, "The longer you stay here, the greater the odds of all of you being skewered alive by crossbolts." He sidestepped several feet. "Now scram."
The changelings' fangs rattled. In frightful flits of dragonfly wings, they all took off, soaring into the swirling clouds beyond.
Prowse and Props watched, standing side by side in the continuous drizzle, until at last Props tapped on her uncle's side. "We gotta get the crystals in place!"
"Right. After you, lass."
Belle slumped back, exhaling with relief. She looked over at Elma—only for an obese figure to block her vision. She looked up into Josho's serious face.
"And the real Eagle Eye? Is he..." The stallion lingered, clearing his throat. "Do you know if he is safe?"
Belle bit her lip. "I hope so..."
Hoof after lavender hoof, Eagle Eye climbed up into the cockpit of the Noble Jury. Once he reached the top, he leaned against the wall—stagnant—his face very pale and distant.
Floydien sat at the controls with Zaid leaning on the back of the elk's chair. Outside, Stratopolis reeled and pivoted beyond the ship's windshield.
"Cheese and crackers, ya space moose! How can you control this thing so well?"
"Nancy knows when she's in the grip of her lover."
"So you're saying that the reason I could only fly us in useless circles is 'cuz I suck at foreplay?"
"Annoying boomer sucks at many things. Floydien is too busy to make a list."
"Now that's just a lazy excuse—even for me."
Lightning flashed, piercing the murky heavens with strobes of bright blue illumination. The clouds were getting darker, and it was obvious that the Sun—wherever it was beyond the depths of Stratopolis—was starting to fade away.
"Eugh... it's getting worse out here!" Zaid exclaimed.
"Boomer has a point of stating the obvious."
"Goddess, I'm so glad only one of us speaks in third pony or else all of our collective heads would explode."
"Enough with the gas gas and help Floydien find the others."
"Where else is there to go?!" Zaid pointed over Floydien's sparkling antlers. "There's that bigass building in the center where we dropped off Rainbow Dash and the others!"
"Floydien can hardly see through this mess mess. Is annoying boomer sure they would still be there?"
Eagle Eye lethargically spoke up, "I'd go searching over there."
Zaid spun around. "Huh?" He blinked. "Over where?"
Eagle pointed with a limp hoof, barely tilting his head up. "Where the changelings are fleeing from."
Floydien leaned forward in his seat. "For the love all that glimmer spits..."
Looming ahead, floating a reasonable space from the central structure, was a platform engulfed in rain clouds. A patch of shape-shifters flew from the sight, flitting away into the dense murk above.
"Reckon it's worth checking out," Zaid said. He turned back to Eagle Eye with a smile. "How'd you spot that, anyway?"
"You do remember my name, right?" the unicorn muttered.
"How could I forget? It's so marketable." Zaid squinted. "You okay, buddy? How's Ebon?"
"Fine." Eagle Eye looked up. He gave a tender smile. "We're b-both fine..."
"Rainbow Dash! Watch it!" Pilate stammered, stumbling after her.
"Warn them!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Not me!" That said, she gnashed her teeth against the hilt of the Sword of Solstice and charged further down the tunnel. As she did so, she swung the blade to the left and right in heated, golden sweeps. Each lunge forced the purple slime further and further back from her presence. Steam billowed from the layers of muck as if the dreaded slime positively melted from the presence of the blade. "Grnnghhh--It's like mowing the lawn in Tartarus!"
Panting, Pilate turned around and aimed his helm towards the exit behind them. All of the changelings were gone, and his ears echoed with the pounding salvos of Rainbow's sword-swinging charge. "The shapeshifters..." He gulped. "They've all vanished."
"Grnngh... that's a g-good thing..." Rainbow swung and swung.
"Is it possible that you reached all of them?" Pilate remarked. "Every single one?"
"Mrmmff... well... every one around here," Rainbow panted. "I'll bet you a daisy sandwich that Queen Criminal is still chilling all the way in Val Roa, untouched."
"Then... then perhaps the change is temporary?"
"I dunno. I hope not."
"So many shape-shifters... and you affected a good bulk of them at once. I wonder if that includes many of them east of here--"
"Y'know, Pilate, th-this spelunking would be a lot easier if I had your help in the here-and-now."
"What's to h-help?!" He spun to face her, his muzzle scrunched beneath the helm. "You seem to have a firm grip on things--"
Right as he said that, a body emerged from the slime puddles to his right.
Rainbow spun with a gasp. "Behind you!"
"Gah!" Pilate snapped to it, swinging his Lounge staff in time to uppercut the approaching pegasus.
Rainbow Dash promptly slid in with a downswing of the Sword of Solstice. In a blink, the creature dissolved, its muck evaporating along with its entrails.
PIlate shuddered, stumbling back a step and a half. "Great Sp-Spark! It came out of nowhere!"
"Yes, well, nowhere happens to be the place we're headed," Rainbow said between strained breaths. "I'm gonna need your one hundred and ten percent, buddy."
"Sorry, it's just that--"
"Out of your element?" Rainbow swung to take out another lunging zombie. Thwack!
"Yes. I must agree, an abysmal charge into the heart of a slimy undead coven isn't exactly my usual afternoon activity."
"Well, live and learn, Pilate. Here's something you can weave stories about to your smexical striped grandfoals."
"How in Spark's name did Hurricane even fight her way to the control room?"
"That's a darn good question. Something tells me you and I are about to find out." Rainbow Dash hoofed the sword over to Pilate. "Here. Hold this."
"M-me?!" Pilate tucked his staff away and nervously gripped the golden sword. "But... b-but what about you?!"
"I'm going to be doing the awesome part." She gripped Pilate's shoulders from behind. "There's no time to be delicate about this. Time isn't exactly batting for our team at the moment."
Pilate gulped. "Rainbow, are you sure we're cut out for doing this on our lonesome?"
"Dude... a mare carrying a blind zebra with blood-vision and carrying a burning golden sword?" Rainbow's flapping wings took them both off the ground. "There's no other way to do this. Now--whatever you do--don't drop the darn thing!"
"I swear, Rainbow, you have too much faith in--" Pilate gasped as the two blurred ahead on Rainbow's gliding feathers. "--meeeeeeeeee!"
"Less doubting and more zombie slashing!" As Rainbow shouted, the two mercilessly carved their way down the tunnel and towards the pit below. The sheer heat and aura of the Sword of Solstice in Pilate's grasp caused a continuous swath of granite to be cleared through the sea of purple muck, and despite the floundering undead pony or two, there was no sign that the bubbling substance was about to coagulate back together anytime soon. "Thatta zebra! We're going for the gold!"
"If you insist!" And the two ducked down beyond the light from the outside world.
Half a minute passed...
A figure slinked down into the doorframe of the Urohringr passage. Carefully navigating the trench through the muck that the two equines had carved, the shadow scurried on four limbs, swiftly making its way to the pit's edge. Once there, it paused to survey the drop, swishing a reptilian tail left and right before ultimately plunging with wild abandon.
With bright spurts of crimson manaflare, three cloaked figures descended on a temple floating along the far side of the maelstrom. Two landed nimbly while a third collapsed, panting through his silver mask.
"Do not embrace weakness, brother," one of the standing figures said to the one on the ground. "Razzar needs our unwavering courage. Especially now."
The third figure stood up on wobbly knees. "Praise Quezaat... I did not think our packs would have the fuel for that last trip."
"It matters little. This place presents new danger. We need air superiority again."
One figure spoke into his wrist communicator. "Vaughan, we have arrived, brother. Razzar remains on the central structure. We need to rendezvous with him as soon as possible."
Silence... save for the constant hush of rain.
"Vaughan. Come in, brother. Are you there?
"We landed on the right platform, did we not? Shouldn't the ship be here?"
"And it is," another said, gesturing past a throng of granite columns. "Look." The three masked reptiles gazed upon the glossy, bulbously shape vessel parked amidst the debris. "It lies dormant."
"As Razzar commands it."
"I mean all of its lights are off. I detect no power from within the vessel whatsoever."
"Perhaps it is for the best." One Lounge member trotted forward, approaching the starboard side of the vessel. "Those vicious creatures are out there, and unnatural lights might attract them."
"All the better for us to take off and assist in our brother in need."
"I whole-heartedly agree. Vaughan!" One figure snarled into his communicator. "Show yourself! This is urgent!
POW! A stream of crimson energy flew in from behind, ricocheting off the Lounge's wrist and disentigrating his communicator.
"Aaugh!"
The other two spun, unholstering their weapons—
P-POW! A figure squatting in the shadows fired a manarifle again.
One reptile was knocked back to the ground while the other had his weapon melted within a blink. He hissed in pain, being forced to drop the pistol.
"How good of you breeders to finally join me," the figure from the shadow droned.
The naga on the ground sat up with a rattling mask. "Vaughan?! Is that you, brother?!"
"No, brother. And yet... yes..." The figure stepped forward and peeled its mask off. Roarke's scowling face glared at them. Moisture clung to her eye-lenses as she said, "Our romp through the clouds is over. However, I need you for one last task."
"One last task...?
Another reptile shook his fist and snarled. "We will not follow the rules of a scale-less pony—" An energy blast burned the hood off his cloak. He shrieked with a shrill breath and struggled to cover his exposed scales.
"Quite frankly, I don't need all three of you alive. So don't tempt me anymore than you already have..." Roarke cocked her rifle. "Razzar's stayed behind where the monsters are spawning, yes?"
The other two naga slowly, slowly nodded.
"Somehow, I'm not surprised." She tapped a button at the waist of her cloak.
With swirling bands of amber light, the Lounge's skystone ship came alive. Its forward dome rolled back, exposing the interior platform and the entrance beyond.
"Get on board," Roarke grunted, waving with her rifle. "Our business in Stratopolis isn't over."
While two naga nervously scampered on board, the third who struggled with his hood glanced down to scowl at the bounty hunter. "Quezaat frowns on you for this deception, Vaughan."
"The name is Roarke Most Rare," she grunted, training the rifle's sight on his chest. "If you like, I'll carve that into your corpse's chest, and we'll see how happy that makes your bashful lizard god."
"Again!" Prowse shouted.
"Nnngh!" Props yanked a lever along the far end of the Tarkington's engine room.
The mana crystals on the center dais pulsed with purple light, fluctuated, and faded. All was dark once more in the center of the rain-pelted ship.
"Bollocks!" Prowse spat, hobbling over on his prosthetic. "I don't bloody understand! The crystals are fully charged! They should provide plenty of power!"
"Uhhhh..." Props glanced over nervously. "Unky Prowsy?"
"Thrust the lever again! Better yet! Let me do it—" He moved to shove her out of the way.
But Props shoved back. "Hey! Cool your sexy head!"
"We c-can't fail now!" Prowse spat. "I promised Aatxe that I'd fly the survivors to safety on this hunk-o-junk! I won't let the lad down!"
"And you're not gonna!" Props slid her goggles up and gazed at his eyes. "We just gotta go about it more gently, is all!"
"Say what, lass?!"
She smiled. "I know it sounds crazy, especially for you, Unky Prowsy, but there's a lot to be said about delicate engine work."
Prowse squinted at her. "Who are you and what have you done with my niece?"
"Shhhh..." She tapped his stubbly chin and backtrotted to the lever array. "Just watch!" Taking a deep breath, she gripped the lever, counted down to herself, and gave it a yank.
Sparks flew. The crystals fluctuated once more, their purple light intensifying and fading within seconds.
Before Prowse could say anything, Props was diving across the room, sliding to a stop beneath the center dais. Using her teeth, she yanked a panel open, reached in, and pulled out a cluster of wires. She detached a few of them, sweating from the supremely intricate work.
Gradually, the manacrystals stopped dimming. The mana conduits weren't overloading this time. Finally, as the light became a constant glow, Props reattached the wires with a splash of tiny sparks. Holding her breath, she scurried back over to the wall, retracted the lever, then pulled it back halfway.
Whirrrrrrrrr-Crk-Crk-Crk-VRMMMMMM!!!
The lights of every console flashed on throughout the ship. The Tarkington came to life, its engine maintaining a constant hum.
"Bloody hell..." Prowse grinned wide. "Where'd you learn to operate like that!"
Props hopped up with a bright smile. "Nancy Jane's smile!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Uhm..." Props rubbed one leg with another, blushing. "It's a long story." She gulped. "And most times a sweaty one."
"Hey Blondie!" From outside, Josho's voice could be heard shouting, "Are we a go, yet?!"
"Rest your bulging flank, ya tyke!" Prowse hollered in Props' place. "We still gotta test the main control system—"
"Buck that! It's now or never!"
"Look, ya trigger happy buffoon! You can't rush this—"
"A new wave of those freaks is coming! Our window has come and gone!"
While Seclorum and Arcshod continued filing distressed ponies on board the Tarkington, Josho rushed towards the platform's edge, armed with his shotgun. He stared through the rainwater with twitching eyes, spotting a dense field of undead creatures swooping down from a higher elevation.
Bellesmith lingered near the airship's entrance along with Elma. "Is it a large group of them?!"
"'Large' doesn't even begin to describe it," Josho said with an inward snarl. He squatted behind an overturned chunk of debris and aimed his shotgun high. "I think I can take a good number of them out, but the wave's too thick. They'll overrun me in seconds."
"Then we'll drag Prowse out!" Seclorum exclaimed. "His weapon can level out a whole column of them! Easily!"
"Just tell Props to stick to the engine! More than anything, we gotta get off this rock in order to—"
"Blessed Spark!" Belle shrieked. "Josho, look!"
"Huh?! I'm looking already!"
"No no no!" Belle seethed, pointing towards the other edge of the temple. "Three o'clock! Down low!"
Josho swiveled to look. He did a double-take. Another wave of undead pegasi were zooming in from a completely different altitude. "Ledo covered in chocolate..."
"It's even bigger than the other group!" Belle exclaimed.
"Don't look now," Seclorum grumbled, glancing towards the rear of the temple. Two small pockets of pegasi flew in from rain-soaked clouds. "But they've got the drop on us from behind too."
"Xon..." Arcshod exhaled.
"We... we can still do this," Josho stammered, fidgeting in place. "Arcshod..." He spun with a frown. "Arcshod, ya tattooed elephant! Get your Queen out! Between her and Prowse—"
"It's too late!" Belle winced, clinging hard to Elma as she cowered against the Tarkington's hull. "They're here!"
Seclorum whipped out his crossbow—only to blink stupidly at the complete lack of crossbolts. "...well, it was a good run."
"Dammit..." Josho popped out from hiding, spinning about in a literal circle as he trained his shotgun from one group to another. "Dammit, it can't end like this! We were almost free!"
The shrieking cries of the winged ponies broke through the thunder as they descended on the temple from all sides.
Belle closed her eyes, gnashing her teeth. "I'll love you always, Pilate—"
With a banshee wail, the first wave of pegasi soared in... only to dissolve to a pulp from a bright flash of mana.
Josho's eyes twitched. Suddenly, from the left, a massive vessel emerged through the rain clouds on rumbling engines. Lightning flashed, illuminating the majestic hull of the Noble Jury as it wedged itself between the temple and the incoming waves of undead. The ship twirled to a stop like a sled grinding against gray snow. Standing on the open rainswept deck was Floydien, and he was in the process of unleashing wave after wave of furious mana from his antlers.
"Spit out your own organs, you flying boomer burps!" the elk howled, eliminating half-a-dozen creatures in a single discharge. "Unbirth your cruddy selves to ash ash!"
Josho ducked as an errant beam of energy branched off the latest volley and missed his horn by a hair. "Dammit, Floydien, you beautiful beautiful manure machine!"
"Floydien?!" Seclorum sputtered as he and Arcshod squatted to the side. "What in the Hell is that thing?!"
"Beastly sex with a red nose! That's what!" Josho said with a wicked sneer. He heard shrieks from behind, spun about, and aimed his shotgun at a rushing wave of undead.
A metal steam pipe flew down from the sky and impacted the skulls of two pegasi.
Josho gasped, looking up as a lavender shape leapt from the Noble Jury's deck. Eagle Eye plunged through the rain, his silhouette showing in a streak of lightning. "Yaaaaaaaugh!" He came down, crushing his way through another pegasus with a square metal crate lid for a shield. Immediately hopping up, he spun and uppercutted another creature with a levitating pipe-swing, shattering the attack in seconds.
"Eagle Eye!" Josho growled out the side of his muzzle. He spun and fired into a wave of pegasi with his shotgun while Floydien single-hoofedly covered the other side. "You're alive! I could kiss you!"
"You're even fatter when you lie," Eagle hissed before deflecting the charge of another monster. "Hrnnnngh—Raugh!" He knocked the creature back.
Josho exploded its head all over the temple's edge and stood—heaving—by Eagle's side as they faced the next wave. "Seriously, seeing you alive just gave me a second wind."
"Good..." Eagle shook the rain out of his soaked mane and eyed the vulture-circles of enemies. "Then don't break it."
"If you're down here and Floydien's doing the fireworks show on the top deck..." Josho glanced up at the rain-slick windshield of the hovering ship. "...then who in the heck is piloting the thing?"
"Zaid."
"Zaid?!" Josho gnashed his teeth. "Great Ledo, it is the apocalypse."
"Somepony you know, old friend?" Seclorum shouted.
"Secchy, I'd like you to meet my daughter."
"H-huh?!" Eagle Eye blinked awkwardly.
"EE!" Belle pointed with a shout. "For Spark's sake—"
"Darn it!" Eagle Eye spun and deflected a zombie's dive at the last second. "Grrnnngh!"
"Hah hah hah hah!" Josho cackled, wide eyed. "I think we have what it takes now!"
"Don't spit all over it!" Floydien howled from the top deck. He blasted another wave of winged bogeys and spun to frown at Bellesmith. "You! Beloved of stripe-stripes! Get your flank Nancywise! On the tick!"
"R-right..." Belle nodded with a nervous shudder. "Come on, Elma..."
"I got it..." Props stammered, her goggles reflecting the bright glow of the manacrystal in its new power housing. "I th-think I got it!"
"Brill, Propsicle!" Prowse shouted above the noise of the Tarkington's rumbling engine. "Just in the nick of time too!"
"We gotta get this thing into the air!" Props flinced at the dull reverberation of pegasus bodies colliding with the outer hull. "These survivors have spent enough time freaking out!"
"Right! Let me just adjust the auxiliary output—"
"Nnnngh!" Props shoved the stallion across the room with a remarkable show of strength. The blonde mare snarled into his face. "You get your handsome keister to the cockpit! I have things taken care of here!"
"But... but..."
"Do it now or else I'll bolt your remaining legs to the bulkheads!" She blinked, suddenly blushing. "Uhm... please?"
Prowse blinked, then smiled awkwardly. "Yes, ma'am." He spun and hobbled out the engine room. Threading through seated and trembling ponies, Prowse galloped the full length of the Tarkington. "Look out! Coming through! Move your bloomin' arses!" He breezed past Lasairfion and her subjects, a cluster of Ledomaritans, and finally landed in the ship's one-seat cockpit at the far end. "Time to take to the skies, lasses and laddies!" He flipped several instruments and pulled twin levers, powering up the rear thrusters of the craft. Tilting his head back, he shouted over his shoulder. "Anypony with the bollocks to be fighting those freaks outside..."
"...now is an awfully good time to give it a rest and throw yourself on board!" Prowse's voice echoed through the open doorframe. "We're kissing this temple good bye!"
"That's our ride, Arcshod!" Seclorum shouted above the criss-crossing projectiles and energy blasts. "All aboard who's coming aboard!"
"Dreit dreit..." Arcshod smashed one last pegasus' skull in with a tossed chunk of granite. Sweating, he spun and galloped on heavy hooves towards the Tarkington's door. Seclorum followed after him, trotting backwards. "Josho?! Old stallion?! You coming?"
"Sorry, Secchy," Josho grunted as he reloaded his shotgun and shuffled towards the Noble Jury. "But there's a new mistress in my life! And her name's Nancy!"
"You could at least be subtle about it," Eagle Eye stammered while fending off a pegasus with his metal shield replacement.
"And you could learn to shriek less."
"Huh? Aaaaaaiiieeeee!" Eagle Eye squealed like a little filly as he was picked up in Josho's telekinetic field and tossed onto the Noble Jury.
"Go time, ya space elk!" Josho hollered as he threw his heavy self after Eagle Eye and abandoned the temple. "Vacation's over!"
"You hear that, hollow boomer?!" Floydien shouted to the cockpit as he fended off a retaliating wave of undead. "Just like Floydien showed you! Drift drift and glimmer zoom!"
"Aye, your red-nosedness!" Zaid grinned from ear to ear as he yanked at the Noble Jury's controls. Behind him, Floydien, Eagle Eye, and Josho gripped to the top deck as he veered the ship away from the temple in a turbulent hover. "Props and the other ponies on board the sausagemobile had better catch up, though!"
"She'll get them into the air!" Eagle Eye's voice sputtered into the hurricane winds. "They're in the best possible hooves!"
"The sexiest too, depending on whose team you're rooting for!" Zaid turned around and shouted down the crawlspace. "Belle, how're you doing down there, girl?!"
"Just fine, Zaid...!"
Bellesmith crawled down the last rung of the ladder while Elma clung to her back. She gulped and continued, "Just keep doing what you're doing!"
Her eyes remained locked on the observation room. Gently, she laid Elma down on the floor within the doorframe and rushed forward. She reached her hooves into a hammock and scooped Kera out. Her eyes instantly teared up as she leaned in and nuzzled the dormant child. With a hissing inhale, she broke into a fragile smile, caressing the filly's mane.
"You're so brave, Kera. I'm sorry. All this time... all the things I did..." She rubbed her cheek against the child's. "I'm sorry. Things will be different. I promise. You'll..." She sniffled, smiling painfully. "You'll get to see your daddy again. I can guarantee it. I can..."
Her chestnut eyes drifted up. She stared out the shattered observation room window with a moist blink.
Outside and below, the Tarkington hadn't lifted off. It continued lying on its side atop the temple, swarmed by zombie pegasi. Its engines flickered and sputtered, but the vessel didn't move an inch.
"Why hasn't it taken off yet...?" Bellesmith murmured.
"Rainbow, c-could you slow down a little—?!"
"No can do, buddy!" Rainbow hissed as she squeezed the two of them through the tunnel at the bottom of the pit. The two zoomed past the petrified plant in the chamber full of vines and dripping muck. "This city's got a one-way ticket to oblivion and you and me are the sole conductors!"
"Look out, Rainbow!" Pilate exclaimed, his helm buzzing. "Above us—"
"I see it!" Rainbow said, then spun upside down so that the zebra was aimed at the dropping goo. "Sword out!"
"Ah—Spark!" Pilate winced, nervously slash-slashing the golden weapon left and right. Thanks to the way Rainbow positioned him, he successfully evaporated the muck before it could cascade over them.
"Good job! But the icky part is coming up next!"
"H-huh?!" He tilted his head upside down and gazed at the narrow corridor ahead. "Oh, heavens, no..."
Rainbow spotted gurgling pegasi emerging from the gunk in her peripheral. "We gotta make this quick. Hold onto your stripes!" Hooking her wings in opposite angles, she threw the two of them into a maddening spin.
"Guhhhh!" Pilate focused entirely on gripping the Sword of Solstice. Together, the two mimicked a fiery golden pinwheel as they soared into the curved, descending tunnel. Like a drill, they burned and melted all of the purple slime that coated the dark, twisting stairwell. Several agonizing seconds later, they emerged into the chamber where the hellish nightmare started. Here, a virtual sea of purple goop awaited them, with several winged bodies leaping out and hissing.
"Time for the main event!" Rainbow Dash held her breath and spun a low orbit through the claustrophobic room, barely avoiding the ring of holes where more and more rivers of ooze fountained loose. "Just slash anything that moves! Unless, of course, it's rainbow colored and attached to me!"
"Not... m-making... this any... easier!" Pilate sputtered between sword slashes. One pegasus after another dissolved into ashen bits from the weapon's golden fury. "Rainbow, we c-can't be doing this forever!"
"Well, I sure can!"
"I'm serious! Our goal is the control room!" the zebra exclaimed, pointing at the center of the purple sea with his sword. "Access to that was on the central dais—the one Razzar touched when he summoned this nightmare in the first place!"
"Right. And now we got the key to getting to that place unscathed! Got it!" Rainbow flipped, dodged two lunging pegasi, and came back around to the center of the room. "Okie dokie lokie! Let's make ourselves an island!"
"And h-how do we do that?!"
"I dunno. Be awesome! It works for me!"
"Uhhhh..."
Rainbow panted, glancing out her peripheral vision as shadows closed in on all sides. "Now or never, robo-zebra!"
"Grrrr-Raaaaaaaugh!" Pilate lunged forward in her grasp, striking the sword down so that it stabbed half of its length into the quivering muck. Rivulets of energy fountained outward from the stabbing point. The purple ooze dissovled to ashen flakes, like dead skin. Emerging through the pool was a raised platform with a cylindrical podium and a lever. Within seconds, the Sword of Solstice had burned away enough slime to allow standing room.
"Perfect! You're the stallion of the hour!" With that said, Rainbow dropped Pilate.
"Gaaah!" The stallion awkwardly stumbled to a stop, his sweat-slick back braced against the cylinder. Rainbow flew past him in a prismatic streak, illuminated by her pendant.
"The sword! Alley-oop!" She stretched her hooves out.
Without a second thought, Pilate tossed the blade towards the convergence of red-and-black crosshatches that signified her figure.
She caught the blade's hilt in her teeth and immediately spiraled around in her circular orbit. "Nnnngh-ghhhh!" A wider space in the floor was melted away, giving Pilate more breathing room. Rainbow spat the sword out and gripped it in the crooks of both hooves. "Okay! You do your awesome skystone voodoo while I hold off all this crud!"
"I... I'm not entirely sure how!"
"Gnnngh! Y-you mean Roarke never told you?!"
"She told me what to do once we got to the control room! But opening the last door to it—"
"Just think at something! You're good at the thinking! Me?" Rainbow continued hacking and slashing at the muck. "Grnnngh! I'm a bit busy with pulverising!"
"Right! Just hang on!" Pilate squirmed, ultimately gripping the lever on the center cylinder and struggling with it. "Nnnngh... I... I-I got this!"
"Dang straight, you do!" Rainbow spun and slashed a pegasus down the center before the slime-coated thing had a chance to pounce on the both of them. "Hey, pretties! How about a taste of summer?! Yaaaugh!"
"I don't get it..." Zaid sputtered out the side of his muzzle as he flew a slow orbit around the temple. His eyes remained glued on the Tarkington beyond the Noble Jury's windshield. "Why aren't they going zoom-zoom?"
"Don't spit like Floydien in the company of Nancy," the elk in question said as he marched up and practically threw Zaid out the seat with one cloven hoof. "Everything gold and gliding, yes yes yes?"
"No no no!" Zaid picked himself off the floor and pointed out the windshield. "They're stuck like ducks in muck!"
"Poetic," Josho grunted as he and Eagle Eye marched inside the cockpit from the wet deck outside. "For real, though, what gives?"
"Isn't Props on board, helping them?" Eagle Eye squeaked, breathless.
"They must be having trouble," Josho mumbled. "Poor Aatxe's ship hasn't flown in years. Who's to know how much dust is crammed up that vessel's plot."
"We g-gotta help them!" Eagle stammered.
"How?" Josho frowned. "They've got all the juice and juju they could possibly need!"
"Well, Floydien thinks the glimmer is not enough..."
"Come on... come on, blondie," Zaid shook his hooves, biting his lip in tension.
"Propsicle?!" Prowse yanked and yanked at the controls of the Tarkington. The engines of the ship sputtered and roared and sputtered again, sending dull reverberations down the body of the dormant craft. Behind the pilot's seat, several survivors murmured and trembled in panic. "Propsicle, now would be a good time, lass!"
Props' voice shouted down the long corridor from the engine room. "I'm giving her all she's got! But she won't take off!"
Seclorum galloped past him. "The sound's coming from the rear!" He leaned against the back of Prowse's pilot's chair. "It's gotta be the take-off thrusters. After all these years, they must be burnt out."
"If that's the case, then we can't take off, no matter how much raw power my niece channels into the manacircuits."
"So what do we do?" Seclorum sputtered.
Prowse looked over his shoulder at him and the other ponies. "Hypothetically, unicorn magic can set off the thrusters with a spark, but..."
"Lemme guess..." Seclorum's eyes narrowed. "That's gotta be done on the outside."
Prowse bit his lip.
Seclorum took a deep, deep breath. "Well, it's not like I was going to live forever."
"Huh?" Prowse blinked.
Seclorum turned and gestured towards the door. "Somepony open it up again! I feel like going for a stroll—"
"Grnnngh!" Arcshod slapped Seclorum's hoof away and glared the stallion down. "Haak'tin! N'mberaat siul rekka siulen drenn'adrentte!"
"Love you to, ya big lug," Seclorum droned, then brushed past him. "But this has gotta be done. It's not like we have any more miracles to rely on—"
Just then, the entire ship shook. Everypony gasped—including Seclorum—as the vessel jolted forward, then jolted forward again. Even Lasairfion blinked with wide-eyed surprise.
"What in the bloody hell...?!" Prowse stammered.
Props' voice rang through the ship. "We're moving! We're taking off!"
"Yeah... but..." Seclorum spun towards one of the many portholes, squinting at the gray world outside. "How...?"
"They're moving!" Eagle Eye hopped up and down with a bright smile. "They're moving they're moving they're moving!"
"What in the spit spit...?" Floydien's red eyes twitched.
"Did blondie pull through?" Josho asked.
Zaid smirked wide and pointed out the Noble Jury's windshield. "I'll give ya six little hints."
Everypony craned their necks to see. At the rear of the Tarkington, a half-dozen black bodies were pressed against the stern. With buzzing dragonfly wings, changelings heaved and heaved, shoving the vessel forward until it slipped clear of the temple. Once airborne, the thrusters sputtered to life—glowing a hot orange. The ship raised up, and several more changelings flew in from the misty clouds, giving the vessel extra lift as its engines adjusted to the slow, cruising flight.
Inside the Tarkington, Seclorum stepped slowly back from one porthole.
Through the glass panel, a pair of changelings flew parallel to the ship. One of them glanced over, making eye contact with the former enforcer. In a flash of green light, Aatxe's face stared, smiled, then reverted back to an insectoid slate. The two changelings veered off, joining a dense formation that dodged and outran the rampant flocks of undead also populating the clouds of Stratopolis.
For the time being, the Tarkington was in flight... and safe. Several ponies exhaled and cooed with relief, hugging each other and chuckling with tears of joy. A few of them clapped their hooves against the bulkheads in subtle applause.
Arcshod exhaled heavily, turning to smile at his equally relieved Queen. Props' cheering voice could be heard from the engine room in the back.
Prowse smirked, gripping the controls with a hoof and a prosthetic limb, guiding it alongside the Noble Jury in a smoothe hover. He glanced once over his shoulder, directing his voice at Seclorum. "What do you think about shape shifters now, eh, laddie?"
Seclorum shuddered, falling back on his haunches. "Eh... they're still flank-fuggly..." A small smile.
Bellesmith shuddered with relief as she stared out the open windows of the Observation Room. She saw the Tarkington take off from the temple where it had previously been stranded. The vessel reeled about, gliding sideways through the clouds until it ascended to a position along the Noble Jury's side.
The mare leaned in, nuzzling Kera's green, rain-slicked mane. She heard a clatter of hooves and glanced behind her.
Zaid climbed down the crawlspace and landed in the doorframe beside Elma. He saw Belle and stood in place.
The mare smiled tearfully. She squeezed Kera in her grasp and murmured, "Thank you... thank you for keeping her safe..."
"Hey..." Zaid shrugged with a smirk. He spoke above the noisy wind, "I have respect for little bundles of cuddle drool, seeing as I tend to be one myself from time to time, especially when I dream of grilled cheese—" He bumped into a dazed changeling and glanced down at it. "Hello!" He flinched, blinking. "And who might you be when you're at home?"
"Zaid, that's... uh..." Belle gulped. "That's Elma Boreal."
"Yeah, no shit?" Zaid smiled. He turned. He looked past Belle, and his face paled. "Oh shit..."
"...?" Belle turned and looked directly into the ooze-spitting maw of a zombie pegasus. She fell back with a shriek, clutching Kera to her fuzzy chest.
The creature had wedged itself midway through the bars of the shattered observation window. What's more, it wasn't alone. Two more had flown up from the lower clouds and were struggling to squeeze through the circular metal frame. Their bones crunched and their flesh peeled as they wriggled their way further and further into the Noble Jury's interior. Soon, feathers and puddles of lavender muck rolled onto the lower bulkheads. All the while, more and more undead buzzed around the windy air immediately outside the ship's bow.
"Th-they must have swarmed us while the Tarkington took off!" Belle exclaimed. She scampered to her hooves with Kera in her grasp and backtrotted to the doorframe. "Blessed Spark, I had n-no idea they could be so quiet!"
"Who's judging them?!" Zaid exclaimed. "Just run and get yourself to the rear of the ship!" He called up the crawlspace. "Eagle! Josho! We have a problem!"
Belle's eyes were locked on the ooze pooling across the floor of the observation room. "Oh no... oh no no no no no no no!"
"What is it?!"
"It's too late!" She grimaced. "Their essence has invaded the Jury! They'll be spawning from the inside now!"
"The heck do you mean?" As Zaid saw that, he heard a sickening crunch noise—like cockroach shells breaking in the night—and he turned to see a slimy equine shape emerging from an impossibly thin pool of muck. "Ohhhhhhhhh-ho-ho-ho-ho that is the ickest!"
Josho descended the crawlspace, followed by Eagle Eye. "Ledo fluff it, Zaid, what's with all the commotion—whoah dayum!"
"How?!" Eagle's voice cracked as he shivered against the doorframe, pupils twitching. "How did they even?!"
"Never mind how!" Belle shouted, gazing wide-eyed at the others. "We gotta get them out before they infect the whole ship!"
"Let's try combining our magic fields," Josho snarled, already illuminating his horn and aiming it at the purple-stained window. "Maybe we can sweep all the gunk out."
Eagle gulped, glowing his horn as well. "You really think so?"
"No. But let's try it anyways."
"What in the spit is going on down there?!" Floydien's voice hollered.
"Uhhhh... just a sec, sexy!" Zaid spun and kicked-kicked-kicked at a hammock's support beam on the starboard side. "Gnnngh!" Crack! He snapped the long bar loose and gripped it in the crook of one hoof. "You keep doing your voodoo, dudes!" He rushed forward and started stabbing at the necks and muzzles of the hissing pegasi. "I'll hold the mouth breathers back in the meantime!"
"Zaid, d-don't!" Belle winced. "For Spark's sake! They'll reel you in! Don't let them touch you! Nnnngh!" Nostrils flaring, she gently laid Kera down besides Elma, yanked another bar loose from where Zaid had kicked the bulkhead, and rushed to his side. "Here! I'll give you cover!"
"Could r-really use your David Clopperfield trick right about now, g-guys!" Zaid sputtered.
"Working on it..." Josho hissed with a sweating face.
"Your leyline is breaking, old stallion," Eagle Eye stammered. "You have to concentrate better!"
"You're the one with the weak field! I'm giving it my all!"
"Dudes, this isn't a contest!"
"Zaid! Your left side!"
"I see it! Guhh! If only Khao could see me now, fighting licorice monsters with a pole!"
"There're more of them flying up!"
"For Spark's sake, concentrate!"
"I'm trying!"
"Floydien! Keep her steady, for the love of all that's holy!"
Meanwhile, Elma stared sideways, her face lying against the floor. She blinked, her green eyes twitching as she watched the panicked scene unfold. Despite the best efforts of the Jurists, the purple muck crept further and further into the Observation Room, consuming the hull of the ship from the inside out at a dramatic rate.
Just then, green columns of steam billowed from the corners of Elma's optics. She gasped, her face gaining tattoos and losing them in a blink. Biting her lip, she rolled over, staring at Kera's dormant figure.
The filly lay curled in a fetal position, her eyes forever gazing into some unseen abyss. The cries and struggles of her closest companions fell on deaf ears.
Elma's breaths came in short bursts. She slowly reached a hoof out, caressing the foal's tattooed chin. Belle's voice hollered once more, and the changeling flinched, glancing over at the dramatic struggle while Josho and Eagle Eye combined their magical telekineses.
"Grrgggh!" Rainbow Dash spun, effectively lopping off the skulls of three pegasi with a swing of the Sword of Solstice. With a spare moment to breathe, she hovered in place, spitting the hilt of the sword out of her mouth so she could grip the thing in two hooves. "Pilate, now would be a good time to start deus ex machining."
"I've... b-been trying... to pull this lever every w-way I can!" The zebra sputtered, yanking hard on the device located at the top of the dank room's central cylinder. "I refuse to believe that all it can d-do is summon the flying dead!"
"You sure you're trying everything?"
"Yes, Rainbow, confound it!" Pilate snarled as shadows swam over him and the skystone fastened to his back. "I swear, this is a dead end!"
"Haaaugh!" Rainbow skewered a shrieking pegasus and flung it back to the ooze-stained walls. She turned back to him, panting. "Okay, so maybe you're putting too much thought into it!"
"Point being?!"
"Duh. You're a stallion." She said, dodging a dollop of purple slime from the ceiling. "Be bone-headed for once!"
Pilate blinked, then blinked again. "...Haaaaaaaaaaaugh!" He thrusted his skull forward. The helm head-butted the lever, snapping it down along the hinge of its fulcrum. Clank!Vrmmmmmmmm! The cylinder rotated and sunk down into the center dais. Suddenly, the circular floor where Pilate was situated sunk down one granite plank at a time until—at last—a twenty-foot wide platform lowered like an elevator into uncertain darkness. "Uhmmm..."
"Now that's the way to unthink!" Rainbow grinned, then dove down towards the sinking platform. "Step aside! Quick!"
"Gah!" Pilate complied, stumbling.
"Hnnnt!" Rainbow stabbed the Sword of Solstice blade-first into the center of the lowering platform.
An aura of blinding gold light emanated from the impact, melting away any residual slime clinging to the platform. Even Pilate winced as his helm's sensors briefly fluctuated from the luminescent overload.
When the pulse of light dimmed, the two found themselves descending a deep cylindrical shaft far below the dark heart of Stratopolis where the undead-fueling ooze originated.
"So, where's that dang c-control room?" Rainbow stammered.
"Rainbow, you feel that?" Pilate panted as he stretched a hoof out. He tilted his helm towards her. "Air's rushing down with us—as if to fill a hollow space." His muzzle curved slightly. "I do believe the chamber Roarke spoke of awaits us!"
"Well, neato keano. Maybe we can take a photograph for her, since she sent us on a total death trip in the first place."
"Rainbow, if it wasn't for her—"
"I know, Pilate. I get it. This had to be done." Rainbow glanced aside at the circular walls of granite sliding up past them. "A part of me kinda wishes that I could have learned more before sending this place crashing."
"If you ask me, Rainbow, the pegasi who ran this facility eons before Hurricane took over were supreme victims of curiosity and hubris. No need for you to follow their exact—" The zebra suddenly jerked, tilting his helm upwards.
"What is it, boy?"
"A body," Pilate muttered. "Diving down swiftly."
"More pegasi?" Rainbow smirked and raised her sword, gazing upwards. "Zombie sushi, coming right up—!"
KAPOW! A blast of yellow mana shot down and struck Rainbow.
"Gaaugh!" the mare fell back with a splash of blood. The Sword of Solstice clattered to the floor in the center of the lowering platform.
"Rainbow!" Pilate reached for her—
Fwooosh! On a streak of amber rocket exhaust, a reptilian figure landed hard on the platform between Rainbow and Pilate. Clank! Razzar stood straight up, his joints tightening as he glared down at Pilate with a glinting mask.
"Bloody hell," Prowse murmured, his eyes widening.
"Huh?" Seclorum climbed forward along the turbulent interior of the Tarkington. He leaned back against the pilot's chair. "What is it?"
"Take a gander for yourself." Prowse pointed with his good hoof at the Noble Jury. A cluster of writhing, purple figures clung to the ship's bow, a deck and a half below the cockpit. "They must have latched on while nopony was looking."
"Ah jeez..." Seclorum winced. "Josho, please tell me you can ward them off..."
Props' voice rang down the corridor full of frazzled survivors. "What is it? Why aren't we accelerating yet?"
"Lassie, don't look." Prowse gulped. "It's not a pretty sight."
Props rushed up out of nowhere. "What isn't?" Upon first glance of the Noble Jury, her goggled eyes went wide and she held two hooves over a gasping muzzle.
"Could we—perhaps—fly perpendicular to the craft and knock those creatures off?" Seclorum suggested.
Prowse's jaw went tight. "And risk infecting Aatxe's gift to us?" He shook his head. "I'm not fan of it either, boyo, but we can't damn the lives of all these ponies..."
"Oh please..." Props mewled out a quivering mouth as her goggles fogged up. "Oh please oh please oh please..."
"Got it!" Eagle Eye shouted.
"Good!" Josho gnashed his teeth, tilting his horn forward as he contributed to the petite stallion's magic field. "Keep it together and let's flush these things out!"
"After your lead!"
"And... march!" Josho stomped forward, joined by Eagle Eye. Both stallions made their way to the shattered window of the Observation room, slowly shoving a solid wall of fluctuating telekinesis directly in front of them.
By now, three undead pegasi had materialized between where the Jurists stood and the shattered window frame ahead. While Josho's and Eagle's field was successfully mopping the purple gunk up, the zombified equines made things a hundred times more difficult, slashing and biting and thrashing at the magical field. The energy rippled with each impact, threatening to snap at any second.
"Come on, chestnut!" Zaid barked, shoving his metal rod through the field and knocking the monsters back as best as he could. "Put on the pressure! Defense! Defense!"
"I'm trying!" Belle yelped. "I don't want to upset their magic field!"
"Then d-don't even mention it!" Josho growled. "Eagle, you're buckling!"
"Stop marching so f-fast!"
"I can't let up for one second! These creatures—"
"Another is h-hatching!" Zaid spat, eying a patch of purple where an equine figure emerged.
"For Spark's sake..."
"Get them to the window! Get them to the window!"
While this mayhem went on, Elma continue squatting by Kera's side. She stared at the struggle ahead with weary eyes, but soon tilted her gaze until it fell on the dormant little foal below. She knelt down, breathing lightly, her dark cheek just inches from nuzzling the filly.
"It's just... so much..." Her fanged mouth quivered. The changeling's green slits morphed into chestnut eyes that teared. "So much misery... so much pain..." She brought a hoof down and caressed Kera's straight green mane. After a few seconds, Elma looked at her own fetlock, spotting black and white stripes that traveled up her body. In a blink, her black shell returned, and she shuddered. "But the love is there too. It's just buried..."
Belle shrieked and fell back. A creature lunged at the field, nearly breaking through. Zaid rushed forward and smacked the zombie's head through the field, then turned to help Belle back up to her hooves.
Elma stared at the mare. She bit her lip and leaned down to nuzzle Kera. "No child should remain separated from her mother." She sniffled. "Not so long as that mother is a good pony." A stifled sob, and she brought both hooves to the sides of Kera's face, tilting her chin up until they stared each other—face to dazed face. "Love may never belong to me... but it belongs to you."
That said, Elma's eyes narrowed once more into green slits. Energy fluctuated from within the changeling's body, erupting at the surface in random spurts of emerald flame. At last, a translucent stream of energy could be seen bouncing between the two ponies. Kera's ears twitched, and her mouth hung open. Just as her purpils started to shrink, Elma jerked back with a wimpering sound. She stared up at the ceiling as her forelimbs began trembling.
"This isn't working!" Belle exclaimed, holding Zaid's body to support his swings of the metal pole. "We gotta get Floydien down here or something!" Panting, she glanced behind her flank. "Maybe his mana discharge can—" She instantly gasped. "Elma!"
"Ggnnngh-Auugh!" Elma's head flew back. In bursts of green flame, her body transformed into Golden Happenstance, then to Beau, then to Pilate, then to an oversized filly with fluctuating tattoos. She slipped from her grip of Elma and fell back to the metal floor, reverting to a fetal-curled shapeshifter staring blankly into the ceiling with streams of green smoke wafting out of her wide eyes.
"Elma, no!" Belle hollered, galloping straight towards her. She slid on her knees and scooped the limp changeling up, shaking her. "Why, Elma? Why?" The mare was already sobbing, her eyes tearing as she tilted the shape-shifter's head to meet her misty gaze. "Oh, blessed Spark! What did I tell you?" She hugged Elma close, rocking back and forth. "Just because that's all your Mother fed you—"
"What's happening?!" Eagle Eye sputtered.
"Dammit, kid!" Josho hissed, his horn struggling to maintain luminescence. "Concentrate!"
"It's too late!" Zaid grunted as two undead yanked his pole towards them and coated it all over with purple muck. "They're gonna break through!"
Belle glanced up, muzzle quivering, as she held Elma close. Before them, the energy field flashed, flashed again, and dissipated entirely.
Razzar marched icily towards Pilate. The naga stepped over the Sword of Solstice, his robed limbs outlined by patches of amber glow. All around him, the purple muck from above dribbled, having followed the descending platform down the cylindrical shaft. Soon, a veritable waterfall of ooze surrounded the three bodies.
"I'm going to need you to give back what belongs to me," the Lounge leader said, extending a gloved hand towards the skystone on Pilate's back. "I require it to pilot this city, for it belongs to me too."
"Seriously, Razzar?" Pilate gritted his teeth, all four hooves planted firmly in place as he glared up at the towering lizard. "After all the purgatorial menaces that have broken loose... after all of the damnable calamities that you yourself have unleashed... you still think you can somehow salvage Stratopolis and make it work to your own ends?"
"The only flaw here is ponies... ponies like you..." Yellow mist wafted out of the mask's mouth slits as he stood above Pilate. "Ponies who dared pollute my plans with their weak frailties. Still, it was my mistake for thinking I could ever have accomplished anything by cooperating with the likes of the equines stranded here. When the Lounge's strength is finally bolstered with our domination of the Skystone fields, I'll be sure we never make that mistake again."
"Look around you!" Pilate barked. "This place is corrupt! There's nothing to exploit! The Sentinel destroyed the ancient pegasi who thought they could control it! And it cost the lives of the brave Equestrians who later commandeered it! This place is nothing but a death trap! But you'd know that, wouldn't you? For years, you've been sending ponies here to die under the changelings' watch! Well, now it's your turn to be consumed by the curse!"
Cl-Clakk! Razzar thrusted a manarifle loose from under his left sleeve, aiming it at the zebra. "Amusing that you would ask me to 'look around,' seeing as the only reason you have vision is because it was appropriated through a traitor who boldly infiltrated my ranks." The barrel of the weapon glowed a threatening yellow. "Betrayal is a weak tactic, and it is the Lounge's prime task to put down the weak and the frail. Starting with you—"
"Hnnngh!" Rainbow Dash flew up from behind and slammed two bloodied forelimbs across the back of his skull.
The mana blast ricocheted off the platform between Pilate's legs, making him gasp.
Rainbow followed her initial blow with a two-legged buck against the naga's spine. As he collapsed, she hovered above him and spat, "Wow! An idiot—and—the memory of a goldfish! That's two for two, ya melon f—"
"Hrrrrrrrr—" Razzar contorted his back, spun about, and leapt at her—legs spread—like a velociraptor. "—RESSSSSH!"
"Gaah!" Rainbow grunted as she was slammed to the metal floor beneath his thrashing weight. "Okay!" She sputtered, curling her forelimbs to block his many-many jabs and punches. "Mutant goldfish! Mutant goldfish!"
Razzar left hand raised high, and several claws ripped loose from the glove, ready to swipe across her muzzle.
"Rrrrgh!" Pilate charged up from behind and swung the sparkling rod in his teeth.
Razzar took the blow to the back of the head, jolting.
With a grunt, Rainbow bucked him off, curled her body, and launched forward with wings spread. She speared the naga in the chest, and the two went sprawling across the descending platform. Their bodies reflected in the sheen of the purple ooze curtaining all around them. At last, Razzar got the upper hand, wriggling around to Rainbow's and shoving his knuckles against the back of her skull, forcing her muzzle closer and closer to the deathly dribble of ooze.
Rainbow's nostrils flared and flared as she shut one eye and fought the pressure to her cranium. Inch by inch, her chin approached the purple waterfall. She could smell the stench of decay and rust. One of many eyeballs slid down, reflecting Razzar's body pressed to her spine. She spotted his chest completely unguarded.
Holding her breath, Rainbow spread her wings straight out, slapping both edges of Razzar's ripcage. The naga winced heavily from the blow, his grip slipping. Rainbow snaked her tail around one ankle, yanked, and slammed her elbow back into his mask as Razzar fell. Finally freed, she flapped her wings and pulled herself away from the deadly muck, backflipping to the center of the platform where the Sword of Solstice lay.
Without wasting a breath, Razzar charged towards her on all fours, hissing the whole way.
Rainbow slapped a hoof over the sword's hilt, propelling it up into the air so she could grip it in her teeth. Immediately, she swung at Razzar with a horizontal swipe.
The naga ducked the burning slash. All around him, a half-circle of falling ooze immediately dissolved from the golden blade's heat. A larger round chamber could be seen, with four pedestals located at equidistant cardinal locations.
Pilate gasped. "The control room!" He jerked his gaze back on the fight.
Razzar leapt at Rainbow Dash in a vicious pounce.
Frowning, Pilate twirled and flung his staff at the lizard at full force. "Neuugh!"
The bludgeon struck Razzar dead in the chest, making him collapse just two feet before he could have impacted Rainbow Dash.
With a voice-cracking yelp, Rainbow viciously uppercutted with the sword, setting the entire room ablaze with fire and dissolving the ooze once again.
CRACKKK! Razzar's mask shattered up the center while a red mist billowed at the tip of the sword's blaze. "Hrllghghklkkkttt!" He limped aside, clutching his skull. With a furious hiss, he flung both arms forward, exposing no less than four mana blasters under each sleeve. POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!
Rainbow held her breath and dove backwards, holding the Sword of Solstice lengthwise before her. At least a dozen shots deflected off the billowing blade, knocking her back into Pilate. Both pegasus and zebra went tumbling off the puddle-soaked platform and onto the floor of the control room beyond. At last, the elevator hissed to a stop in front of them, along with Razzar's limping, steam-spilling figure.
"Mmmmfff!" Pilate was the first to sit up, panting. "Rainbow..." He gulped. "We're..."
"I know..." Rainbow nodded. "Quick!" she breathlessly exclaimed. "Find which one of these is the north pedestal and place the skystone on it!"
"Right!" Pilate stripped the skystone shard from his back and glanced between the four structures. "Perhaps there's a rune that will designate which is which—"
POW! An amber energy blast deflected the skystone shard from his grasp.
The zebra gasped, watching as the yellow chunk of glowing crystal slid off towards the far end of the room. He and Rainbow glanced at the center of the room.
Razzar limped down from the elevator platform, aiming his many smoking blasters. His silver mask clung to his skull in tatters. After a sputtering breath, he pulled at the triggers to his weapons again. Zhht! Zh-Zhht! They fizzled out, refusing to fire anymore. The amber glow of his suit faded with an ineffectual groaning noise. He stood in place, growling and heaving.
Slowly, Rainbow Dash stood up alongside Pilate. "It's over, Razzar," she murmured, stealthily reaching a hoof over to the Sword of Solstice. "You may have had a posse of badflank bounty hunters on your side, a slick black ship straight out of fantasy books, and a lot of sick glowy stuff... but none of that changes the fact that you're the most pathetic jobber who's ever existed."
"Yes!" Pilate sneered, lunging his head forward. "And you reek!"
"Pilate, I've got this," Rainbow muttered aside. "Besides, you already had your chance at a monologue."
"S-sorry..."
"Over...?" Razzar shook and quivered. "Hckkkt... it is not overrrr..." He pulled at his sleeves, cloak, and garments. Shred by shred, he ripped them off his body with raking claws. A multitude of nefarious concealed weapons fell to the floor, along with his bulky jetpack. "Quezaat forgive me... but to dispense with your weak flesh, I must commit the sin of bearing my own... hckkkkt..."
At last, he pulled at the fragments of his mask—a very slow gesture. Steam billowed loose from a dozen places, and when it cleared, the two ponies could see an elongated snout rimmed with razor sharp crocodile teeth that surrounded a lashing tongue.
"Hyeeuuuuuuuuhhhh..." Razzar dropped the mask from two webbed hands fitted with two-inch long claws. With an inward trilling—like a cat purr—the reptile stood up straight, his rust-brown body silhouetted against a fresh curtain of purple ooze dribbling down the central elevator shaft behind him. He tilted his head back, eyes shut, as he inhaled deeply. A long tail thrashed behind him, then finally relaxed. Seconds later, two yellow eyeslits opened, and he tilted his snout to glare at the pair.
"Rainbow, I can't see well enough..." Pilate gulped. "But is he—?"
As if on cue, the naga's eyes widened. Sharp spines arced along the path of his vertebra as he flexed his arms and lunged his head forward. A wide, copper-colored frill flared around Razzar's neck as he roared with bestial fury. "HRESSSSS-SHHHHHAAAAA!"
Rainbow grimaced lethargically. "Look, I love a good boss battle as much as the next pony, but—for realsies..." That said, she flung the Sword of Solstice down at full force. "Haaaaaaugh!"
FLASSSH! A burning wave of golden energy slammed into Razzar, shoving his naked body back into the evaporating slime.
Pilate actually blinked under his helm.
Rainbow turned towards him, exhaling sweatily. "Right, so about that skystone—"
"HRESSSSH!" A thoroughly scalded Razzar plowed into her from the center of the room.
"Luna poop!" Rainbow sputtered from under his weight.
Pilate gasped, tilting his head towards where the two tumbled off and wrestled.
"Nnnngh!" Rainbow bucked Razzar's ravenous body off her and picked herself up with the Sword of Solstice, parrying his next attack. "Cyberzebra!" she shouted over her shoulder. "The skystone!"
"R-right!" Pilate galloped over to the glowing crystal, nervously picked it up, and ran from one pedestal to the other. "Which one is north, which one is n-north?" he rambled beneath the clamor of the two combatants in the background.
"It's collapsed!" Josho shouted, swinging his shotgun out so that it levitated at his side. He fired one shot, only to splatter purple ooze across a quarter of the forward Observation Room. He cursed under his teeth, backtrotting from the advancing undead. "Run to the top deck! We gotta abandon ship!"
"Floydien would rather die than give up his precious 'Nancy!'" Zaid sputtered.
"Not a club the rest of you should join!" Josho shouted. "Now get moving!"
"Not without you!" Eagle hollered, almost sobbing. He tugged and tugged on Josho's tail. "Come on! Let's go!"
"No! I'm holding the fort!"
"But—"
"Dammit, go!" Josho snarled over his shoulder. "And grab your coltfriend while you're at it!" He marched fearlessly towards the monsters. "How many times do I have to tell you ponies—I've friggin' lived my life!"
"Stop!" Eagle lunged, teary-eyed. "Come back!" He jerked in place, flailing.
Zaid held Eagle from behind, dragging him back to the doorframe. "Belle! We gotta make like the wind and break, girl!"
"You've got Eagle, and I've got Elma!" Belle exclaimed, clutching the changeling to her chest. "Who has Kera?"
"Uhhhh..."
Belle's eyes twitched. She looked down at the metal floor beside Elma, and it was empty. "Kera...?" She looked up.
A petite shadow slinked past Josho. The old soldier saw it, and he did a grotesque double-take.
"Kera!" Belle hollered.
Josho lunged for her—but felt himself blown back by an unprecedented pulse of mana.
Before everypony's eyes, the very much alive and very much awake filly marched two more steps forward, planted her hooves squarely against the floor, and lunged her head forward. Rivulets of blue energy swam up her tattoos like reverse waterfalls. They came to a focal point in her horn, surging outward in a white-hot explosion of unbridled magic.
All the while, Kera's tiny face grotesquely contorted in a venemous expression. Veins popped in her neck for a brief moment, then dissipated as the mother of all yells emanated from her throat—starting at first as a low siren, then bursting outward in a salvo of unmitigated rage and fury. Everypony's ears popped, and even Josho flinched from the resulting echo as the entire bow of the Noble Jury shook.
Then—like a chunk of the Sun thrown out of a cannon—a wall of merciless telekinesis hurled forward. It not only swept the undead pegasi off their hooves and evaporated the purple stains, but it completely shattered the remaining metal frame of the shattered windows. The pegasi's bodies were shred to ribbons among the resulting shrapnel, and the mess of debris and undead organs flew out into the winds of Stratopolis like a stream of calico vomit.
"Bloody Hell!" Prowse gasped, wide-eyed.
Seclorum clung to the back of the pilot's seat, for the Tarkington was inexplicably wobbling as if dealt an invisible blow. "What in Ledo's toilet did that just now?!"
Props slid her goggles up and blinked her teary eyes. "Pizz fah wizz..." She blinked again, and her muzzle slowly curved into a tender smile. "Could... could it be...?"
Staring out into the gaping hole of the Observation Room, Kera stood in place, panting and panting. At last, she slumped down to her haunches, shivering internally.
The rest of the ponies gawked in silence. Slowly, Bellesmith laid Elma down and crawled forward—one pensive hoof after another. "Kera...?"
The filly's shoulders shook.
Belle gulped. "Kera, d-darling...?"
The filly turned to look over her shoulder. Her eyes were brimming with tears. A muzzle quivered endlessly.
Belle held a hoof over her mouth. Sniffling, she gestured to the tiny pony. "Kera, speak to me, honey..."
Kera slowly shook her head. At last, something came out of her, dry as a bone. "So cold... so v-very cold," she mewled. "All I can see is... is his eye..." She curled her forelimbs against her scrunching his face. "Cold and pale... like a second moon..."
Belle slowly shuffled towards her, eyes glued to the filly's face.
"I'm so lame... so fr-friggin' pathetic..." Kera whimpered, starting to dry-heave as she collapsed to her side. "Wanted t-to scream so h-hard... f-for so long..." She gnashed at her teeth, her eyes streaming as she squealed, "Wh-why couldn't I do that to h-him?!" She gripped her skull and growled, "I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him..."
"Kera, darling..." Belle scooped the child up. "There was nothing you could have done. There was nothing any of us could have done..."
"He made me see so many th-things... killed so m-many ponies... all b-because of me..."
"No... No!" Belle hissed, holding her close. "It was nothing you did! It was all him, Kera. It's not your fault. It was never your fault!"
"I just... gnnngh... j-just..." She writhed and writhed in Belle's grasp, her eyes clenched shut to the bleeding point. "I can't... I c-can't..." She squeaked. "Going to explode..."
"Let it out, darling..." Belle stroked Kera's bangs and spoke nose to nose. "Release it, Kera. The worse thing you can do..." She gulped and shuddered. "The worse thing any of us can do is hold it in."
Kera shuddered at first, then shook in tiny little spasms. At last, she buried her head into Belle's shoulder—which was a good thing—for the resulting wail would otherwise have deafened them both. She clung to Belle's coat like a vice, howling in undulating waves.
Belle sobbed, tears streaming from her face as she rocked Kera's body in her forelimbs. "That's it, honey. It's okay to cry. It's okay to mourn. Because, no matter how horrible things have been, we're alive now. We're alright, and one way or another we're going to have to live with what's happened to us. But you're not going to be alone, do you hear me? We're going to be with you every step of the way. We're never... ever going to abandon you. We cherish you so much, Kera. By the Spark, we love you so..."
Kera's body shuddered, shook, and then shifted. She lifted a tear-stained face, staring wearily at Belle. "M... M-Mommy...?"
Belle gulped and nodded. "Yes...?"
Kera's lips quivered. "Is... is Daddy alright too?"
Belle fell silent.
Kera nuzzled Belle's shoulder. "I want to see Daddy again..."
In a bursting breath, Belle's face melted. She kissed the top of Kera's green mane and rocked the filly in her arms. "You will. I promise you." She sniffled and broke into a sobbing smile. "We will both see Daddy again." She closed her eyes and sniffled. "We will..."
All the while, Josho was scratching his mane. With a nervous smile, he glanced aside at the lavender shape beside him.
Eagle Eye held both hooves over his mouth as tears rolled down his face. He grinned—albeit in a crooked, quivering fashion. Tiny, inward squeaks emanated from his flushed chest.
"Nnnnngh..." A familiar figure shuffled up from the distant engine room, rubbing his aching skull. "My h-head..." Ebon blinked blearily, then gasped as he stared—wide eyed—into the thoroughly wrecked observation room. "Whoah. What in the hay happened here?!"
"Phweeeeee!" Overwhelmed, Eagle practically pounced the stallion, hugging him close and repeatedly kissing his ear. "I love you I love you I love you I love youuuuu!"
"Gaaah!" Ebon braced himself against the doorframe and nervously patted Eagle's back. "H-hey, feeling's mutual. But... um... Eagle! Stop slobbering over my ear!"
"Hmmmmmmm..." Eagle nuzzled and nuzzled and nuzzled Ebon's neck. "Just so glad that you're okay. Everything's turning out okaaaaaaay..."
"Yeah..." Ebon smiled, running a hoof through the unicorn's silken mane. "Who'd a thunk it..."
Zaid glanced at Ebon, then at Eagle Eye. He blinked, then looked down at Elma's dormant figure. Without a second's hesitation, he hoisted the changeling up by her shoulders and rammed her body into the two hugging stallions.
"Eeep!" Eagle's eyes bulged.
"D'oh!" Ebon winced. "Zaid, what the buck—?!"
Almost immediately, the changeling's eyes flashed open with a burst of green flame. Elma sputtered and gasped for breath, as if coming up from a deep plunge.
Bellesmith immediately looked over, muzzle agape.
Elma stumbled back on four quivering hooves. She rubbed her scalp before leaning against a rattling bulkhead. "Unnnngh... wh-what a rush? Where did that come from?"
"You're welcome." Zaid sat back with a smug grin. "It's what I like to call shipping and receiving." He turned towards Josho. "Eh? Eh?"
"Meh."
"Belle...?" Kera gulped and looked nervously over the mare's shoulder, trembling. "Who is that pony with the green eyes...?"
"Somepony who helped you, darling..." Belle kissed Kera's forehead and smiled lovingly at the shapeshifter. "Somepony who helped us all..."
Elma glanced nervously at Belle. She bore a weak, confused smile, then plopped down on her haunches with a dizzied expression.
"Hey, uh..." Zaid scratched his scalp. "Not for nothing, but..." He glanced at all the others. "Whatever happened to the east horse?"
"Grnnnghhh!" Rainbow Dash—sword gripped in her teeth—swung the burning weapon up high.
Razzar ducked, twirled athletically to his side, and sprang forward on two rear talons.
Rainbow dropped the blade lengthwise in her hooves, rolled backwards, and used Razzar's momentum to vault him across the control room.
He flew, twirled, and landed in the center—skidding to a stop just an inch before coming into contact with the purple muck trickling down from above.
Meanwhile, Rainbow flapped her wings, flew in a circle, and barreled towards him with the sword dragging in two hooves. Grunting, she spun her body and slashed the burning blade in the process.
Razzar ducked inexplicably backwards, his body bending grotesquely as it balanced on his tail. He dodged the blade, then lifted one lower leg, its talons clasping around the tip of the sword. With one twist, he sent Rainbow's body jerking aside from her grip to the hilt.
"Ooomf!" Rainbow rolled across the ground.
"Hresshaaa!" Razzar jumped her from behind.
Pressing the sword against the floor like a pole, she thrusted her rear legs backwards, uppercutting him savagely across the chin. A sharp tooth or two flew as she hopped up to her hooves, spun around, and swung the blade as hard as she could.
Cl-Clank! Razzar readied himself with a pair of forward talons, blocking her swing and pressing back. The two struggled for dominance while sparks occasionally spat from the contact of his claws to the Sword of Solstice.
All the while, Pilate scurried from platform to platform with the skystone shard in his grasp. He panted, ears twitching to the sound of the frenzied combat behind him.
"Which one is north... which one?!" The stallion hissed under his teeth while his helm rattled. "Blast it! If only I had normal eyes, I might be able to determine..."
He paused, his head jerking towards the shard. Through the red-and-black field of his technologically facilitated senses, he detected a fluctuating concentration of lines across the skystone. It only changed in frequency whenever he swiveled around, tilting the skystone in random directions.
As the battle rattled on, Pilate muttered quietly to himself. "This is amber skystone... which, according to Roarke, was harvested from the north field." He gulped. "Placing it on the north pedestal will bring us to where we need to go. But we're so close to the north edge of the world as it is." He tilted his helm up, then glanced back at the shard with pursing lips. "It... It would have to resonate the strongest with the north platform... for the leylines would connect quickest. That means..."
To test his theory, he trotted in a circle—much slower and with greater concentration—all the while keeping his helm trained on the skystone as he endeavored to measure the intensity of its glow.
In the meantime—
"Hresshaaa!" Razzar shoved against Rainbow Dash and pounced on her.
"Ohhhhh learn a new tune already!" Rainbow sputtered, slashing high.
She grazed his shoulder with the burning blade.
"Haaauckkktshh!" Razzar plummeted to the floor, gripping his bleeding shoulder.
"Haaah!" Rainbow Dash capitalized on the situation by slashing her blade straight down... and severing Razzar's long tail. THWACK!
"Aaaaaa-gaaaaught!" The naga tilted his skull to the ceiling and howled, his frill fanning spasmatically outward from his neck.
"Ghnngh!" Rainbow limped back, sweating heavily as she leaned her body against the Sword of Solstice. "That's what you get! Try to lay the smackdown on me and my friend?! Not in Commander Hurricane's hood, ya overgrowned suitcase—" Something writhed and jerked in her peripheral vision. "Wait... what the—?" She glanced down.
Razzar's severed tail jerked, flailed, and suddenly launched itself at her like a python.
"Oh ICK!!" She chaotically flailed with the Sword of Solstice, trying desperately to slice the thing to ribbons. "Die die die die!" Cl-cl-clank!
The tail wormed around the blade, slithered up, and launched itself like a noose around her neck.
"Hckkkkkt-t-t-t-t!" Rainbow wheezed. She dropped the Sword, stumbled back, and clutched at the meaty appendage, fighting to dislodge it.
Trailing blood, Razzar slowly got up, wobbled from a slight lack of balance, and lurched towards her. "Let's see if your wings like to grow back..." Chiiing! He bore his claws at full length and prepared to swipe her face.
Rainbow fell to her knees, hissing for breath as her fuzzy blue face turned bluer. Her nostrils flared and flared. At last, she clenched her eyes shut, shuddered, and reopened them with red-on-yellow fury. A halo of ruby light pulsed around her neck, until—
FLASH! Her pendant fired a crimson beam, mealting straight through the ensnaring lizard's tail. The appendage fell loose, only for her to catch it, spin with a snarl, and fling it like a leather flail straight up Razzar's snout. WHAP!
"Gaaaaugh!" He stumbled backwards, spitting blood.
"Hah!" Rainbow hopped straight up and hovered on flapping wings. "Not everyday I kick someone's ass with their ass!"
"I will tear out your heart and f-feed it to you!" Razzar spat.
"Yeah, good luck with that." FWOOSH! Rainbow glided straight into him, spearing the reptile down the center.
Lifted by her flying figure, he tried slashing at her wings, but she swiftly jerked to the side until the two of them were gliding in a swift circle along the granite circumference of the room. Tangled together in mid-air, Rainbow wrangled her hooves around Razzar's skull and slammed his face against the blurring wall, grinding his scales into the stone surfaces. Razzar winced and hissed, smoke forming from the friction of his constant contact. At last, he found the strength knee her hard in the chest, and the two went sprawling across the platform behind Pilate.
The zebra in question had finally stumbled upon a pedestal where the skystone shard glowed the brightest.
"Finally! This is it!" Concentrating, he held the shard in two hooves, lowered it to the pedestal, and watched as bolts of archaic energy shot between the stone dais and the crystalline "key." The entire control room shook, and the stallion stumbled backwards with a nervous breath. He looked left and right, his helm detecting movement in the circular room's walls.
Clak-Clak! Something snapped. Suddenly, whistling winds barreled into the room. Pilate watched as the room lowered down on twelve descending columns.
The control room, as it turned out, was situated in the very belly of Stratopolis, and activating the pedestal lowered it by its twelve support struts so that it gave those situated on the platform a three hundred and sixty degree view of the hazy gray world in every direction.
Rainbow Dash tumbled backwards from the wind, rolling to a pained stop besides the Sword of Solstice.
Razzar, caught of guard, stabbed his forward claws into the stone floor and held tight as air pressure tugged his body in random directions.
In the meanwhile, Pilate anchored himself by the north pedestal, his helm being overwhelmed by the glowing energy of the shard. He tilted his head away—facing west—and gasped as soon as he noticed the clouds along the horizon dissolving.
"What in the frig is happening?!" Rainbow stammered above the noise of howling winds.
Elma gasped, her green eyes pulsing. "Stratopolis," she murmured quietly. Weakly, the frail changeling lifted her head. "Everypony? Something... s-something's happening—"
"Uh huh. That's nice." Josho strolled past her and shimmied up the vertical crawlspace as quickly as his obese body would allow him. "Hey! Thunder Deer!" He climbed into the cockpit behind Floydien, sweating and panting. "The mutant pegasi just gave us a shave so close they're liable to set up a barber shop in my ass. The front half of your Nancy Jane is an open gaping hole. You understand how friggin' ugly a picture this is? You gotta pull this puppy around and take us as far from the center of the store as you can before the zombies decide to come after all our collective sideburns!"
"Easier the spitting than the glimmering," Floydien droned, pointing a cloven hoof out the cockpit window. "What does the boomer's eyes see?"
"Awwwwwwwwww crud biscuits," Josho wheezed, gawking at a solid line of winged abominations hurdling their way from the largest structure. "It's like they come in waves!"
Eagle Eye climbed up, followed by Ebon Mane. "Looks like it's all clear below decks. What's the situation?" His eyes bulged. "Oh fluff."
"Princess, if I had some soap..." Josho muttered.
"Whoah!" Ebon gasped, glancing towards the right. "There's another ship out there!"
"It's the Tarkington," Josho said. "That's where blondie and Prowse are."
"Propsy is on th-that thing?!" Ebon panted and panted. "Guys! We... we g-gotta warn them!"
"My kingdom for a sound stone..." Josho leaned forward and spat over Floydien's shoulder. "Better think of something smart, Secchy! You're about to have guests!"
"Nnngh!" Floydien seethed, shoving Josho back. "Don't get boomer juices all over Floydien juices!" Snorting, he glared towards the windy horizon. "Let us engage in the think think!"
"The Tarkington looks like a freight ship," Eagle Eye said. "I can't imagine they'd have any real weapons!"
"That's because they don't have any real weapons!" Josho snarled. "Just a bunch of crazy, tongue-tied badasses in tattoos and an old fart!"
"But they've got Propsy!" Ebon squeaked. "We gotta save them! I mean... r-right?"
"Eagle?" Josho glanced over his shoulder. "Let's board the top deck. We can make the monsters kiss manaflare, Franzington and Ledomare style."
Eagle nervously nodded, but pointed at the elk. "Things would be a lot smoother if we had his deathbolts on our side."
"Floydien agrees." Floydien put the ship into a neutral hover and climbed out of his seat. "Give me glimmer room atop Nancy's flank."
"Then who's gonna fly us?" Ebon asked.
"Floydien has a constetant in mind." The elk shouted down the crawlspace. "Hey! Clown boomer!"
"Guys!" Eagle's voice cracked. He braced himself against Ebon while pointing a wild hoof out the windshield. "Look! From up high!"
Josho squinted. "What in the popcorn fart..."
"Not them again," Ebon murmured with folded ears.
"No! Something's different about them!" Eagle Eye exclaimed. "Their flight pattern!" He grinned from ear to lavender ear. "I've seen it before!"
"Right..." Seclorum nodded, patting the back of Prowse's chair while ponies murmured in fear behind them. "We can't stay dormant here forever. Somepony's gotta deal with those winged freaks."
"And just how in the bloody hell do you intend to do that?" Prowse cackled. "Piss out the window at them?"
"I wasn't asking you for ideas..."
"Hey!" Props pointed out the windshield of the Tarkington. "Lookie! The Lounge!"
"Oh please, Propsicle." Prowse rolled his eyes. "That's the last thing we need—" FWOOSH! Something black and glossy soared straight over the ship's hull. "The moon's arse!" he exclaimed.
Everypony behind him craned their necks to see.
The spherical vessel hovered into place between the other two airships and the approaching wave of undead. Despite the constant sheets of rain, the forward hull of the vessel slid open. Standing on the platform beneath the receding dome were three fully-armed naga. Cocking their manarifles, they all turned and fired as one at the ravenous pegasi. The air lit up with amber fury, splitting the clouds into errant streams of mist.
In splotches and sprays of purple juices, the abominations fell. Their pained shrieks were impossible to hear over the sound of constant manafire. It was a gradual process, but their numbers eventually thinned, dissolving the charge into a flailing flock of confused, aimless drones.
The Noble Jury flew a little closer to the Lounge's ship. The door to the cockpit opened, and out trotted several gawking ponies. Josho, Eagle Eye, Ebon Mane, and Floydien stood on the top deck first. Finally Zaid poked his head out, squinting curiously at the violent light show happening off the ship's port side. Belle climbed up into the cockpit. She had Kera balanced on her flank. Curious, the two jittery equines glanced out.
"Zaid... what... who...?" Belle murmured.
"Sorry." Zaid shrugged. "I got nothin'."
"I don't get it..." Ebon Mane leaned in towards the rest. "Why aren't they shooting at us?"
"Maybe they had a change of heart," Josho grumbled.
"Not a change of heart," a voice crackled loudly over a speaker system built within the hollow of the Lounge's hull. "A change of mind." The three lizards held their fire, squirming slightly as a fourth figure emerged from the ship's interior behind them, training a hoof-mounted manacannon at their bodies. "An energy discharge hotter than the surface of the sun being constantly trained on their scales will do that..."
Zaid instantly smiled.
"That... that voice..." Belle murmured.
"Is that...?" Kera squeaked.
A patch of red light from the Noble Jury's skystone glinted off the metal mare's copper lenses. "Forgive me for being late. It took a great deal more convincing than I anticipated to make these lizards fly right."
One of the Lounge grunted through his mask. "We'll eat your heart out of your ribcage for this—" A manablast bloodily grazed his shoulder. "Gaaaaught!"
"Quiet, breeder." Roarke's breath blew at the smoke trailing out of her gun. "Before I decide to use your rectum for a silencer."
"It is! It is Roarke!" Eagle Eye hopped up and down.
"You're welcome," Roarke muttered. She nodded her head towards the Tarkington. "Pass word along to the ponies you've got in your gray mane'd coltfriend's ship, fat one," she said to Josho. "We'll hold off the flying menace for them as well as you."
"Uhhh..." Josho sighed. "We didn't exactly pack enough sound stones to make that sort of communication work in this rainstorm."
Roarke's lenses pistoned in and out. "Well," she said. "Looks like you're still the same idiots you were when I first left."
"It's her alright," Ebon muttered.
"Hold on for a friggin' sec!" Josho frowned. "All this dayum time, you were one of th-them? Hiding in their Ledo-forsaken robes n'crap?"
"Yes, breeder. Some of us can fit into them."
"Just what in the Hell is your plan in all this?!"
"Simple." Roarke cocked her weapon and aimed it at the group of fidgeting reptiles. "I keep my gun on them, and they keep their guns on the winged ponies. We stay here, holding this position, eliminating all bogies for as long as it takes."
"Uhhhh..." Ebon blinked. "For as long as what takes?"
"Something..." Eagle squinted at the clouds swirling all around them. "Something is happening..."
"Gnnngh!" Elma flailed, attempting to climb up the top rung of the crawlspace's ladder.
"Elma!" Belle rushed over and helped her into the cockpit. "Careful! What's—?"
"I... I-I was trying to t-tell you!" The changeling hobbled out onto the rainswept top deck with Belle's help. "Something's wrong! All of Stratopolis is changing!"
"Not changing..." Eagle gulped. "Moving."
"Huh?!" Josho did a double-take.
"Floydien sees it too," the elk muttered. He pointed with his antlers. "Look. Up in the shimmer shimmer. It thins, yes yes yes?"
Several ponies gasped and murmured. On board the Tarkington, dozens of equine faces peered out the portholes, gazing in shock.
It was subtle at first, but as the seconds ticked by, the winds grew less and less turbulent. The clouds grew less and less thick. Swirling mists gave way to patches of clear air. Huge thunder clouds split down the middle. Suddenly, in sparse beams of twinkling light, a nebulous aura pierced the malaise from random spots above.
"Starlight..." Eagle Eye murmured. He trotted to the edge of the deck, gawking at the centermost structure. "It's... it's heading away from us!"
"Wh-what?" Ebon spun to stare.
Sure enough, the clouds weren't only dissipating, they were receding. Following the large structure, the entire cyclonic phenomenon billowed away, streaking towards the distant horizon at a rapidly accelerating rate. The Jurists on board the top deck glanced left and right, observing the shattered remains of temples and black obeslisks as they drifted by faster and faster.
SWOOOSH! One large temple in particular soared directly overhead, disrupting the air around the three vessels.
The ponies on board both the Noble Jury and Tarkington gasped, floundering about for a solid hoof-hold. Once they stabilized, they watched as several more temples whizzed past them, sailing off against the wind like a squadron of concrete edifices.
"Look!" Eagle Eye pointed. "The creatures!"
It was difficult to follow Eagle Eye's gesture, for the undead flocks were almost nowhere to be seen. In the distance, a thin line of leather bodies shrieked in the winds, but they too became an obscure shadow upon the horizon.
"They're being carried away...?" Ebon murmured aloud.
"It'd make some sense," Josho said, nodding. The air grew chilly again, and the obese stallion shivered, his breath visible in the arctic air. "They keep squirting out of the center building, and that's the thing carrying all of Stratopolis, ain't it?"
"But I don't get it!" Ebon exclaimed. "Why's this happening? Why now?"
On board the Lounge's ship, Roarke's muzzle hung agape. She gulped and murmured, "It's happening..." Her voice carried loosely over the still, frozen air. "They've succeeded..."
"Huh?" Josho turned his head towards the Lounge's ship. "What was that?"
"Who's succeeded?" Ebon remarked.
All the while, Belle blinked. As she felt Kera's trembles atop her shoulders, she gasped. Her eyes grew misty. "Pilate..."
Pilate gnashed his teeth. "Come on... come on..." Raindrops ricocheted off his metal helm as he concentrated on the skystone shard in front of him. The glow of the crystal intensified, and the zebra could feel the winds all around him whipping in one uniform direction: against him and away from the north pedestal. "Blessed Spark, it's working. It's working!"
"Hrssshhh!" Razzar knocked Rainbow Dash back with a savage punch. Lightning flashed in his peripheral. Instead of immediately leaping on the pony, the naga lurched in place, panting. He tilted his head aside and blinked his slitted eyes. "No..." He saw the clouds vanishing, their last dissipating mists brimming with electrical energy. All around the descended platform they stood on, the buildings of Stratopolis could be seen surging northward, their granite bodies and dark obelisks reflected in the waves of an increasingly visible ocean below. Chunks of ice and splatches of frost shimmered in the moonlight. "NO!"
"Hnnngh!" Rainbow Dash pounced on his backside. She swung the Sword of Solstice over and clamped it around Razzar's neck like a vice. The naga struggled against her weight while sheets of rain evaporated upon contact with the blade. "What's the matter, Razzar?!" she sputtered in his ear. "All this time, you've wanted nothing but more skystone!" Along the northern horizon, a thin line of red energy continually pulsed. The city of Stratopolis hurled towards it. "Well, now you're gonna get it! Full force!"
Razzar's jaws bled from how hard he gritted his serrated teeth. "Rrrrrr—" He slammed his skull back into the pegasus' chin. "RAUGH!" Rainbow sputtered, her grip of the sword slipping. Without a second's hesitation, Razzar kicked against the floor with his talons. The two of them went stumbling backwards, tripped over Razzar's rocket pack, and plunged into the dribbling column of purple muck from the structure above.
Pilate gasped, throwing a shocked glance over his shoulder.
Even with the helm, the bodies beyond the ooze were obscured. After several heart-thudding seconds, an equine shape was the first to emerge. Wheezing in pain, Rainbow Dash slumped to her knees, covered all over in lavender slime. Her eyes pulsed red-on-yellow as she used all her strength to raise the Sword of Solstice in front of her.
The stallion watched in mute suspense.
Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth shut. Her eyes lowered as she leaned towards the burning energy of the sword. Inch by inch, the purple muck evaporated from her body. Within seconds, she was fully cleansed of the taint, but the ordeal had sapped her of her strength. She slumped forward, leaning on Commander Hurricane's weapon with labored breathing. She looked up at Pilate—then flinched. Spinning around, Rainbow Dash—
"Hresssh!" WHAM!–took a vicious right hook from an enraged reptile.
Pilate winced.
"Mmmf!" Rainbow Dash crumpled hard to the rainswept floor. Her legs lay limp while the Sword of Solstice clattered to a stop. Clank! A purple-stained talon clamped over the hilt. Razzar leaned over, picked the blade up, and stood tall with the artifact in his grip. The purple slime creeping down his body dissipated in puffs of steam as he seethed and glared through his pain. At last his eyes fell upon Pilate's figure.
"Bad zebra..." he hissed.
The stallion gulped.
"Hrnnnnnngh!" Razzar charged at full force, dragging the Sword of Solstice along in preparation for the mother of all upswings.
Pilate nervously glanced around. He found the staff Roarke had given it and picked it up.
"Hresssssh!" Razzar sliced through the rain with Rainbow's blade.
Pilate raised the staff in a feeble attempt to block. CRACK! The thing shattered instantly in half, forcing the stallion to stumble back.
Razzar twirled from his swing and round-house kicked the zebra in his muzzle.
"Ooof!" Pilate fell back against the skystone pedestal, wincing.
"Aaaaaugh!" Razzar swung the blade down.
Stifling a yelp, Pilate rolled to the side. CLANK! The golden blade ricocheted off the pedestal behind him, showering the floor with burning embers. "Nnngh!" He stabbed the sparkling end of his broken staff hard into Razzar's side.
"Graa-aaa-aaaugh!" Razzar gargled on his own blood as his body jolted with electricity. Dropping the sword, he fell down on all fours, writhing.
With a grunt, Pilate leapt at the naga's shoulders—WHAM!—only to be savagely uppercutted by Razzar's wayward fist. Whap! The naga's claws clamped around Pilate's neck. The zebra sputtered for breath, swung from Razzar's grip, and bucked both of his legs hard into the reptile's chest. As Razzar leaned forward, Pilate slipped from his grasp, rolled around to his backside, and gripped his skull. He then slammed Razzar's brow repeatedly into the edge of the pedestal. "Rnngh!" Wham! "Gnngh!" Thud! "Haah!" Whack!
Groaning, Razzar swung both hands forward, gripped the edge of the pedestal, and stopped Pilate before he could impact his skull a fourth time. He swung a talon out at the zebra, slicing across the stallion's right rear fetlock. Sliiink!
"Aaaaugh!" Pilate stumbled away from the glowing skystone.
Standing up, Razzar clasped both hands together and slammed them down into Pilate's spine.
Pilate sprawled out on the floor, wheezing for breath.
Razzar grabbed the zebra by his tail and flung him mercilessly across the platform like a ragdoll.
Pilate slipped across the rain-slick granite, rolled over Rainbow's body, and came to a jolting stop, lying face-up and wheezing. Just as he struggled to get up, he heard the thud-thud-thuds of Razzar's charge. Clank! The reptile's talon kicked the manasphere out from Pilate's choker. Bzzzzt! In an instant, the zebra's helm shorted out and he lost all sight.
"Gaah!" Pilate gasped, his ears twitching. He heard the rattling of the manasphere as it bounced off somewhere in the pitch-black darkness. Desperate, he swung his aching limbs around and scrambled blindly for it. He had barely moved a foot before Razzar found him again, lifted him off the ground, and tossed him clear across the windy platform.
Pilated wheezed for breath. All was confusion and thunder. Around him, he sensed Stratopolis soaring faster and faster towards oblivion.
"Where in Spark's name is it going?!" Eagle Eye shouted into the chilly air.
"North," Roarke said from the Lounge's ship. "At a constantly accelerating speed."
"You know where it's headed?!" Ebon exclaimed.
"It had to be done," Roarke droned, nevertheless staring towards the horizon in a pensive manner. "Rainbow Dash and Pilate knew it as well..."
"I don't get it..." Ebon glanced nervously at the other ponies. "What's the point?! Why make Stratopolis take off like that?!"
"The skystone deposits," Bellesmith murmured. Kera looked worriedly at her as she said, "It can't be that far from here. Approaching the glowing fields at full speed, not even a Sentinel like this would survive." She gazed at the others. "It would be the one and only way to eliminate the evil that Stratopolis had left locked away."
"Eagle," Josho spoke. "Do you see anymore pegasi swarms?"
Eagle Eye shook his head. "They were coming out of Stratopolis, but it's gone..."
"Not quite gone," Zaid said, squinting north at the rapidly retreating structure. "Still looks like a meteor's loogey from here..."
"Rainbow's gonna fly out of that crazy place with Pilate, though, r-right?" Ebon stammered. He turned and blinked at the others. "Right?"
Floydien hung his head. Elma nervously clung to the cockpit's doorframe.
Suddenly, the air roared with skystone engines.
"Roarke...?!" Josho remarked.
Roarke didn't reply. She kept her rifle trained on the remaining three naga as she brought the vessel around, aiming it north. "Get ready for cover fire! Shoot any pegasus that isn't rainbow colored along the way!" The thrusters flared bright and yellow. "Cross me, and I'll turn each of you into naked hood ornaments!" Thwoooosh! The vessel soared towards the northern horizon.
"Roarke!" Josho gnashed his teeth. "Dammit!" He turned, glancing breathlessly at the others. "Folks, if she's that scared..."
Zaid stomped his hooves. "The hell are we waiting for?!" He galloped dowards the cockpit. "Reindude?!"
"The cockpit's mine, clown-clown!" Floydien beat him to it, shoving his way past Bellesmith and Elma. "Belt it up, boomers! Nancy has a death city to catch!"
"Go go go!" Eagle exclaimed, dragging Ebon along with him.
As Josho galloped by, Belle lingered on the chilly deck, staring north with a pair of glossy eyes.
"Belle...?" Kera murmured, tugging on the mare's tail. "Belle, we have to go now..." She gulped. "To help Daddy..."
Belle bit her lip. "Roarke... " She whispered, tears forming. "Roarke, please t-tell me this was all part of your plan..."
"Belle!" Josho shouted from inside. "Hop to it!"
Gritting her teeth, Belle scooped Kera up and dashed into the cockpit before the door could close. With throttling engines, the Noble Jury spun about and blasted its way north. The Tarkinton had no choice but to cruise after the vessel, puttering along at a far tamer speed as it too followed the loose path of Stratopolis.
The howling winds assaulted Pilate's ears, and yet still he could hear Razzar's sneering breaths. With a claw-scraping stride, the naga approached the stallion's rear and kicked him hard in the flank, spilling blood.
Pilate yelped in pain. He rolled over, only to be picked up in two sets of scaled hands.
"Grnnngh—The betrayer sent you?! Hmm?!" Growling, Razzar tossed Pilate across the platform.
The zebra flew through darkness until he slammed into a pedestal. He heard the clatter of skystone between pulses of pain. The air calmed slightly, and he felt a shift in movement all around. The crystal had been jostled slightly out of place on the north pedestal. Stratopolis was slowing down.
As Pilate struggled to get back up, he heard Razzar's voice approaching through the rain. "How does it feel, pony? To be weak? To suffer the consequences of your failure?"
"Nnnngh!" Snarling, Pilate galloped forward with a burst of strength and blindly bucked at the air.
Suddenly, Razzar was behind him, slamming a talon down into the back of Pilate's neck.
"Ooof!"
The naga sneered in his ear. "Once my brothers and I have control of this flying city, we'll do away with sniveling wretches like you." A savage kick in the side. Pilate rolled, his pained brain registering the angry speech. "We will build a better world. A stronger world. One that won't breed accidents like you."
Seething, Pilate got up—teetered left and right—and limped angrily towards the voice. "Rrrrgh!" He swung a hoof, hitting nothing but rainwater.
Whap! Another swat to the flank, this time slicing the skin with the edge of a claw. "Yes. That's it. Struggle in the dark." A prolonged hissing sound. "I want your flesh devoid of hubris once I dig my teeth into it..."
Pilate fell to his knees, shuddering in pain. He took long, labored breaths, his ears constantly pelted by rain and moisture. The world around him grew dull and numb. For all he knew, he could have been the only living thing lost there in the darkness.
So he took a deeper breath. Pilate closed his blind eyes beneath the helm, tilting his head up and allowing the raindrops to splatter against his muzzle and trail down his cheeks. He curled his forelimbs to his chest, feeling as his heartbeats grew further and further apart.
He didn't think of the vengeful reptile stalking him through the darkness. He didn't think of Rainbow's body lying dormant somewhere across the platform. He didn't even think of Bellesmith's songful voice or Kera's tiny breaths.
For the briefest of moments, Pilate was back in Blue Shelf, tending to the garden outside the cabin. His mind ran circles around the various history texts he had just read with O.A.S.I.S back in his study. Hypnotized by the cool spring breeze, Pilate planted flowers neatly in a row, compacting the rich soil around their roots. His hooves brushed their petals, relishing in their delicate softness. Each flower had a unique and enticing fragrance... all but one.
Pilate's nostrils flared. With twitching ears, he suddenly ducked. The air whistled from a handful of claws above him. Spinning around in an instant, he swung both front hooves blindly. Wh-Wham! They made contact with a soft, squishy lizard belly. Razzar's rancid breath wheezed overhead, but Pilate wasn't finished. He charged forward, ramming his skull into the reptile's sternum. Once the naga had fallen hard to the ground, Pilate's rear fetlocks found their way to his ankles... and he savagely twisted.
Razzar's legbone shattered down the center with a sickening snap. The naga howled into the rain and thunder, clutching his sundered limb in agony as he writhed beneath the zebra.
"Hressssshhhhctt!" He seethed and hissed. His jaws snapped at the air, and he fought through a sob to sputter, "How... h-how in Quezaat's name did you know—?!"
"Thankfully..." Pilate exhaled through a bitter grin. "You smell as rank as the day you were hatched." Then, with a triumphant grunt, he slammed both hooves down into the source of Razzar's voice.
Thud!
With a blood-gurgling wheeze, Razzar lay still, his unconscious breaths coming out in anguished bursts.
Pilate shuddered from head to tail. He stumbled backwards, almost slipping in the rain. He heard a rattling sound, and he clenched his jaw shut, pausing his much needed breaths. The rattling continued, rolling towards and past him.
With a gasp, Pilate leapt for the sound. He fell on his belly—but slid forward until the manasphere was in his grasp. Fumbling, he clasped the thing back onto the choker hanging around his neck. Snapping a wire or two into place with a splash of sparks, the zebra was painfully reintroduced to a strobing world of red-and-black lines. Once again, he could make out the circular platform that had descended beneath the centermost structure of Stratopolis.
He was lying right beside the platform's edge. Far below, undulating waves of icebergs and frosted ocean water loomed. Gradually, they dissipated, replaced by rising columns of steam.
Pilate tilted his head north, but found it hard to "see." A gigantic line danced with static energy before him. A horizon of pure skystone loomed just within view, and it disrupted the flow of information through the zebra's Ocular Array. Even from afar, he could hear an enormous roar—like a constant avalanche—devouring the sound of Stratopolis' maelstrom as the Sentinel approached the turbulent northern edge of the world.
A petite body lay in the distance, its chest expanding and contracting with labored breaths. Pilate galloped swiftly towards Rainbow Dash, leaping over the Sword of Solstice and Razzar's battered body. He slid to a stop at the pegasus' side and shook her shoulder.
"Rainbow Dash!"
She didn't move.
"Rainbow!"
The mare's lips moved, her muzzle locked in a pained grimace. She was still down for the count.
Panting, Pilate gazed up at the north pedestal. The skystone shard that Roarke had given him lay precariously on the teetering edge of the dais. Beyond, the horizon continued to dance with static energy, threatening to short out his helm at any moment.
The zebra gritted his teeth, shivering in the rain. All around him, the roaring winds of Stratopolis formed a symphony of sound, serenaded by the distant banshee shrieks of winged undead. Instinctually, his blind eyes blinked.
Through the hull breech in the portside wall of the Ledo's Pride, Pilate could see the lush countryside of Ledomare looming in emerald brilliance. Before him, five furnaces billowed, casting the glow of manafire across the zeppelin's engine room.
He braced himself against a wall full of buckling, hissing instruments. His muscles tightened as he prepared to spring for the levers closest to him. The shrieks of innocent passengers lingered in his ears. Acrid smoke wafted across his nostrils, but he was too busy holding his breath to suffer the pain of inhalation.
Jaw clenched, the stallion leapt bravely forward, hurling his body at a wall of red-hot metal.
Pilate didn't realize he was smiling until he had his hooves clamped around the skystone. Grunting with pained breaths, he twisted and turned the shard until it attached firmly to the north pedestal once more. Almost instantly, Stratopolis accelerated towards its destination. The wind picked up, tripling in intensity.
The Sword of Solstice slid towards the edge of the platform with a scraping sound. Pilate slapped his hoof down over its hilt, anchoring it in place. Undaunted, the stallion placed both hooves against the top of the skystone and pressed it down. The more her forced the center of the shard towards the center of the pedestal, the more it billowed with sparkling energy. His skin singed in several places from the rampant beams of mana.
"Grnnn-nnngh!" Weathering the pain, he forced the nebulous body of Stratopolis to increase its velocity. The winds howled with a ghostly tempest. The zebra's artificial field of vision turned to pure static as the skystone fields to the north came within a stone's throw.
Something exploded to the far right. Pilate swung his gaze aside in time to see something splitting down the middle. An obelisk had sundered, shattering completely into thousands of pieces. As a consequence, the half-dozen temples linked to it succumbed to gravity, descending into the arctic wastes below with dramatic sprays of ice and water.
More explosions sounded off all around. One obelisk at a time, Stratopolis crumbled. The black shards flew along with the center structure, hurling towards the tempestuous crystalline fields ahead. Above and beyond, the pained shrieks of pegasi echoed as their undead bodies burned alive, evaporating along with the unearthly slime that empowered them.
By the time Pilate could see nothing but static, he spun around and made a mad dash across the platform. He ran only two feet before falling hard to his chest. The structure had tilted at an awkward angle, dangling the platform precariously along with it. Rainwater slid sideways, shoving the three bodies towards the edge. Pilate panted and floundered for hoofing, his fluctuating "vision" locked on Rainbow Dash. One by one, the columns supporting the platform all around snapped, and Pilate's ears filled with the groaning implosion of the massive structure above him.
Lighting bounced rapidly from obelisk to obelisk as Stratopolis broke up completely, dissolving into chunks of granite and prehistoric metals. The city that once was the Sentinel of Urohringr turned to dust, crumbling and surging in every direction. Bright flashes of otherworldly mana spelled its last cohesive gasp, and finally the entire place was consumed by skystone.
Roarke's copper lenses retracted as she gazed off the bow of the speeding Lounge vessel. She leaned against the rifle in her grasp, her muzzle hanging agape. She watched as the central structure of Stratopolis bent sideways, then shattered in a million different places. From a distance, hundreds of pegasi bodies lifted briefly against the spreading flame, then melted in a conflagration of friction and energy. Fields of red and amber skystone flew sky high with resounding explosions, until at last the energy that filled the desposits mushroomed upwards in bright and brighter bursts.
A vaporous shockwave flew towards the rushing vessel. Roarke's grip slipped from the controls. As the mancraft rocked to a stop, she and the three naga struggled to keep upright. She immediately rushed back towards the controls.
"Stop!" one reptile hissed, pointing a gloved hand. "The skystone will not let us go any further!"
She hissed above the noise of erupting energy. "Challenge me one more time, and I'll throw you overboard in pieces!"
"Take us any further north, and the energy fields will do the same favor to us all! You included!"
Roarke seethed and seethed, her hooves locked to the controls as she glared north.
"It was Master Razzar's plan to use the city to mine from the fields," another reptile said. "If it is now destroyed, then there's no hope for anyone venturing there."
With a rapid exhale, Roarke plopped down to her haunches. Her ears folded back on either side of her braided mane. Her lenses twitched and rotated as she focused on the fiery aftermath of the city's ill-fated plunge. Just then, a skystone engine roared from behind. She glanced sideways in time to see the Noble Jury arriving on a crimson stream of skystone energy. It hovered to a stop right beside the Lounge's ship, and its cockpit door slid open.
Bellesmith was the first to gallop out, followed by Josho, Eagle Eye, and Zaid.
"Roarke!" Belle scampered to the edge of the top deck. She peered over the edge, her chestnut eyes reflecting the grand plumes of fire settling from the massive city's impact. "Why... wh-why have you stopped?! Did you find them?!" She stared at the Lounge's vessel, breathless. "Are th-they here?! I don't see them!"
The air was cold, bone-chilling, gusting with an undulating chill.
"Roarke, did they..." Belle gulped. "Did they make it out of there in time?"
The metal mare gazed off towards the burning horizon. "I had everything in order," she murmured.
"I thought I had prepared everything..." She tilted her head up, her face flexed in pain. "To restore what I had t-taken away." Roarke gulped. "But now..."
Eagle Eye and Ebon Mane exchanged nervous glances.
Belle, teary-eyed, ran to the edge of the Noble Jury's deck and slapped her hooves against the side. "Roarke, talk to me! What's going on?! Is Rainbow Dash alright? Is... is m-my beloved..."
"I'm sorry," Roarke said in a shuddering tone. She tilted her head up with a clenched jaw. "The ponies you love have proven their courage and bravery." She took a deep breath. "I thought I had anticipated at what cost. But now..." She couldn't finish her words.
Belle leaned back, lips quivering. "Roarke? What... wh-what are you saying...?"
Roarke hung her head. She took a deep breath and prepared to speak—
"Hey..." Eagle Eye slurred. "Hey!" He galloped towards the ship's edge alongside Belle.
"What is it?" Ebon asked.
"Over there!" the ex-mercenary pointed towards the skystone fields. "See?!"
Zaid held a hoof over his squinting eyes.
"I don't see a damned thing, kiddo," Josho muttered.
But Eagle Eye was smiling... and smiling more and more and more and—"Floydien!" He spun towards the open cockpit. "Mr. Floydien!"
"That is Floydien's name! Don't spit it loosely!"
"Bring us closer to the glowing fields!"
"Has boomerette lost their mind?! Nancy will be ripped apart—"
"Just four hundred meters! Tops! Trust me!"
"I'd listen to him if I were you, space elk!" Zaid exclaimed. "Unless you want me grabbing the controls from you and giving the heave-ho!"
"Nnnng—Fine!" The ship groaned and buckled as it turned around, cruising past the Lounge ship and towards the turbulent air between them and the skystone. "But if too much glimmer breaks Nancy's bones, I'm tossing you first to the shark shark!"
"Come on..." Eagle Eye bounced up and down, slapping the edge of the deck. "Come onnnnn..."
Roarke watched from a distance as the Noble Jury soared towards the distant inferno. She leaned forward, her copper-lenses adjusting to the sight. With a blank expression, she re-gripped the reptiles' ship's controls and slowly drifted after the skystone vessel.
The winds grew more and more chaotic as the Noble Jury approached the skystone fields. Below, the waters roared and crashed against dull crystalline shoals. The arctic air heated up, tossing a melted mist of sleet in every direction that coated the slick metal surfaces of the ship.
Defying the elemental forces punishing the vessel from all angles, the Noble Jury nevertheless cruised towards its destination. Eagle Eye galloped briskly from one side of the deck to the other and back, his vision constantly locked on one singular location. At last, he gasped, pointing down low. "There! See?!"
"See what, princess?!" Josho squinted.
"Look for a streak of amber light!" Eagle sputtered, slicking his mane back in the frigid precipitation. "Just above the waves!"
"H-hey!" Ebon gasped. "I-I see it!" He turned and shouted towards the cockpit. "Down low!"
"Beloved Nancy, Floydien hopes this invigorates you..." Gritting his teeth, Floydien yanked at the controls, pushing the ship into a swift dive.
Belle and the rest of the jurists clung to whatever they could to keep from flying off the top deck. Spinning about, Belle's chestnut eyes caught sight of a lone source of flickering light, bobbing over the turblent waves, just moments from collapsing into the frigid brine. As they came closer and closer, she gasped—for she saw three bodies aloft, with one grasping the other two in a courageous grip.
"Beloved...?"
"Ledo's spatula!" Josho hissed, and rushed to the ship's edge. "We gotta grab 'em! Come on, girlie!"
"Way ahead of you!" Eagle Eye licked his lips and pointed a glowing horn forward.
Josho's field merged once more with Eagle Eye's. Before them, a web of translucent telekinesis materialized, floating alonside the edge of the ship. Floydien brought the Noble Jury around in a sharp, banking curve, just in time to swing by the targets.
Seconds before plunging into the tempestuous sea below, Pilate swung about, his helm rattling in the direction of the Noble Jury. He had two things strapped to his back: the Sword of Solstice, and a yellow-glowing jetpack made out of Lounge-tech. Two bodies dangled under each hoof: Rainbow Dash and a thoroughly battered reptile. The zebra spun about, aimed himself for the unicorns' energy web, and cut his engines. His body plunged—along with Rainbow's and Razzar's. All three landed on the telekinetic field, sprung off it like a trampoline, and fell—sprawling—across the rain soaked deck of the Jury.
Floydien immediately pulled the vessel up, coasting above the violently splashing waves of the arctic ocean below. The Jury came about, soaring swiftly south before the rampaging energy of the bright skystone fields could cripple it from afar. Not long after, it cruised to a hovering stop. Roarke brought the Lounge's ship alongside it. The metal mare left the controls and trotted to the edge of the platform, gawking at the scene.
Josho, Eagle Eye, Zaid, and Bellesmith crowded around the three figures, chattering a million different things at once. Their voices were shocked, exuberant, and breathless. Hooves shook Rainbow's figure, and the pained pegasus stirred awake, her eyes blinking thinly—and confusedly—at all the jurists crowding around her. She gasped as Eagle Eye slid in, hugging her tight and nuzzling her cheek raw. With a sputtering breath, she looked across the way at Pilate.
Groaning, the stallion stood up on wobbly legs. He stripped himself of the Sword of Solstice and the nearly-spent jet pack. Suddenly, he was being tackled, but he stood his ground, weathering the weight of Belle's intense hug.
"Oh, thank the Spark! You're alive! You're alive!" She kissed and kissed his neck and chin—anywhere that the stripes afforded her beneath his metal helm. "Pilate! Beloved! I... I d-don't know what to say!" She stared at him, eyes misty above a quivering grin. "Did you just... did you just save Rainbow Dash and the rest of us single-hoofedly!"
He leaned in to nuzzle her back. "There there, love. It is okay. It is all okay now." Pilate patted her shoulder as he stepped back. "However, you must pardon me. There is something I must still deal with..."
"What...?" Belle blinked, looking at him with melancholic confusion. "Deal with what?"
He gently brushed everypony aside, picked up Razzar's quivering body, and spun towards the edge of the deck. "Rrrrrrrrghhh!" Teeth gnashing, the zebra flung the naga onto the levitating deck of the Lounge's ship. "Raaaaugh!"
Th-Th-Thrump! Razzar rolled to a stop, hissing in pain. "Nnnnngh!"
"Brother..." The naga on board flinched and tilted their masks away, avoiding the sight of him. "In Quezaat's name! Your flesh is exposed—"
"Quezaat's name?!" Razzar pushed himself up with three good limbs. "Gnnngh... Quezaat has been dealt an infuriating disservice today!" He turned around, jaws dripping with drool and blood as he pointed an angry claw at the zebra on board the Noble Jury. "All because of that insufferable horse!" He sneered, "You robbed the Lounge of our one and only chance to protect these lands! Do you know... do you have any idea what a calamitous fate you've brought upon the world?!"
"I'm not a fan of breeder fights," Roarke droned. "But it looks to me that the 'insufferable horse' has made you shed your skin early."
"Choke on your own tongue, pony meat!" Razzar briefly glared at her. "You're the one who masqueraded as Vaughan, aren't you?!" Growling, he hobbled up into a standing position, leaning his weight away from his shattered leg. "Grnnngh! I swear... with every ounce of honorable blood left in me..." He glared at Pilate and Rainbow Dash in particular. "I will hunt you to the ends of the earth and feed you your own entrails! Every town and province—equine or reptilian—will know of your insidious treachery and foolishness! And when I finally sink my teeth into that same flesh, I will enjoy the succulent taste of—"
Taking a deep breath, Pilate suddenly pointed and hollered, "Weakness!"
Razzar flinched. The other naga glanced over, their silver masks glinting in the crimson light of the Jury.
"B-beloved...?" Belle stammered.
But Pilate marched towards the edge of the deck, continuing to shout: "Your so-called leader is weak!" His helm rattled as he spat, "He's nothing but a weak and foolish coward! He's always been!" His augmented gaze switched from one reptile to another. "Why else would he have sent you on a fool's errand? Attempting to dominate an uncontrollable ancient city that he couldn't even open up himself! He needed Rainbow Dash—the Austraeoh—to do it! And even when he had the heart of Stratopolis at his claws, he tainted it with his own impulsive measures, then forced everyone around him to suffer from the infection that he unleashed!" Pilate scowled, his teeth showing as he grunted, "How many of your brethren did this weak 'leader' sacrifice—unnecessarily—for a futile goal, when instead he could have been bolstering your balance of power over the Wastes? And just how many more brethren will fall if he carries you onward to another vain crusade?!"
The naga glanced coldly at one another, their bodies stock still in the misty rain.
"I've had about all I can take of ponies..." Razzar hobbled towards the ship's edge. "Brothers, ready your rifles." He sneered. "Send them to the abyss, along with Stratopolis—"
A gloved hand grabbed his shoulder and threw him to the floor of the deck.
"Ooof!" He fell on his back, writhing. "What—?!" He spat up at his comrades. "Traitorous fools! I gave you a command! Obey me!"
"The horse speaks true, brother," one naga said, standing over him.
"Your weakness is a sin," another murmured, crouching low. "A frailty that the Lounge can no longer allow."
"And you very well know..." The third crowded in with the rest. "...the cost of weakness."
"Wh-what...?!" Razzar's slitted eyes twitched. He started to hyperventilate. "Brothers! You don't understand! I was almost v-victorious! We were almost victorious! I had the pegasus and the zebra right where I wanted them! I c-could have saved the city!" He curled up and hugged himself under the converging shadows of the three. "Stop! I b-beg of you! I... I..." In a cowardly squeak, he held both hands straight out. "D-do not look! I am shamefully exposed b-before Quezaat!"
"Do not worry, brother." One by one, the naga removed their masks. With puffs of steam, drool-slick jaws of razor sharp teeth emerged from their hoods. "We shall hide your shame from Quezaat... in our bellies."
"No... No, brothers! I beg of you! Don't! Please! Don't—NO!"
"HRESSSSHAAAAA!" The Lounge all lunged forward, their jaws digging into the squirming flesh of the once-Razzar. His blood curdling screams got lost in their teeth and claws as they thoroughly dismantled him from the outside-in.
A pool of blood spread outward from their crouching bodies, lapping up against Roarke's horseshoes. Slowly, the metal-mare glanced up, staring past the scarfing and chomping reptiles. Slowly, with a glint to her lenses, she smiled.
On board the Jury, Eagle Eye vividly flinched, turning about to bury his face in Ebon's shoulder. Ebon gawked at the violent scene with wide eyes, but nevertheless reached over to pat Eagle Eye's shoulder.
Out of nowhere, Zaid drifted over, rubbing his chin as he squinted at the debacle. "So, then..." He murmured aside to the ship's cook. "...getting ideas for a casserole?"
"Eeeeunngh..." Ebon ran—green-faced—to the opposite deck. Gasping, Eagle Eye worriedly galloped after him.
Zaid smirked in Josho's direction, and the obese stallion merely rolled his eyes.
Pilate stood stock-still, breathing solidly through an unwavering muzzle. With a slight limp, Rainbow Dash got up and trotted over to his side. "Uhhh... y'know, Stripesy..." She glanced at him with squinting eyes. "You could totally have just crushed his skull or something when you beat him within an inch of his life up on the platform."
Pilate sighed long and hard. "Rainbow Dash..." He turned and gave her an exhausted smile. "After all you've been through, before and after you met us, I'm surprised that you haven't learned to savor the finer taste of irony."
Rainbow Dash smirked devilishly.
Pialte smirked devilishly back.
Rainbow raised her hoof and gave his shoulder a fine swat. "Welcome to Club Awesome, buddy. How's it feel?"
"Very..." Pilate paused, fidgeted. "...fuzzy."
"Heh. If you say so."
He chuckled back. Then slowly turned to gaze at Belle.
Belle stared at him lovingly, her cheeks rosy beneath sparkling chesnut eyes.
He pivoted towards her, smiling under his metal helm. He moved his muzzle to speak—
"Daddy...?"
Pilate's jaw hung agape. His features went slack as a pale sheen wafted across his stripes. Slowly, he trotted around, gazing towards the open cockpit.
Floydien stood beside Elma. The elk and changeling exchanged glances, then slowly shuffled apart, revealing a shivering little foal staring out onto the top deck with wide green eyes.
Silent words escaped Pilate's lips. His brow furrowed under the helm, and he shuffled forward—one stiff fetlock after another. Rainbow gazed after him, and she was no less shocked at the sight of the filly. Her wings drooped at her side as she struggled to say something. A warm hoof grazed her shoulder. She glanced aside at Belle, shivering in confusion. Belle merely smiled, then held both hooves over a sniffling muzzle as she gazed at the scene in anticipation.
Pilate shuffled through the rainpuddles, then stood before the tiny child. He knelt down with a splatter, then reached up to his helm. Wincing slightly, he pulled the Ocular Array off his head. A pair of clear eyes twitched blindly in the misty air. Exhaling, he dropped his gear, then slumped against his haunches. One limb after another, he reached forward—feeling around—until at last his hooves made contact with Kera's tiny horn. He stroked down her face, grazing one tattoo after another, then felt her tiny, quivering chin. Her muzzle moved against him as she quietly murmured.
"Pilate..." A whimpering smile. "...you came back..."
Pilate's face contorted, halfway between a sob and a laugh. "So did you, precious..." He almost instantly grimace, his blind eyes welling with tears. "Kera... Kera, darling." A gulp. "I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry... for everything..."
She sniffled, then slid forward, nuzzling her cheek along the length of his limb until she was embracing his chest. "Don't. Don't be sorry." She hugged him, tears flowing. "Be here."
The zebra exhaled heavily. He wrapped his limbs around her and held her close. "I am... forever and ever. I promise you." He choked on a sob and nuzzled her mane. "I promise."
The two rocked together within the doorframe to the Noble Jury.
Rainbow Dash sat back with a look of mixed confusion and joy. She glanced down at the Sword of Solstice, its metal reflecting pure starlight from above. Then she looked up at Belle.
Belle stood in place, quietly crying as she watched the scene from afar.
Suddenly, Pilate's ears twitched, pivoting towards Belle's figure. Without saying a word, he reached a hoof out, beckoning.
Belle squeaked through a melting smile and galloped forward. She slid across the wet deck and collapsed into the other two. The three chuckled briefly before enshrouding each other in a joint, familial embrace. Belle and Pilate nuzzled each other while Kera sat nestled between them, no longer cold and shivering. The couple's necks rested over an opposite shoulder while their hooves remained locked as one.
Zaid leaned back against a skystone-supporting mast, folding his forelimbs as he smirked with pride.
Josho trotted over to Ebon and Eagle Eye. The old stallion tapped the ex-mercenary's shoulder. Eagle then shook Ebon out of his nausea so that the two could turn about and properly ingest the warm scene. Not longer after, the throttling of manaship engines shook them out of their tranquility.
Pilate, Belle, and Kera looked up to see the Tarkington roaring to a loud hover besides the Noble Jury. It pivoted about broadly, and not long after its port side door opened with a cold hiss. Props and Seclorum were already there, bracing themselves against the frame.
"Well, will you look at that," Seclorum managed through a breathless smirk. "Guess not all was lost after all..."
"Is... Is that Kera?!" Props stammered, raising her goggles so she could stare with wide eyes.
"Yes..." Belle nodded from where she huddled with Pilate and the filly in question. "Yes, it is..."
"Are..." Props leaned forward so far that Arcshod had to rush forward and grab her by her tail. "Are you sure...?"
Kera poked her head out, blinking. "Props?" Her muzzle scrunched. "Why are you inside a big flying turd?"
Props grinned from ear to ear. "Eeeeeeee!"
Pilate chuckled and ruffled the filly's mane. "Does that answer your question?"
"Yaaaaaaay!" Props hopped up and down, much to Arcshod's exasperation. "The Jury's back in session! The Jury's back in sessionnnnn! Wooooohoooo!"
"What's with all the bloomin' noise?!" Prowse trotted over and poked his head out. He instantly smirked. "Well, if that's not a beaut, I don't know what is." Several ponies from within the Tarkington clapped their hooves and cheered. Others murmured in relief.
Rainbow Dash breathed nervously, her eyes darting back and forth from the airships to the burning plume in the distance. "I... uh... I don't think we should stay here for too long..."
Zaid glanced over. "Why not?"
"I mean..." Rainbow winced, adjusting the pendant around her neck. "Maybe n-not all of the pegasi died in the fall of Stratopolis? They could be swarming us any second..."
Zaid calmly smiled. "Rainbow, we're fine."
"But you'll never know if maybe some of the ooze survived in the ocean and could be bubbling beneath us this very moment and—"
"We're fine." Zaid reached over and touched her shoulder. "Calm down and look around you." He grinned. "We saved the day..."
"But... b-but..."
"Wesaved the day..." Zaid winked and leaned back against the mast. "We saved the day."
Rainbow panted and panted. She gulped. "We saved the day."
He nodded. "We saved the day."
"Yeah..." Her wings relaxed around her as she smiled weakly. "Yeah, okay..." She nodded and gazed about. "Okay..." Her eyes fell upon Roarke.
Roarke stared back, her copper lenses cooly reflecting the mirth on board the Noble Jury.
Rainbow Dash's smiled some more.
Roarke's lips twitched, almost curving.
Rainbow Dash trotted towards her—but suddenly jerked to a stop. She sensed a shadow outside her peripheral vision. Spinning, she turned towards the ship's stern.
An equine shape was perched just above the hangar doors.
Curious, Rainbow Dash trotted towards the end of the ship. She then galloped and skid to a stop, breathless.
A changeling was perched on the hull. It gazed down at Rainbow Dash, its expression neutral at first. Then, as Rainbow stood in its shadow, the shapeshifter's muzzle flickered green... then relaxed in a freckled orange smile.
Rainbow gulped, then sat down calmly. "You..." She fidgeted. "...you're fr-free?"
Applejack slowly, slowly nodded. "For the first time, darlin'..."
Rainbow's eyes darted sideways for a moment. "How... uh... does it feel?"
"You tell me."
Rainbow's gaze jerked back to her. At last, she murmured, "Frightening. Like a calm before a storm."
"And what if the storm's behind y'all?"
Rainbow winced, then said. "I find that hard to wrap my head around."
"You and me both, darlin'." Applejack smiled.
Rainbow smiled back. Eventually, she asked, "Chrysalis. Is she...?"
"Gone." Applejack's eyes glittered with starlight. "Or... maybe... we're the ones who are gone. And she's the one who's lost..."
Rainbow took a deep breath, her jaw tight. "In Val Roa..."
Applejack slowly, slowly nodded.
Rainbow glanced back at her friends. Cheers echoed between the Noble Jury and the Tarkington. After a deep breath, she looked back. "Where will you go now?"
"Nowhere..." Applejack shrugged. "Everywhere." She then smiled again. "The funny thang about home... I reckon it's anywhere you are, so long as you have love."
Rainbow's ears folded across her head. "I... I fear I've forgotten what that feels like."
Applejack giggled. "No ya haven't..."
Rainbow's jaw dropped. A tear ran down her face as she smiled. "Thanks... uhm..." She rubbed her face dry with a trembling forelimb. "For—y'know—everything."
"Thank yerself, darlin'. And reward yerself." Applejack's hoof reached forward. "While ya still have time..."
A shudder ran through Rainbow's body. She closed her eyes and leaned forward... forward. Seconds oozed by, and all she felt was a cascade of warmth. Gasping, her eyes fluttered open.
Applejack was gone. A black figure flitted off into the distance on dragonfly wings. It joined a hovering swarm of onyx dots that blanketed the stars. Then, as one, the swarm of changelings flew off, disappearing into the frosted horizon.
Rainbow Dash exhaled, clasping two hooves over her pendant as she bore a tender smile.
For the first time in eons, the Strip of Flurries was no more. The swirling clouds dissipated from the arctic skies, giving way to a frosty breeze that rolled and undulated over the northern wastes. All that remained of Stratopolis was a smoldering plume of smoke and flame to the north, and even that was settling, falling, receding into the glowing skystone fields beyond reach.
The waters below had become a placid sheet immaculately reflecting a field of stars above. Against the cosmic canvas, three dark shapes floated tightly together, cruising their way southeast and away from the turbulent northern edge of the world.
"He had lived eighteen long years in that damnable city," Seclorum muttered, leaning limply against a bulkhead inside the Tarkington. On either side of him, thoroughly exhausted ponies laid down peacefully, getting some much needed sleep. "When ill-fortune befell him, he... wasn't all that shocked or sad about it." The old enforcer gulped, staring off at the stars beyond the open door in the side of the ship. "He simply accepted what happened... as well as what he felt like he had to do."
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. Her body was freshly bandaged in several places, and she fluttered across from Seclorum, weathering the cold breeze from the arctic air outside. "I wish I could have been in two places at once," she said. "The Sword of Solstice could totally have cleaned the gunk off him."
"Hey..." Seclorum smiled weakly. "You were off being a hero for the rest of us."
"Heh... it was Pilate who saved the day, not me."
"You know what I mean." Seclorum cracked the kinks in his neck and spoke, "If it weren't for you, none of us would be here right now. You risked your neck to make sure we got off that friggin' death trap. I'm sure, if worse came to worst, you would have given your life to do the same thing." He winced slightly. "Like Aatxe did..."
"He really held back those nasty creatures, huh?" Rainbow remarked.
"Oh, totally." Seclorum nodded. "Gave us the window of opportunity we needed to book it to the Tarkington. He may never have gotten the chance to set hoof on his ship again, but his spirit's here... running the thing from the inside out."
"Yeah. Just using a pale stallion with a red mane as his host."
Seclorum chuckled dryly. "That agreement was between Prowse and Aatxe. But, so far, Prowse is keeping true to his word. I've... uh... never been very good at running airships. I've always been a ground soldier. But I have no doubt Prowse will be able to get us to where we need to go."
"And just where is that?"
Seclorum sighed, rubbing his chin as he muttered, "To be honest, I've never thought it straight through. I guess I never thought we'd actually get out of that place." He looked at Rainbow fixedly. "We obviously have to swing by Xona, so that Arcshod can properly escort his majesty home. But... where would we go? What province or border, I mean?"
"Pretty much any one you'd reach first," Rainbow said with a smirk. "What, with the war being over and all."
"And that just blows my mind..." Seclorum gazed thinly out the starry doorframe. The Noble Jury and the Lounge's ship cruised within spitting distance. "After all I've given... an entire life of hard work and fighting..." He grimaced slightly. "Peace could happen overnight? True peace?"
Rainbow gestured. "You saw it happened here in the Wastes, didn't ya?"
He glanced at her again. "That's different. You are different. I mean..."
Rainbow simply stared at him.
His ears folded. "You... really... truly brought a stop to the war on the eastern front, didn't you?"
"Well, I had help..." Rainbow smirked, her tail swishing back and forth. "That nasty chaos dragon didn't exactly pile-drive itself into the ground, though..."
Seclorum sat back on his haunches, shaking his head. "It amazes me. You're capable of kicking so much flank, and yet... in the end... you're all about changing the world, aren't you?"
Rainbow gulped. "For the better, I hope."
"You find that hard to believe?"
She hung her head. "Every so often, the body count certainly makes me think twice."
"And if you hadn't flown this way...?" Seclorum blinked. "Could you imagine the cost of a war that would waged on? Or the toll that Stratopolis would have had on me and everyone I cared for...?"
Rainbow said nothing. Her face hung between a smile and a sigh.
"There was a time when I thought that being a good soldier meant taking the moral risks that nopony else could afford to do," Seclorum said. "Because you always knew that you were tasked with accomplishing something for the greater good."
Rainbow tilted her head up. "What do you believe now?"
"Now, having met you, I'm starting to believe that the strongest ponies are those who do what they object to doing, so that others can more properly enjoy the peace that they themselves sacrifice." He grimaced slightly. "For the longest time, I neither loved nor hated what I did in war. I just... pretended not to care." His nostrils flared as he stared off into space. "I'm suddenly not very proud of a lot of things."
"You couldn't afford to feel. I can understand."
Seclorum glared at her. "Can you? Do you?" His lips curved slightly. "With the kingdom of harmony you've described having come from?"
Rainbow fidgeted.
"I now know I was wrong about what I did in Stratopolis," Seclorum said.
Rainbow looked at him.
He sighed and smiled wearily. "Mercy and kindness would have saved our hides long ago."
"I dunno if it would have saved you, but I'm pretty sure it would have made things better," Rainbow said. "That's the least you ponies deserved while you wasted away up there."
"We didn't deserve anything that we didn't earn," Seclorum said. "We were prisoners long before we were ever dumped into that floating turdtropolis. Between the war, fealty to a heartless empress, and hatred for a race of unicorns that... quite frankly... I find pretty alright..." He leaned back against the bulkhead, sighing. "I dunno about everypony else, but—speaking for myself—I've been a prisoner for a long... long time."
"Do you feel free now?"
"Almost." His eyes darted up to Rainbow's. "Could that be what you gave Josho?"
"Well, he more or less gave it to himself."
"It's a great feeling." Seclorum nodded. "And a sad one. For the first time in decades, I feel scared for my own flank, and I think it's rather riveting."
"Enjoy the rush." Rainbow smiled weakly. "And make the best of it." Her eyes narrowed. "By making sure other ponies do too."
"I'm certain it's what Aatxe would have wanted."
"That, and cleaning the crap out of his ship."
"Heh..."
"The energy reserves are fluctuating," Props stammered, trotting circles around the central dais of the Tarkington engine room where the manacrystal was situated. "It's been somewhat erratic, but I do believe I've stabled the manaflow through several lateral conduits. If you keep the buffers rotating on a regular basis, you'll have enough juice to get you to either continent and back."
"That sounds brill, Propsicle," Prowse said, standing in the doorway to the engine room. "You've done a mighty fine job."
She kept pacing. "Still, as soon as you get to the mainland, you'll wanna get the core replaced. That and get a full rehaul of the steam thrusters. Many of the interior pipes are blocked up with frozen grime and it's gonna take—like—a gazillion pony hours getting all the kerfluffle washed out so everything is squeaky cleany again!"
"Lass..."
"I-I guess I could try running a manaconduit towards the ship's bow so that we might construct a crude energy discharge device that the Tarkington could use to ward off pirates between here and Xona, though I really don't think that's gonna be a problem since the sexy tattooed guys are no longer wanting to tear airborn ponies' tails off and—"
"Props..." Prowse hobbled over and pulled her towards him with his good forelimb. She shivered slightly staring up at him with bright blue eyes. He smiled. "Slow down for once..."
"Did..." She blinked. "D-did you want to discuss tweaking the starboard stabilizers? Cuz I'm still working on that!"
"I just want to hold my niece," he said, leaning in to nuzzle the top of her head. "And tell her how proud I am of her."
Props smiled crookedly. She sniffled and rubbed her cheek against his stubbled chin. "I-I can make you even prouder! Wait until we get back to Gray Smoke!"
"Props..."
"We can re-open the shop!" She grinned from ear to ear. "With all the gizmo-smarts you've gathered between here and there, you can set up a new bustling manaconduit trade!" She winked. "We'll show those bit-grabbing sooters who's who!"
"Props, lass, I'm not going back to Gray Smoke," Prowse said.
Props gazed up at him, her jaw dropping. "You're... you're n-not?"
He slowly shook his head. "I made a promise to a very good friend of mine," he said. "Aatxe gave me this ship for one express purpose—and that's to get the rest of these ponies to safety."
"But... but we'll be going back to Gray Smoke afterwards, r-right?"
"I lost bloody everything when the changelings replaced me, remember?" He sighed through a weary smile. "I'm a broke stallion. All I've got is a few good deeds to do, and then I'm having to climb my way back up to the top."
"Well, I-I can give you a boost! Just leave it to me, Unky Prowsy!" She smirked, bouncing in place. "We'll get you a new shop in no time! I've learned quite a few things in my poofing around the clouds, y'know!"
"I've no doubt of that, Propsicle. But you have to understand—"
"You've always wanted to be on top of the metal trade! You're not exactly ancient, Unky Prowsy! We can get you back on track!"
"What is it you want, lass?"
"To... to h-help you..." Props blinked, her lips quivering. "Don't you believe me?"
"I do," he said with a nod. "And I also know that I've got plenty of fine mares and stallions on board this here Tarkington to help me all the same. I've got a nice future waiting for me. You know this too."
"Well... s-sure... but I could be helping you to, y'know..."
"Is that what you want?"
"I... I want..." Props bit her lip.
Prowse stared quietly at her.
She sniffled and leaned her cheek against his chest. "Seeing Kera alive and squeaky again," she murmured. "And Ebon and Eagle all kissy kissy... and Mr. Handsome in one piece again..." She whimpered inwardly, her eyes watering. "I want that too. I want all of it." She hiccuped, burying her face in his chest. "Mmmmf... Pilate and Belle are nuzzling each other. Elma's making miracles happen. Rainbow's performing backflips. Josho's not farting for once..."
"Hmmmm..." Prowse gently patted her shoulder. "Do you remember, Propsicle, why I took you in so long ago in the first place?"
"Mmmmmm..." She sniffled and nodded against his chest. "Mmmm-hmmmm..."
"I made a promise to your folks that I would give you a family." He caressed her mane. "And a home." His face grew long for a brief moment. "If I drag you away now, I'd be breaking that promise with them."
She tilted her teary face up towards him. "I adora-love them, Unky Prowsy." She gulped. "The whole fluffy kitten bag full of them. I wanna see them get someplace safe and happy. And... and I don't think they can make it without me."
"Pffft. You kidding?" He ruffled her mane. "Toilet-headed pegasi be damned! You're the backbone of that ship! I don't care how many bloomin' sword-hilts Rainbow shoves into her muzzle."
"Heeheeheee..." Props giggled, rosy-cheeked. She rubbed her eyes dry but nevertheless stared up at him with a pouting expression. "But I looked around so super-long for you. What kind of a niece would I be if I let you go now?"
"Heh... are you bloody kidding?" He kissed her forehead and smirked into her face. "You think you can get away with me that easily?"
"Huh...?"
He chuckled. "I ain't sitting down on this 'changeling business' just because I got my arse saved by a bunch of explosions! There's more to all this than just the survivors on board the Tarkington. Once I've returned Lasairfion and the rest to their hometowns, I'm gettin' to the bottom of this whole mess. If that means heading east and snooping around Val Roa, then so be it. Face it, lass, Gray Smoke is no longer the life for me. Pffft... I was gettin' sick and tired of that rusted chimney factory anyways..."
"Really?" Props' eyes sparkled. "Then why'd you stay there for so long, Unky Prowsy?"
He winked at her. "You think it was all about you taking care of me?"
Props bit her lips, suppressing a happy squeal.
He nuzzled her once again. "I love the hell outta ya, lassie. And I'll be damned if this is the last I see you. But for now..." He caressed her chin. "Go where your heart takes you. It's what I've always bloody done, and look at what life's given me! It's dropped you in my lap from across a frozen sea. And—odds are—your rump will come bouncing my way again."
"Yeah..." Props giggle-snorted with a nod. "With extra rump-tastic-ness!"
"Now that's more like it." Prowse winked. "I knew that the tiny filly that used to climb into potato launchers was still inside ya."
She sighed and quietly wept into his chest. "Mmmm—I never thought I'd find my inner potato launcher againnnnnnnnn..."
"Go east, my girl..." He patted her shoulder as the two rocked as one. "Spread the joy of potato launchers everywhere you go..."
"I will, Unky. I willlllll-hi-hi-hi-hilllllllll..." She sobbed for joy.
"It behooves me to mention once again..." Roarke droned. "...that I have claimed all your weapons as my own. That being said, we all know that you have the resources and wits to get out of the wastes safely. I suggest you return home to your brood." Her copper lenses glistened menacingly in the starlight. "Because if you don't, I will track you down and feed you more than your own skin."
"We'll pretend not to be insulted by the fact that you still feel the need to threaten us," one of the three Lounge members stated. They stood side by side on their ship across from the Jury. In the cold arctic air, their outfits once again brimmed with steam and amber light. "You have ridden us of the burden of a weak leader. We can now continue to accomplish that which we originally set out to do years ago."
"And just what is that?" Josho asked from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash glided in from the Tarkington and touched down on the opposite end of the deck. She quietly gazed at the exchange.
"Keeping the skyways safe for trade and mercantilism," a naga said. "With the Strip of Flurries no longer an issue, and the War in the West fully ended, we will be needed now more than ever."
Roarke's teeth grinded. "If you so much as think of transporting slaves and unjust prisoners anymore—"
"To fall back on our own habits would be an unforgiveable act of frailty," one spoke. "All Razzar's methods ever brought us was a cycle of anguish and failure. It would not be beneficial to us—or any other creatures—to repeat that."
Another Lounge member nodded. "We owe it to your intervention for teaching us that, Roarke Most Rare."
"Yeah." Josho smirked. "And all it took was the deaths of half your crew to accomplish it."
"Breeder..." Roarke hissed out the side of her muzzle.
"Vaughan's and the other's deaths were the consequences of their own failures," the Lounge said. "If their passing means that the ones still alive can warn the world of the Changeling Queen, then so be it. We will honor their memories under the shadow of Quezaat."
"Make sure you do that," Roarke said. "Just... far away from here."
"Please believe us," they said. "We have no long-standing affinity for this place. The Wastes can—in the words of ponies—go buck themselves."
That said, one naga signaled to the rest. The others nodded, then turned around. All three marched slowly into the bowels of the ship while the outer hull slid shut like a giant black clam shell. With a flash of amber light, the Lounge's ship spun around, descended, banked, and cruised its way east over the frozen waters.
Roarke took a deep breath, watching the ship disappear like a black dot along the starry horizon.
Josho shuffled forward. "From what I hear, you were on board that claustrophobic ship for a long-ass time." He squinted at her. "Feel a sense of attachment?"
"I am elated to be rid of its smell," Roarke grunted. She turned and glanced at several crates full of dismantled weaponry and energy conduits. "Besides..." She slid a hoof out from her cloak and felt along the metal braces clinging to her limb. "...I got what I wanted out of the whole debacle. An arsenal. The makings of a new suit. A transport..."
Josho raised an eyebrow. "A transport?"
"Mmmm. Yes. Vaughan's personal craft, a rather small yet utilitarian thing. Assuming it still exists beyond the former boundaries of Stratopolis, then I might be able to make a swift—" She turned, her copper lenses reflecting several colors. Roarke's words cut off.
Josho glanced at Rainbow Dash, then back at Roarke. "Ahem..." He shuffled past the two mares. "I'm going to go... be fat elsewhere..." He marched his way down the stairwell. "...preferrably below deck. Well outside of knife range."
Once he was gone, the wind occupied the upper deck with a deep chill. Somehow, only Roarke was trembling. When Rainbow Dash shuffled forward, the bounty hunter's strong gaze fell to her hooves. She may have even squirmed slightly.
"Hey..." Rainbow murmured.
Roarke took a deep breath. Avoiding Rainbow's gaze, she droned, "I hear you found a sword."
Rainbow blinked, then nodded. "Uhhh... yeah. An ancient artifact belonging to Commander Hurricane. From what I can tell, it's totally still filled with the same burning power that allowed her to drive the undead pegasi back to the heart of Stratopolis."
"So... an efficient killing device?"
Rainbow opened her mouth, blinked, and ultimately rolled her eyes. "Or, y'know, a righteous tool."
"We all call weapons what we like to, so long as they service us."
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow face-hoofed.
"I had not anticipated the presence of such a blade. If I had, perhaps I would have unearthed it myself and presented it to you—"
"Roarke..." Rainbow glared up at her. "Why did you come back?"
Roarke stood dead still, saying nothing.
"Roarke, look at me."
The metal mare nervously obeyed. A pale brown face hung from the fully retracted lenses.
Rainbow leaned forward, eyes thin. "I told you to scram. I yelled at you. I..." She winced. "I treated you like manure, and yet... here you are. All of that infiltration of the Lounge. The stuff you gave Pilate. Commandeering the lizards' ship like you did..." She bit her lip before blurting, "Why?"
"Back in Searo's Hold, we gave our lives for the legacy of the Goddess," Roarke droned. "We spilled blood in the name of strength and honor. We lavished Lady Pestiferous with food, treasures, docile studs, and the spoils of conquest. We never expected anything in return, save for the opportunity to kill and scream another day—"
"Roarke, Searo's Hold imploded. I was there." Rainbow slowly shook her head. "But we're not in Searo's Hold anymore, are we? I'm here, and you are here. And against all odds too." She gulped and murmured, "Why? Why is that, Roarke? I need you to tell me..."
Roarke opened her mouth, but lingered. She stared past Rainbow Dash with nervous exhalations. At last, a quiet voice came out. "All of my life, all I ever expected to do was die. I never thought... th-that I would feel guilty... and that I would have the tenacity and foolish courage to live with that guilt. I did a disservice to your friends, Rainbow Dash. In some way or another, I brought pain and misery to the lives of the ponies you care for... the only souls left that you love. I thought I was doing something right by influencing Kera, but—in the end—all I did was ruin something... ruin the one thing that..." She clenched her teeth as her words trailed off.
Rainbow Dash stared at her.
After a deep breath, Roarke managed to say, "I gave myself one last chance, a chance to fix things. I knew that saving the day myself would not accomplish what needed to be done. But if I enabled somepony like Belle... or in this case Pilate, then I might help him finish the task. I could plant a spark of hope where Shell had dredged an impossibly black rift. But... even that was an inept plan at best. Once again, my foolishness almost cost the life of a pony you cared for. If Pilate had died on board Stratopolis..." She winced. "If you had died..."
Silence.
Roarke's gaze fell. "I... I only know how to do one thing. I am the weapon, Rainbow Dash, not you. You were right to banish me when you had the chance. The fact that things ended up for the best does not excuse the vicious cycle of my inane philosophy. I appreciate the fact that the Jurists have allowed me a chance to house my equipment here for the interim, but the first opportunity I get, I shall take my leave of this ship and—"
Rainbow Dash marched forward.
Roarke actually flinched—until she felt a warm pair of forelimbs around her, legs that pulled her in tight and tighter.
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut as she buried her sniffling muzzle into Roarke's cloak. "Thank you," she exhaled.
"R-Rainbow, I cannot expect anything from you for—"
Roarke's lips pursed. Her lenses clicked as she stared over Rainbow's shoulder. After several seconds, she finally exhaled, her body going slack in the pegasus' grip. She brought a hoof up and tentatively—awkwardly—patted the back of the mare's neck.
The two huddled there in the cold breeze, though all the chill was gone.
At last, Roarke breathed, "Perhaps I will delay summoning Vaughan's transport until everypony is well situated—"
Rainbow's voice was like rust: "If you even think about leaving us again, I'll replace your spine with Commander Hurricane's sword."
Roarke gulped, and in a noticeably squeaky voice uttered, "Yes, ma'am."
"Hmmm?" Bellesmith lay Kera onto the lower cot of their cabin. "Oh, well..." The mare's brow furrowed momentarily. "From what Josho and Rainbow have explained to me, they were horrible creatures, Kera. At one point in their life, they were either pegasi who served Commander Hurricane of ancient Equestria, or—perhaps—a race of flying ponies far older."
Kera blinked tiredly, fidgeting under the blanket Belle was draping over her. "Why were they so mean and slobbery?"
"That's just the thing, darling," Belle said. "Something terribly evil must have corrupted them a long, long time ago. According to Rainbow, it almost looked like the winged ponies who controlled Stratopolis long before Hurricane had dabbled in... something that proved to be their undoing. Maybe they were working on some horrible weapon, or perhaps they simply discovered an otherworldly substance that proved too dangerous for this world." Belle shrugged, the proceeded to tuck Kera in. "Whatever made them ponies was drained long ago, and all that was left was something cruel, barbaric, and animalistic."
"They weren't like any animals that I'd ever seen," Kera murmured.
"Heh... most certainly not."
"How did we get away from them?"
Belle blinked. "Well, for the most part, because of you."
"Because of m-me?"
Belle smiled. "Don't you remember? You displayed one of the greatest feats of unicorn magic I've ever seen—much less by a young filly. In one fell swoop, you single-hoofedly knocked dozens of them from the Noble Jury's hull."
"I... I-I did?"
"Of course, Kera! It's why we're speaking to each other right now."
"I..." Kera winced, gazing towards the opposite wall of the cramped room. Her eyelids fluttered tiredly. "It's all fuzzy..."
Belle leaned close. "Well, what do you remember?"
"Dreaming..." Kera bit her lip and held the blankets close. "With my eyes open..." Her little nostrils flared. "For a long... long... super long time..."
Belle's lips pursed. "Do... do you remember what you saw in your dreams?"
Kera's ears drooped. Her body tensed up, then gradually relaxed as she melancholically shook her head.
Quietly, Belle leaned forward and kissed Kera's forehead. She lingered there, nuzzling the filly's cheek. "I know that a lot of this doesn't make much sense to you, and I'm still trying to figure it all out myself. But I am so happy... so very blessed to have you back, darling..."
"Did... did I go anywhere?"
Belle bit her lip. She sniffled slightly. "Yes, Kera. I-I'm afraid you did..."
Kera tilted her chin up. "Belle?"
Belle leaned back to look at her. "Yes?"
"Who was that in the room with us when the things attacked?"
"Hmmm?"
Kera stifled a yawn and murmured, "The pony... the pony with the bl-black coat..."
Belle squinted, then exhaled, "Oh. You mean Elma? Elma Boreal?"
"What kind of a name is that?"
Belle opened her mouth, lingered, then said, "Not a very real one, I suppose." She squirmed where she stood by the bed. "But Elma herself is very real... with a real heart... and a real desire for love." Belle smiled. "She helped bring you back, Kera."
"She did?"
"Mmmhmmm..." Belle nodded. "Elma's got a special talent. And, from the looks of it, she woke you up." The mare's eyes glistened momentarily. "It takes a very special pony to bring back a very special filly..."
Kera yawned and turned her head aside against her pillow. "I should thank her..."
Belle giggled lightly. "I think she would be more than happy to speak to you."
"She... br-brought me back to my Mommy and Daddy," Kera slurred, surrendering to the waves of slumber.
Belle's smile faded. She sat still, her breaths tense and uneven. Sniffling, she blinked her eyes dry and managed a tiny grin. Kissing Kera on the forehead one last time, she murmured, "Just rest easy, Kera."
"Mmmmm..." Kera murmured, her body instantly still.
"And don't you worry anymore. Mommy an—" Belle froze, inhaled, and uttered, "Pilate and I won't be far away."
Kera slept soundly.
Belle dimmed the lights, shuffled about, and quietly exited the cabin. She shuffled across the thin hallway of the Noble Jury's second deck, making her way past compartment after compartment. Heading towards the stern, she made a sharp left right before the mess hall. The tiny infirmary was lit, and there Pilate sat on the edge of a cot, bandaging himself with the use of his other hoof and his teeth.
"Oh, beloved—here." Belle rushed over and knelt before him. "Allow me."
"Oh, you needn't fret, Belle," the stallion said. His choker rested on the table alongside the manasphere and the Oracular Array. "I do believe I have this under control."
"Please..." Belle nevertheless took control of the situation. "I wish to do it."
Pilate tilted his head down. Eventually, he nodded with a faint smile. "Very well."
Belle breathed easily, reaching around Pilate's forelimb and shoulders as she gently tightened the gauze to his healing wounds. "I don't think I've ever seen you so banged up."
"Yes you have."
Belle's lips curved. She squinted aside. "Since we left Blue Shelf, I mean."
"Ah." Pilate smirked. "Well, worse things could result from tangling tails with a sentient crocodile."
"I don't know what stunned Rainbow Dash more," Belle remarked. "The punches Razzar gave her, or the undying fact that it was you who brought that reptile down to his knees."
"I seriously doubt that she's jealous," Pilate said. "The poor mare has been forced to extinguish all sorts of nefarious souls in the past. I don't know what good it will do her countenance, but she can at least remove one burden of conscience from her list."
"I know it sounds grim, but..." Belle chuckled dryly. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a slightest bit proud of the 'solution' you chose."
"Razzar was always a victim of his own hubris," Pilate murmured, straight-faced. "I believe his comrades had to see that, or else they might still be vindictive over Razzar's defeat today."
"I'm certain Roarke wouldn't have given them the pleasure."
"No. Probably not."
Belle finished tightening a bandage and glanced aside at the table beside the cot. "Quite the fascinating device Roarke gave you."
"It doesn't hold a candle to your genius."
"Hmmm..." Belle smirked. "That's flattering of you to say. But, let's face it, I've never considered crafting you something that would allow you to grasp your spatial surroundings."
"Roarke's Searonese hybrid allowed me to catch my bearings, for sure." Pilate nodded. "But the textures of every surface around me were... well... a veritable blur. I could never read with the Oracular Array." Pilate's muzzle curved. "I'd much rather possess O.A.S.I.S. anyday."
"At the cost of knowing where you are?"
"It's not a matter of where, beloved, but who."
Belle opened her mouth, but she lingered in silence.
"How is Kera?" Pilate asked.
"Hmmm?" Belle blinked, then turned to face him. "Oh. She is... erm..."
"Still speaking?"
"Very much so." Belle nodded. "And she's starting to remember some of the smaller details from just recently." She gulped. "Like Elma and the undead attack and—"
"Witnessing the sound of her voice when I returned to the Jury was one of the most blissful things I could have heard," Pilate said. Then, with a warm breath, he reached forward and brushed his hoof across Belle's cheek. "Well... nearly the most blissful."
Belle smiled. She reached two hooves up and clasped his forelimb against hers. She shook once... twice... then fell into a throe of quivering breaths.
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. His lips pursed. "Belle...?"
Tears coated his hoof as she nuzzled it, sobbing. "Would you ever h-have it in your heart to forgive me, Pilate?" She sniffled and clenched her eyes shut, grimacing. "Kera wasn't the only one asleep for so long. I-I felt so lost... and so afraid..." Her voice squeaked as she stammered, "And I took it out on the one pony that m-meant the wh-whole world to me." A whimpering tone. "I was so horribly rotten to you... to everypony... but most especially to you."
"Beloved..."
"You d-don't deserve that... you n-never deserved that!" She sniffled and wailed, "I should be t-taking care of you... protecting you... loving you..."
Pilate leaned off the bed and knelt alongside her. He flung his arms around the mare's shoulders. "We should take care of each other."
She inhaled sharply, her voice squeaking. "Pilate..."
"Misery blinds us more than darkness," he said. "It's only natural to lose sight of love. But I know the mare whom I fell in love with when I too awoke from the abyss." He smiled and kissed her. "She needs me as much as I need her." His stroked through her mane. "Even if it took a thousand years, I would wait for her to come around. After all..." He smiled. "Would she be any less patient for this blind zebra?"
Belle smiled as tears ran down her muzzle. She buried her face in his striped chest. "I adore you, beloved..."
He cradled her head to him, stroking her neck and cheek. "You never stopped, Belle."
She winced. "Pilate..."
"Shhhh..." He kissed the top of her head. "We can make it through this. We can make it through anything. Not just us... but Kera as well..."
"Yes..." Belle nodded and surrendered to the depths of his embrace. "Yes... we c-can..."
Pilate laid his head atop her crown. He stared blindly into the bulkheads of the infirmary, his muzzle locked in a soft smile. Together, the pair of ponies cradled each other on the floor of the room while the Noble Jury drifted off into starlight.
Dawn brought with it a golden glow that glinted off the arctic seas below. Flakes of frost drifted in the high winds, scattering across the open deck of the Noble Jury. Elma's green eyes followed the streams of snow listlessly. Then, with a sigh, she clutched the blanket around her figure and turned around.
"I've lost all contact with her," she murmured. "Although... I-I never really had much contact with the broodling queen in the first place." The changeling fidgeted. "I s-suppose that is how she meant it. Who knows how many other turt—" She winced, then continued, "How many shapeshifters out there are like me, stripped of all they can possibly remember so that they might serve as better tools for the hive..."
Arcshod and Seclorum exchanged glances from where they stood on the Noble Jury's starboard side. They glanced over their shoulders to where Prowse stood in the open doorway of the Tarkington floating closely nearby.
"But you know for a fact that she's changed?" the pale stallion asked.
Elma bit her lips with fanged teeth. "Mrmmm... the hive has changed. I'm almost entirely certain she's lost grip with the entirety of her broodlings. That's most likely why I lost contact with her so swiftly... even as she was just starting to find me again."
"I think we all know who we can think for that," Josho said, then glanced aside at where Rainbow Dash stood alongside Roarke, Eagle Eye, and Pilate.
"Pffft. It wasn't me," Rainbow Dash said. "I'd tack that onto dumb luck."
"Hmmm..." Eagle Eye smiled rosily. "I'd try another 'l' word."
"Also dumb," Josho muttered.
Eagle Eye glared at him.
"And do you have any idea where Chrysalis is?" Seclorum asked.
Elma slowly shook her head.
"I do..." Rainbow trotted over and rested a hoof on Elma's shoulder as she looked back at the others. "Val Roa," she said. "She made it pretty clear." A slick grin. "The mare has a thing for monologuing, it seems."
"Val Roa..." Prowse scratched his chin with his prosthetic and spoke above the high winds, "A monarchy. Full of wealth and rich ponies. But that's about all I bloody know..."
"It's the last bastion of civilization before the Grand Choke," Elma said.
Everypony looked at the changeling.
She winced slightly. "I mean... th-that's what my memories tell me..." She rubbed her dark head. "Supposedly, that's what every resident of Alafreo knows. Val Roa is famous across the entire continent..."
"It's a peaceful kingdom?" Seclorum asked.
"Mmmm..." Elma nodded. "From what I can tell."
"Which makes it perfect for diabolical metamorphs to sow destruction and chaos," Roarke muttered.
Elma flinched.
Roarke exhaled while her copper lenses retracted. "...nothing personal."
"Of c-course..."
"But Chrysalis is on her own now..." Pilate tilted his head blindly towards Rainbow Dash. "...right?"
"It's our best guess." Rainbow leaned back and flexed her wings with a sigh. "Though, knowing her, she's probably trying to build an army back up again."
"We have any way of knowing that?" Eagle Eye asked.
Rainbow shook her head. "Still, Val Roa is totally in the dark, and that isn't cool."
"Well, I certainly wanna get to the bottom of this whole mess," Prowse said. "But I'm afraid that just can't be done. At least not from our end." The stallion gestured at the hulking body of the Tarkington. "Aatxe's baby here is barely hanging on by a thread! I can get her back to Xona no problem, but then it's gonna need an arse load of repairs."
"That's the least of your concerns," Pilate said. "You've got many ponies who need to return home."
"I'm on board with that," Seclorum said. "I've spent the last few years fighting battles that weren't even mine to begin with. And from what I hear, I had a double of myself wreaking havoc halfway across the continent. To think of all those mares and stallions who... who could be living now if it weren't for... for..." His words trailed off a grimacing expression.
"You get your ponies home, old friend," Josho said. "And if it helps you to know, fruit basket and I totally cleaned that moron's clock."
"Erm..." Eagle winced and pointed at Josho. "It was m-mostly him! Honest!"
"Hrmmm..." Seclorum smiled crookedly. "I don't know if it's a sign that I've lost my marbles, but that almost actually makes me feel better..."
Rainbow squinted. "What's the big guy sneezing about this time?"
"Errrr..." Seclorum turned to look at the others. "He says he's spoken with his Queen already about the situation, and as much as Lasairfion would like to lend a hoof—"
"It would be foolish to initiate a crusade towards a far-away kingdom when your own is still recovering from so much turmoil," Roarke said with a knowing nod. "I understand. It's how I've come to accept the fact that nopony from Searo has come to claim my head."
"Well, there was that one pony," Pilate remarked. "'Terra,' I believe?"
"Mmmmmm..." Roarke was scratching an itch behind her neck. "Who?"
"Well, seems like we all have our paths set before us," Prowse remarked. "Still, seems like a bloody shame to leave you ponies alone on your trek east."
"You kidding?" Josho smirked. "You couldn't hold us down even if you hammered our bladders to the ground."
"Josho, think about this." Seclorum gestured wide. "The war is over. Everything we've ever butted heads with is history now. Even those tattooed freaks aren't quite so bad once you get to know them."
"Dreet drenna," Arcshod grunted.
"Love ya too." Seclorum turned back to Josho. "Why not hang a ride on the Aatxe Express here? Two old stallions? Returning home? It'd be like old times... only without all the killing and explosions."
"Yeah, well, one of those I don't miss," Josho grumbled.
"Honestly?" Seclorum raised an eyebrow. "It's peace time, Josho. Don't you feel that a couple of old soldiers deserve something like this? Happens once in an age..."
Josho took a deep breath, then trotted over to stand before Seclorum. "I know what I deserve and don't deserve. And believe you me, if I had something back in Ledomare, I woulda thought twice about ditching it all in a blaze of glory."
Seclorum stared at Josho, then glanced over his shoulder.
Eagle Eye blinked innocently.
"You're a lot different from the stallion I flung mana with." Seclorum's eyes darted back to Josho. "But be honest with yourself," he murmured in a low tone, leaning forward. "Do you honestly think you'll live as long as him? Or the rest of them?"
Seclorum stared back. Slowly, his ears drooped. "Dumbass..." He sighed and drifted forward, forelimbs wide. "I'm gonna miss ya, pal—"
"Please." Josho held the hug back with a firm hoof. "Not in front of the Xonans."
Arcshod raised an eyebrow.
Seclorum glanced aside at him, then rolled his eyes. He saw an outstretched leg ahead, glanced up at Josho, and smirked. The two former enforcers bumped hooves, then shook. "Beats kicking the shit out of each other."
"You say that as if we won't meet again," Josho said.
"Pffft. You have to make me really... really pissed off at you for me to hunt you down that far east."
Josho patted Seclorum's shoulder and murmured in his ear: "You haven't seen your bar tab back in Green Slope."
"Buh?"
But Josho was already trotting away. Rainbow Dash watched him, then turned towards the others. "Right... so this is how it's gonna be..."
"Did ya set up the communications array just like I told ya, lass?" Prowse asked.
"Mmmmmhmmmm."
Prowse glanced across the Tarkington. "And you turned it to the frequency I gave ya?"
"Mmmmhmmmmm..."
Prowse took a breath and glanced down. "And can ya stop drooling on my chest?"
"Mmmm-mmmmm..." Props leaned back from nuzzling her uncle. She wiped her eyes and stared up at him with a sad smile. "You sure I can buzz you whenever I want?"
"Mmmmhmmm..." He caressed her golden mane. "I'm just a turn of the dial away. There was never a communications signal too faint that my bloomin' tech couldn't pick up!"
"Even when you're busy transporting the ponies west to their families?"
"Yup. Even then."
"Even if you're being chased by giant mutant flying squirrels?"
"Especially so in that case." Prowse grinned. "I'd need some flesh and blood to help me flush out the insanity."
She grinned, her little blonde tail swishing. "You're the best uncle I could ever have outrun evil melting zombies with..."
"That's what family's all about, lass." He leaned down to nuzzle her and murmured, "Now move yer arse. I don't want my Propsicle asleep on the job."
"Right..." Props backtrotted from the cockpit, sniffling and smiling, smiling and sniffling. "I'll be thinking about you... while I caress the walls of Nancy Jane's womb!"
"Now there's a promise you'd better keep!"
Props bit her lip, then forced herself to turn around. She quickly shuffled past Rainbow Dash. "Let's go now before I kerplunk in my own k-kerfluffle!" she whimpered.
"Right. Just one sec." Rainbow turned towards the ponies on board. "When you come into contact with the Ledomaritan army, look for a mare named Zetta. She should be located not that far from the former Eastern Front."
Seclorum blinked and blinked again. He exchanged glances with Arcshod. "Uhm... y-you might wish to give us more to go by. It's kind of a common name."
"Dreit."
"Ungh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes and exclaimed, "She'll be with a huge friggin' stallion named 'Basso.' You can't miss him. He's like a steamroller with fuzzy ears."
"And what do you wish us to do when or if we find them?"
"Tell them that the crew of the Noble Jury is okay. We... uh..." Rainbow sighed. "We ran into a few nasty... nasty bumps along the way. But... we're okay." She smiled faintly. "We're okay."
Arcshod nodded, squinting. "Oh... kay..."
"Yeah, he's got it." Rainbow turned to exit the Tarkington, but found a tall, elegant unicorn standing in front of her.
Lasairfion's eyes narrowed. With a neutral expression, she said, "It has agreed to keep the traveling, though it has the uncertainty ahead?"
Rainbow slowly... slowly nodded.
"Hrmmm..." Lasairfion exhaled calmly. "Then it is the Austraeoh..."
Rainbow gulped. "You... uh... you had your doubts?"
"No more than it did." A regal smile.
Rainbow's muzzle curved. "I don't suppose you... uh... have any wise, matronly advice concerning Val Roa and the rest of the lands ahead of me?"
Lasairfion leaned in and narrowed her eyes. "It must not water on the burning dogs."
"... ... ..." Rainbow raised her hoof with an open mouth. "... ... ...Propsy!" She side-stepped and grabbed the mare's flank. "Time to go! Say good bye to all the background ponies!"
"'Good bye to all the background ponies—' Eeep!" Props' golden mane flounced as Rainbow dove out the side of the Tarkington and glided towards the Noble Jury. Once landed, the two joined the rest of the ship's crew as they turned to wave at the vessel.
"Ach! How do I get this bloody thing into gear? Oh! Right..." Prowse's voice wafted out of the door for the last few seconds that it hung open on its hinges. "Whelp, time to get this show on the clouds! Ha! You get it?! That's a sooter joke! Bye—" CLACK! The Tarkington's door clamped shut, blotting out the images of waving Ledomaritans and Xonans. Tilting about, the ship roared over the Noble Jury and soared its way west on burning engines.
Belle, Kera, Pilate, and Zaid turned, waving at the ship until it became a distant speck. Eagle Eye and Ebon stared silently, leaning against each other. Elma, Josho and Floydien poked their heads out of the cockpit while Roarke stoot closer to the stern in silence.
"They... they are gone, right?" Pilate asked.
"I really need to get O.A.S.I.S. working for you again," Belle muttered.
Pilate smirked. "Not sure it would do the moment justice."
Kera covered her nose. "Their ship's exhaust reeks..."
"Heheheh..."
"I-I couldn't work on it in time..." Props sniffled, slapping her goggles over her moist eyes as she bowed her head to the deck. "I wanted Prowse's ship to be full of love... not farts..."
"Blonde boomer did her best best," Floydien said.
"Yeah, Propsy..." Ebon trotted over, along with Eagle Eye. The cook smiled and placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "I know this has been very hard for you, but I'm so glad you decided to stick with us. I'm not sure how I'd feel without my best gal pal from Gray Smoke along for the ride—"
"Mmmmmmmmmmm!" Props pounced, hoisting both Ebon and Eagle into a strangling embrace. "Quick! Drown me with flufffffffffffff!"
"Gaaaie!" Eagle wheezed and tried to calm Props down. "We... grkkkt... h-have to breathe first...!"
"Yeah..." Ebon hissed, blue in the face. "What h-he said. Gaah!" THWOMP! The three collapsed onto the deck.
"Tch tch tch..." Zaid stepped over them, shaking his head. "Not quite a threesome, but it'll do." He came to a stop beside Rainbow Dash. "Head in the clouds?"
"Just wondering..." Rainbow sighed, staring west. "...if sending them west on their own was such a good idea."
"I know, right?" Zaid scratched his mane, staring at the horizon along with her. "Hundreds of miles. No bread. No cheese. No toasters?" He sighed. "That's a long trip, girrrrrl."
Rainbow glared at him. "Thanks for broadening my horizons."
"Hey!" Zaid shrugged with a smile. "If we can dream it, we can do it!"
"I wouldn't be too concerned about their journey, Rainbow," Pilate said, smiling in her general direction. "We all know that the landscape is far less perilous now."
"Yeah..." Josho nodded. "Beside, danger is almost always in front of you, not behind you," he said.
Rainbow twitched, but said nothing.
Floydien quietly slapped a hoof against Josho's knee.
"Augh! Dammit..." Josho retreated downstairs with a slumping trot. "So it's gonna be like that for the rest of the trip?"
"If fat boomer is lucky..."
In the meanwhile, Elma hung her head with drooping dragonfly wings.
"Elma...?" Belle trotted over with Kera and Pilate. "What's the matter?"
"What's the point in asking?" Elma sniffled. "What's the point in anything?" She looked up, her green eyes moist. "I have nowhere to go. I... belong to noplace."
"There is always Alafreo," Roarke droned from the distance.
Pilate and Belle winced.
"How could I possibly go there?" Elma muttered. "That isn't my home..."
"It's all you remember, though, isn't it?" Pilate remarked.
"But that doesn't make it real!" Elma hissed, then deflated low to the ground. "It doesn't make me real."
"Well, what is it that you want, Elma?" Belle asked.
"I... I..." Elma grimaced, but eventually squeaked forth, "I want to see the mountains I grew up in. I... I want to know what happened to my hatchlings..." She sighed. "Elma's hatchlings..."
Belle knelt down and tilted Elma's chin up. "If that is what you really want, we can make it happen. Or if not, you can come with us."
"Come with you...?" Elma's eyes darted between the different ponies. "Come with you where?"
"Wherever you need to go before you feel that you're home," Pilate said with a smile.
Elma was silent. Her gazed turned to the rest of the jurists, then at Rainbow Dash. "Is that what this is all about... this ship... this journey...?"
Rainbow smirked. Eventually, she nodded. "Pretty dang much. With a few exceptions."
"Seriously, couldn't we have given them a toaster oven?" Zaid muttered into the cold winds.
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
Elma looked back at the ponies directly in front of her. Her gaze fell on Kera. Bending her head low, she stared the filly in the face. "And you... are you home, little one?"
"Mmmmm..." Kera bit her lip and clung slightly to Belle's forelimb. "Almost... th-thanks to you..."
Belle and Pilate smiled at each other.
With a tender breath, Elma nodded. "Alright..." She gulped. "First Alafreo... and after that, we'll see..."
"As you wish," Belle said.
"Ya hear that, Floydien?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes yes yes." The elk was already yanking at the controls of the ship. "Paint bucket doesn't need to bark bark." The ship hummed loudly as its skystone engine above came to life. "Enough with the frosting and the snowing. We've got land to land."
"Whoopsies!" Props galloped to her hooves, knocking back Ebon and Eagle with a grunt. "That's my cue!" She flew down the crawlspace. "I'll be in the womb, handsome!"
"As well you damn should be!" Floydien hollered. As jurists quickly trotted to the cockpit, he initiated the skystone drive. "The wastes can kiss Floydien's flank-flank!"
"Heh..." Rainbow Dash kicked off the ship's hull and glided off. "I'll scout ahead."
"Good luck with that."
Then, with a vaporous blast of disrupted air, the Noble Jury fired east like a bullet, following closely behind the prismatic blur piercing the clouds ahead of it.
The arctic wastes were the very definition of calm. A full day into the eastward trek, and the crew of the Noble Jury no longer had any reason to doubt that Stratopolis was the thing responsible for the alleged "Strip of Flurries" to begin with. At all times, the ponies on board Floydien's ship needed only to glance down, and they would see an immaculate reflection of their skystone vessel gliding across the glass-like frozen waters. The icebergs grew less and less frequent, and the smallest of sounds resonated across the frigid seascape. Even the northern edge—a distant dim glow at this point—still issued thunder across the thin air from afar.
Rainbow Dash's job of scout lasted barely a day and a half. As it grew more and more obvious that there was next to nothing for her to observe before the bow of the Jury, she ultimately relented, retreating to her post on board the ship and allowing her wings a chance to relax, as well as her wounds of battle to heal. For the most part, however, she remained on board the top deck of the Jury, eyeing the horizon with an instinctual wariness. By the beginning of the third morning, she had given up worrying, and started trotting downstairs to join the rest of the crew in their regular meals.
The mood on board the ship was calm. The crew conversed with a general degree of liveliness, be it in small groups or as a whole over dinner. Roarke, as always, kept her distance from the rest of the jurists, excusing herself more often than naught to examine the readings of her Lounge tech, checking up on the conditions and whereabouts of her alleged transport. Elma didn't touch a single morsel of food. Pilate and Belle weren't ignorant of this, and they kept their mealtimes short—choosing instead to congregate around the changeling and remain in her company as often as possible. It took much coaxing—not to mention a regal amount of redundant conversation topics—but they eventually succeeded in making the shape-shifter smile from time to time. A renewed glow of green energy flowed through her eyes; the changeling's health was satiated for a little while longer.
At the start of the third day, Rainbow Dash, Pilate, and Floydien had a frank discussion concerning the ship's bearings. Taking into account the memories Elma had to share about Alafreo's whereabouts, the crew decided to bend the ship's trajectory ever so slightly south. The vessel's skystone carried them swiftly, scaling the parallels south of the extreme arctic regions. Props worked hard to keep the engine running in best shape, and soon the Jury was operating at the best efficiency since they first ever stationed themselves in Gray Smoke.
By the fifth day, Rainbow Dash noticed a slight spike in temperature. The icebergs had completely vanished. The waters below were considerably warmer. Rainbow tested herself, gliding lonesomely above the lapping waves and dipping her hooves through the current. Soon enough, the crew could walk the topmost deck without needing thick wintry gear. Everypony welcomed the sensation, and many came up for fresh air for the first time in days.
All the while, there was still no sign of land. Although Elma assured them that the western edge of the continent was ever-looming, several members of the crew started to get antsy. Most of all was Ebon, who fretted that the food supply might not last the remainder of the journey. Hesitantly, the crew decided to conserve their rations, which cut down the volume of their daily meals by nearly two-thirds. This left Josho in a less-than-pleasant mood, to put it lightly.
To keep their minds off the lethargy and hunger of the trip, several ponies collaborated in constructing a make-shift hull to cover the damage done to the ship's forward observation room. This involved utilizing much of the metal scrap confiscated from the Lounge's vessel. Seeing as how even Roarke lent a hoof to the operation, this proved to be no real issue. While the crew were able to seal off the observation room from the outside, it was still deemed too dangerous for occupation. This meant Rainbow Dash had to find another place to sleep. Begrudgingly, she chose the sofa inside the bottom deck's navigation compartment right across from the observation room. The pegasus got very little sleep those evenings.
To stave off the insomnia, Rainbow Dash resorted to pacing about the ship. She even did this while most of the equines were asleep. No matter how far she trotted or in how many circles, she always returned to the same spot—or rather the same thing. The Sword of Solstice was being housed in the engine room. It was Props who hypothesized that—perhaps just like the lavender tome—the enchanted blade might have some sort of a positive impact on the Noble Jury's skystone engine. This, however, proved fruitless, and the engine room simply became a place to house the ancient artifact. So, as a consequence, Rainbow Dash often found herself standing there, eyeing her reflection in the blade, pondering over the number of beasts it had slain in its time...
And if Commander Hurricane ever purposed for another pegasus to pick the blade up.
On the sixth day since setting out from Stratopolis, the Noble Jury had decelerated to a slow cruise. Since Props insisted that the crew rest the engines, Ebon suggested they pass the cooldown time by bringing the vessel low enough to cast fishing lines into the sea. If there was a chance of catching fresh meat, then they might be able to increase the volume of meals for an evening or two. Naturally, most ponies jumped upon this idea. Rainbow Dash gladly bowed out.
So it was that by noon, the ship hovered a few naked feet above seal level with its hangar doors yawning halfway open. Ebon, Zaid, Eagle Eye, and Josho sat inside the ship's rear, their legs dangling as they dragged fishing lures through the calm waters right beneath them. Ebon's hunch proved right, and between the four of them they had already made seven meaty catches.
"Way to go, sailboat," Josho said through a smirk. He had to talk above the sound of his rumbling stomach while he casted another line. "I'd kiss you if this damn hangar didn't stink so much."
"I told Floydien. I told him." Ebon frowned as he held his fishing pole. "We should have chiseled ice out of the icebergs before we headed south. That way we could have resupplied the freezer unit and done something to better preserve caught fish, much less stave off the smell."
"Well, at the rate at which we're crashing in on their parade, I'd say we'll be eating like kings soon," Zaid said. He turned to grin at the other stallions. "All in all, I'd say that things are going swimmingly." His eyes turned rounder above a maniacal grin. He took turns gawking at every stallion.
"You really, really suck," Josho grumbled.
"Yes." Eagle Eye muttered. "What the old stallion said."
"Awwwwwwwww..." Zaid pouted. "Not you too."
"Everything alright, EE?" Ebon asked.
Ebon fought a burning, burning frown. "This... smells... horribly."
"Grin and bear it, princess," Josho said while casting another line into the glossy sea. "Maybe you don't wanna get fat on your bones, but the rest of us do. So be a part of the team and ignore it."
"I can't..." Eagle shuddered, his lavender muzzle turning green. "I can feel it getting into my pores."
"Well, don't worry," Ebon said with a smile. "Just a few more catches, and then you can march inside to shower."
"Yeah..." Zaid chuckled. "We'll all get into a circle and spit on you."
"Ew!" Eagle blanched and nearly fell off the hangar door from writhing. "Ew ew ew ew! You guys are impossible!"
"You know, for once..." Josho's muzzle curved. "I kind of liked that one."
Zaid brightened. "You did?"
"Move aside." Metal-laced limbs trotted forcibly between the four stallions.
"Hmmmm... breeders going to breed..." Roarke kept her copper-lensed eyes locked on a glowing yellow device in her grasp. "Such a shame to interrupt your festivities, but I think it's finally catching up with me."
"You don't say?" Josho droned without looking at her. "Because it was starting to smell good until you arrived."
"Too bad nature decided to trade your humor for fat."
"Works for me, lady."
"Wait wait wait..." Ebon waved his hoof at the others and squinted up at Roarke. "What do you mean? What is catching up with you?"
"It'll only matter to you in about a minute," Roarke said, operating a dial on the control. "Unless, of course, you want to be crushed to a pulp by reptilian metal. It makes very little difference to me."
"Oh jeez!" Eagle flinched, scrambling with his fishing pole to move aside. "Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez!"
"Calm your crotch tits," Josho grunted, then turned to squint at the metal mare. "Isn't this being a bit optimistic? Especially for you?"
"Could you flatulate a little louder? I can't hear you."
"You supposedly left that thing floating on its own on the far west edge of the Stratopolitan cyclone." Josho's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think it even has the juice to respond to your signal?"
"It's highly-advanced Lounge tech."
"So?"
"I augmented it."
"Ah. So, I'm guessing it's swung by several merchant ships and murdered every respectful stallion on board."
Ebon chuckled.
"Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to program that into it," Roarke said. "Though, you're giving me plenty of reasons to do so now."
"Just what kind of a transport is it, anyways?" Eagle Eye asked.
"Ah..." Roarke lowered the control and pointed out the hangar's rear ship. "See for yourself."
"Hmmm?" Zaid and the others stood up to look. Everypony squinted—save for Eagle Eye who merely blinked at the northwest horizon.
"Hey... uhm..." The unicorn trotted backwards on jittery hooves. "Is it supposed to be coming in that fast?"
"Mmmm... probably not." Deadpan, Roarke reached a hoof out and yanked at a lever.
Whurrrrrr—CLAK! The hangar doors opened wider. With a shriek, Ebon nearly slipped down into the blurring waters below. Josho heaved him up while Zaid and Eagle Eye scrambled for a hoofhold. Many of them turned to glare at Roarke, but had very little chance when a spherical black body sailed in from outside.
WHOOOSH! A tiny scale replica of the Lounge Ship came to a stop just inches from Roarke's muzzle. She stood her ground, exhaling calmly, her breath forming a foggy splotch of condensation against the thing's pearlescent black hull.
"Well, a little tardy, but quite responsive." As she backtrotted, she pulled a knob on her control, forcing the thing to levitate forward on glowing amber engines until it settled to a stop, completely swallowed up by the hangar's interior with room to spare. Roarke turned a dial, and six spokes came out of the bottom of the ship, balancing itself neatly against the floor of the hangar.
The orb was small—for sure—but it looked to have enough room to fit two adult ponies, maybe three. As Roarke turned a tiny lever on her control, this became obvious, for the opposite sides of the ship slid up and out like onion layers, revealing a dimly-lit interior with blinking consoles and a highly-advanced mana-powered forward display.
"Reptiles built this thing?" Ebon remarked. "I didn't realize it could be so... erm... comfy-looking inside."
"It was only ever meant to be piloted by one naga at a time," Roarke droned as she leaned in to inspect the interior. "Seeing as on their lonesome they're at peace with Quezaat, they can afford themselves some luxury."
"Well, lucky you," Ebon said.
Eagle Eye glanced inside. "Ooooh... I like the red velvet interior."
"It's not red," Roarke said. "I had to acquire this ship from Vaughan from force."
"Meaning...?"
"I blew the lizard's brains out."
"Oh, ick!" Eagle jumped back from the ship and grimaced. "That's it..." He marched furiously towards the stairwell. "I'm taking my shower!"
"So, what's it name?" Zaid asked.
"It does not have a name," Roarke said.
"Pfft! Get out of town!" Zaid smirked. "It's gotta have a name!"
"All this vessel provides is utility," Roarke said. "When the situation calls for more than two members of the Jury to split up and explore a region, we can once again rely on more than just Rainbow Dash to fly."
"The cultist has a point," Josho droned. "It's bad buckin' luck to pilot something without a name."
"Forgive me if I don't share your superstitious sentiment."
"I know!" Zaid grinned wide. "Whizzball!"
Roarke turned with folded ears, practically hissing at the stallion. "It... shall not... be called... Whizzball."
"Don't be so silly! I mean look at it!" Zaid pointed. "It's a ball! And it whizzes!"
"And you're a stallion and you leak. What's the point?"
"I'd be insulting the grand history of aviation if I called it anything else!" Zaid smiled.
"I'll be right back," Josho said, trotting off with a smirk. "Blondie and Dr. Bellesmith are going to want to see Whizzball now that it's in Floydien's hangar."
"It is notWhizzball!" Roarke actually hollered.
"Nancy Jane and Whizzball!" Zaid chanted, pumping a hoof in the air. "Together at last!"
"Nnnnngh..." Roarke leaned into the cockpit seat, looking around. "Where's the self destruct mechanism...?"
Rainbow Dash squatted low to the floor, her fuzzy blue chin resting on crossed hooves. She sighed through flaring nostrils as her tail slowly flicked every half-minute. All the while, her ruby eyes remained locked on the polished golden lengths of the Sword of Solstice lying in the corner across the engine room from her.
"If I were you, Dashie, I'd stop being shy and just ask the sword for a dance already!"
Rainbow groaned inwardly. She rolled until she was lying upside down and stared lethargically at Props. "It's not that, Props."
"Hee-hee!" Props smiled while leaning over her communications array on the worktable and adjusting its dials. "Then what is it? Hmmm?"
"It's... it's..." Rainbow blew bangs out from her forehead and grumbled. "I dunno what it is." She tilted her head back and stared upside down at the blade. "I almost feel as if there's something missing... something I totally failed to take into account since leaving Stratopolis."
"You mean since Pilate dragged you—bruised and unconscious—out of Stratopolis?"
Rainbow's eyes turned to straight razors. "Yeah. That."
Props winced slightly, but nevertheless chirped: "Maybe Commander Sugarcane—"
"Hurricane."
"Maybe she had a special code-word that would allow the sword to grow larger and shoot energy bolts from the hilt!"
"Nnngh... I doubt it..."
"You have to be at full hearts, though, first!"
Rainbow squinted at the mare. "Huh?"
"Huh?!" Props blinked back.
A beat. Rainbow rolled her eyes and stood up, cracking her joints. "It's the studs that catch my interest the most."
"Heehee..." Props smiled, blushing slightly. "You and me both, sister."
"No, I mean the six gems." Rainbow pointed down the middle of the blade. "The jewels studded down the length of the blade." She stood over the weapon and squinted at each shape in turn. "Each has a different color."
"Like the rainbow?"
"Pretty much. Er... almost." She sighed. "More like something else. Something that still haunts me.."
"And what's that?"
Rainbow's hoof tapped the edges of her pendant. "The Elements..." She gritted her teeth. "The stones look like them... kinda sorta, I mean." She shook her head with a sigh. "Or maybe I'm just reaching..."
"Do the colors look the same?"
"It's... hard to tell." Rainbow squinted across the engine room. "It's so dim and... lavendery in here."
"Well..." Props stood up with a bright grin. "Maybe Dashie should go to the top deck! And bring the sword with her!"
"Pffft. What's that gonna accomplish?"
"It's a sunny, golden sword!" Props giggled. "Maybe you'll see better if it gets some sunny, golden air!"
"Hmmmm..." Rainbow rubbed her chin. "It is pretty bright outside still..."
"Or, y'know, you could stay down here and help me practice wrasslin'." Props adjusted the dials of the array as she spoke. "I was kinda hoping Unky Prowsy would bring me up to snuff again, but—turns out we couldn't hang out as long as I thought—"
Schiiing! Rainbow dragged the Sword of Solstice off the floor and made a bee-line for the far door. "Thanks for the advice, Props! Okay. Bye!" Clang!
"Hrmmm..." Props' face scrunched up. "What pony in her right mind would hate wrasslin'?"
Roarke paced around the curved front of the tiny transport inside the Noble Jury's hangar, examining it. At one point, she paused, leaning forward to study a glossy black panel that stuck out slightly from the rest of the hull. Humming in a low tone under her breath, the metal mare pulled over a metal tray full of tools. She gripped a needle-nosed device and shoved it into the space between the panel and the rest of the hull. With persistent prying motions, she succeeded in popping the panel loose. Some frayed wires stuck out from hiding, and Roarke grabbed another tool to pull the threads apart and properly examine them.
She was so busy in her work that she barely noticed the sound of trotting hooves until they had traversed half the length of the hangar behind her.
"Hrmmff..." Roarke's muzzle frowned beneath her lenses. "If you've come back to suggest more idiotic names, you'd be better off signing your death warrant." She attached to wires with a tiny splash of sparks and blew away the smoke. "This vehicle will never... ever bear the name 'Whizzball.'"
"As a stallion who's utilized his very own floating 'whizzball' for the better part of three years, I can assure you it's not entirely something to be ashamed of."
Roarke paused. Her lenses retracted as she turned around completely. "Pilate. I... did not know it was you. I assumed it was one of the many other annoying and less-appreciable breeders." She did a double-take. "You are... blind..."
"I'm glad you finally noticed," Pilate said with a nervous smile, feeling his way forward across the hangar. He avoided bumping into a crate full of Lounge tech with a carefully placed fetlock. "Still, if all of this time somepony had just glued my eyelids shut, I imagine it would have been a truly astronomical prank."
Roarke rushed forward to grasp his legs and guide him away from the stacks of weaponry. Halfway through the gesture, she fidgeted, then released his limbs. She stepped back, clearing her throat. "I do not understand. Is not the Ocular Array sufficient for—?"
"Belle is attempting to study that device you crafted to see if there is a possible way of merging it with the technology of O.A.S.I.S.," Pilate said with a calm smile. "Until then, I am more than happy to navigate the Jury by my own means."
"But..." Roarke's brow furrowed. "If I recall, Bellesmith is on the top deck. With Kera."
"Mmmmm... Indeed she is. Getting ample sunlight, I imagine."
"Shouldn't she be working around the clock to give you back your sight?" Roarke muttered, returning to her repair job on the transport's outer hull. "Do you not deserve to see again?"
"Fate already made its decision concerning me, Roarke," Pilate said as he calmly shuffled towards the craft. "As for Belle, I am very lucky to have her back in my life. Truly... truly have her." He smiled. "And we're both extremely fortunate for Kera to be... well... a fraction of her past self, I suppose. That's why I'm perfectly happy for Belle to be spending the afternoon with her above deck. It's only fitting."
"Hmmm..." Roarke's jaw clenched and unclenched while she worked. "Rather convenient circumstances, wouldn't you agree?"
"Would you mind being more specific?"
"The changeling leeched a morbid clump of negative emotions from the filly's being," Roarke droned. "And suddenly she's calling you both 'Mother' and 'Father.'"
"Heh... you almost got it." Pilate smirked only briefly. He tilted his muzzle towards the floor. "And, to be honest, I'm more than a little bit worried."
"Is that so...?"
"The only time she ever called us that was right before... before..." He winced, but nevertheless sighed. "Well, it was the preview to a life that never was." He gulped. "In Lerris."
"So she's in denial, then?" Roarke glanced over her shoulder. "The filly has erected for herself a fantasy that all is well and Lerris never even happened?"
"Now, I didn't quite say that."
"Seems a likely scenario to me," Roarke muttered, returning to her work. "I never once believed that the changeling was a complete cure-all."
"Nor have I," Pilate said. "However..." He trotted behind her. "Magical cure-alls are being hoofed out quite regularly as of late."
"And what do you mean by that?" Roarke asked.
Utter silence.
Ears twitching, the mare spun around with a rattle to her mane's metal ringlets.
Blindly, Pilate nevertheless stared straight at her. "What point was there in giving me the Oracular Array in the first place, Roarke?"
Roarke's lenses pistoned out. "Seriously?"
Pilate only nodded.
"Hrmmm..." Roarke turned back to the craft. "Isn't there a Ledomaritan saying that addresses the act of punching gift-bearing horses in the chin?"
"As 'Vaughan,' you had access to the Lounge's ship and all of its resources. Razzar and his lackeys knew far more about Stratopolis than the rest of us. Surely their devices could have detected anything and anyone in the mists."
"Surely you have a point to all of this, zebra."
"You must have known where everypony was at all times," Pilate said, tilting his head aside as he squinted into nothingness. "Rainbow Dash and Josho... Eagle Eye..." His metal brow furrowed. "Why didn't you recruit them? Why me? Why call upon the supposed talents of a stallion who has been blind for many years and lacks the proper skills of a warrior?"
"Don't be so quick to downplay your strengths," Roarke muttered. "You were more than efficient in tackling the challenges of Stratopolis."
"But you didn't know that, Roarke. You couldn't have." Pilate took a firm breath. "You didn't know anything. You were aware of the danger and threat of Stratopolis. In fact, you were aware of it far more than myself, Rainbow Dash, and all of Lasairfion's company combined. And yet you chose to put all our hope in the hooves of a blind stallion made to see through a fragile, mind-numbing device."
"It worked well enough, didn't it?"
"Indeed." Pilate smirked sharply. "Well enough for me to see you when you thought I couldn't."
Roarke froze completely. She slowly slumped her limbs down to the floor, hanging her head from the hull of the transport. After several seconds, she turned around with shuffling hooves and faced Pilate.
"At first, I thought the movement I detected was more undead creatures," Pilate said. "I figured they had gained some intelligence and were stalking me from the perimeter of the Ocular Array's reach. But that had to have been impossible." He cocked his head to the side. "And everytime I turned to examine this body more carefully, it suddenly and magically vanished. Now... why would an undead pegasus fly away from its target while all its companions are rushing forward?"
"Confusing things happen in combat," Roarke muttered. "You were fortunate to have paid enough attention to deal with your immediate threats."
"Roarke, my mind is used to working in several more dimensions than the average pony," he said, tapping the metal plate over his skull. "And deeper, mind you. Using O.A.S.I.S. takes intense concentration and sends my nerves on fire. It's one reason why I prefer a calm and serene life of study and quiet reading."
"I figured it was because you were simply a satiated breeder."
"Hmmm..." Pilate's lips curved. "You truly are a clever pony, Roarke, but sometimes genius can blind you to simple details." His brow furrowed once more. "I know that 'Vaughan' never left me, Roarke. When Rainbow and I flew through the clouds, when we fought at the door to Urohringr, when we nearly collapsed at Commander Hurricane's grave... you were there. You were watching over us... over me."
Roarke stood in dead silence.
Pilate continued. "I suspect that beneath all of that tough exterior... that virulent bitterness and apathy to all warmth and love... there exists a conscience, Roarke. Am I wrong in suggesting this?"
The mare sighed. She sat down on her haunches and avoided the sight of his curious face. "I had already made an assumption about the ponies Rainbow cared for, and it more or less led to our stopping by Lerris." She gulped. "I wanted to undo the damage done to the equines she cared for... the ones she loved. But Kera was beyond salvaging. Belle's mood was something that escaped my Searonese understanding. But you?" She tilted her head his way. "You were the strongest link in the chain. If I could find a way to lift you up... then perhaps... just maybe the rest of the 'family' could be dredged from the mire that I had inadvertently buried you in."
"And your solution was to enable me to become a hero?" Pilate raised an eyebrow. "As if it would resurrect some forgotten piece of myself from the past? My 'glory days,' as t'were?"
"It worked reasonably well, from my estimation."
"But you had no way of knowing that, did you?"
"Erm..."
"Which is why you chose to stick close by and monitor me while 'Vaughan' supposedly 'left for the Lounge ship?'"
"No matter what unfolded, I was responsible for your fate. I did not wish to shirk it this time."
"Roarke, has it ever occurred to you that the poignance of a gift given under the pretense of enabling another pony was swiftly nullified the moment that you decided to play chaperone and guide me towards the supposed goal?"
"I... I-I..."
"And all of it simply to appease Rainbow Dash?" Pilate remarked sharply. "As if my life, and even Belle's and Kera's, are all just means to and end?"
Roarke was gritting her teeth at this point. "I... I had thought that triumph—even the illusion of triumph—would be enough to pull you out of the abyss that Lerris had flung the whole lot of you." She hung her head with a heavy exhale. "I suppose I can now see how the entire endeavor can be seen as hollow and condescending. It... simply did not occur to me at the time."
Pilate stood in silence.
"You... you must understand... even though I don't understand..." Roarke fidgeted. "I have never been proficient at expressing and empathizing feelings. Problems in my life have only ever been solved with tools—be they weapons or mechanisms. I engineered you to be one such tool, Pilate. And..." Her teeth practically cracked on the precipice of uttering it: "I am sorry, Pilate. I entreat you to forgive me for any wrongdoing. You..." She sighed and ran a hoof through her braids. "You are not the only pony who's blind—" She froze suddenly.
Pilate had crossed the distance and was hugging her.
Roarke winced. "You are embracing me, zebra."
"Mmmm... Indeed."
"I... am at a loss," she grumbled. "First Rainbow Dash, and now you..."
"You're strangely pleasant when you are apologetic," Pilate said, leaning back with a smile. "Do you actually think I'm angry with you? Disappointed? Aghast and insulted?"
"I... I for once do not know what to think."
"I am thankful, Roarke," Pilate said in a warm tone. "Sight or no sight, I know an act of genuine sincerity when it crosses my path. And I'm especially keen to recognize when it goes against the grain of what makes a pony."
"Quite simply, I-I did not want more misery to befall you," Roarke said, squirming. "I almost failed in that endeavor."
"Mmmm... but you didn't."
"Yes, but still—"
"Roarke, if there's anything you must learn, it's how to accept that many things can be good." He leaned forward and hugged her again. "And that many ponies can actually be grateful."
"Mmmmmnfffnnnngh..." She groaned towards the ceiling, her face frowning. "If you insist, breeder."
"Hmmm..." He smirked over her shoulder. "Now I know—once and for all—that you are not and have never been a changeling."
"And why is that?"
He chuckled slightly. "Because you've yet to suplex me to the floor."
Roarke's ears twitched, but she didn't budge an inch. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage..."
"Changelings, for all of their talents and flare, don't do a very good job of changing, now do they?"
"Erm... no..." Roarke nodded. A strange light lit the room, like glinting teeth beneath a brief smile. "I-I suppose not..."
"It's still chilly," Kera said, shivering slightly. She turned and smiled into the high winds. "Heh... but a good chilly."
"Much more invigorating than staying below deck everyday," Belle said with a wink. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Yes... well... erm..." Belle glanced aside with a nervous blush.
Josho stood off to the side, cleaning his shotgun. "Overprotective birds don't get much wind beneath their wings."
"Huh?" Kera turned towards him with blinking eyes.
"Josho..." Belle stifled a hiss.
He merely smirked. "Doctor, doctor?"
"Nnnngh..." Belle face-hoofed and sighed. "Kera, let's just say that I'm far more keen on enjoying life than I was weeks ago..."
"Yeah, okay."
"Even if it doesn't make much sense at the moment..." Belle reached over and caressed the filly's chin. She smiled. "I promise that I'm not going to be the same old mother hen to you."
"Uh huh..." Kera gazed off at the open waters, teetering left and right on her hooves. "Boy it's windy." She glanced over her shoulder. "Y'know, I was thinking: what if I got my mane cut really... really short?"
"Like Spark's blazes, you will—!" Belle grimaced, cleared her throat, and exhaled slowly. "We'll... uhm... t-talk about it later, 'kay?"
"Mmmmmmmmkay."
Swooosh! Rainbow landed with a sheen of golden light. "'Sup, melon fudges?"
"Likewise." Josho waved.
"Enjoying the sunlight? Good." Rainbow spat the hilt of the sword out of her mouth and held the thing in the crooks of both hooves. "I'm sure the sunlight enjoys you too."
"Whoahhhh..." Kera bounced up straight and leaned forward on her hooves. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Careful... Careful." Belle tugged Kera back slightly from the blade. "Uhm, Rainbow? What are you doing with the pegasus zombie slayer?"
"I've been staring at this thing all week," Rainbow droned. "But, like, the light's too dim downstairs. I figure I might see some of the details better if I brought this out here."
"Just what in the hay are you looking for?" Josho spoke above the billowing air. "I doubt these waters are gonna lend you a sharpening stone."
"Nope, but the stones that this thing's already got are really egging me something awful." Rainbow leaned her muzzle closer to the length of the blade. "It's like a piece of ancient Equestria is trying to make sense to my brain from the inside out."
"Once I get O.A.S.I.S. working again, I'm certain Pilate can help you study it, Rainbow."
"Thanks, Ding-Dong, but for once I'd like to figure something else without the Zebra Notes, ya feel me? And as it stands, this Sword could really use with some—"
FLASH! The sword lit up with golden fire from the hilt to its jagged end. Within seconds, an ethereal voice wafted across the top deck: "Commander Hurricane?!"
"Aaack!" Belle jumped back.
"Gaah!" Rainbow dropped the blade to the floor. Clang!
Josho cocked his shotgun and aimed stupidly at the air.
Kera stood in place, staring with wide eyes.
Once more, the voice lifted, emanating from the vibrating blade itself. "Commander Hurricane, it couldn't possibly be you. Who is this? Who has unsheathed the blessed blade after all these millennia?"
The ring of ponies gawked at the blade.
"Please. Do not be frightened. I am not mad. I am simply curious. Are you the descendants of Hurricane's brigade? Do you know what happened to the pegasus detachment?"
Rainbow's eyes squinted. She stalked forward like a pensive cat. "...Princess Celestia?"
The sword pulsed once more with burning energy. "Rainbow Dash...?!"
"Princess Celestia!"
"Rainbow, it is so unbelievably wonderful to hear your voice once more. When you were last cut off from the moon's enchantment, we had feared the worst. But how is it that you've come across Hurricane's weapon?"
"Princess! It is you!" Rainbow yanked the blade up by its hilt and spun with it in the air. "OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh!" She gasped, beamed, then blinked. "...what are you doing inside a sword?"
"Millennia ago, Luna and I harnessed this sword out of our combined might," Princess Celestia's voice rolled against the high winds along the Noble Jury's top deck. "It was meant to be a symbol for Equestrian sovereignty. The harsh winter brought upon by the windigoes had just come to an end. The three races of ponies had at last come together, and as our blessing to pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies alike, we crafted this blade. My sister forged it out of pure moonstone, and I imbued it with strong solar magic."
The Sword of Solstice glowed with bright golden pulses, matching the tone of the regal alicorn's voice.
"But not long after the unification of Equestria, a new threat had come upon the land. It traversed the air above like a gray phantom, carrying with it boundless tempests and maelstroms. My sister and I endeavored to banish it from the Equestrian skies, but we found the task far more daunting than we had originally imagined. Whatever possessed this flying bastion of evil, it was empowered by pure chaos energy, the likes of which we hadn't fought since our first brush with Discord. It became clear to us that this structure was older than even the alicorns, belonging to an age when the very foundations of the worldly plane were first set into motion. We considered using the Elements of Harmony to banish structure, but the cost of such a mighty spell would have been far too great. Equestria was a new, struggling kingdom, and there were still many threats from all sides. Our subjects needed our constant intervention to survive in this new age. Alas, when Commander Hurricane of Pegasopolis proved that she had found a way to steer the threat out of our skies, we greatly admired her courage, and we gave her our blessing..."
Rainbow Dash nodded, gripping the sword while most of the Jury stood at a distance watching. "You gave her the sword," Rainbow said.
"Yes, and with it we gave a piece of our power... my power. That is why many of Clover the Clever's later texts speak of a prolonged winter following shortly after the unification of Equestria. I had to make the days shorter for the span of half-a-decade to compensate for the energy I had donated to Commander Hurricane. Still, she and her fearless brigade deserved no less. Hurricane was embarking upon a long and dangerous quest that—quite frankly—none of us knew the outcome of."
"And... you were able to speak to her?" Rainbow asked, blinking across the golden light at Bellesmith, Pilate, and Kera. "Just like how you're speaking to me?"
"Indeed. We had long made our commitments to the Equestrian homeland. Still, that didn't change the fact that we cared very deeply for Hurricane and all of the pegasi soldiers who accompanied her on her mission. When she left, we waited patiently and in earnest for an update. Sporadically, every few months, she would communicate with us. The task was difficult—from what we understand—because the Sword of Solstice requires direct sunlight in order to open a channel of communication with me. Constant storms and cloud cover made this impossible, so Hurricane would have to risk a great deal of turmoil just to get word through."
"Uhm... h-how long did you keep hearing back from her?"
"Honestly, Rainbow Dash? Not as long as either my sister or I would have wished. In less than the space of six years, Hurricane ceased speaking to us altogether. We assumed the worst, and it broke our hearts. Three times over the next millennium, we sent aerial expeditions out in a desperate search for Hurricane and the accursed sky structures that she had piloted away. It wasn't that we had expected her to somehow still be alive, but perhaps there could be survivors of her brigade—or at least a sign of what happened to her to end the communication. However, after the third expedition ran into trouble with another kingdom—nearly costing the lives of everypony in the search party—we decided that it was no longer worth sending expeditions out in hunt for a deceased hero."
"That at least explains how the legend of 'Stratopolis' got proliferated so broadly," Pilate said.
"Stratopolis...?"
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Celestia, is talking to you like this having any—I dunno—bad effect on you maintaining the harmonic field around the chaos rift?"
"No, Rainbow Dash. Fear not. This is a very simple communication spell. If nothing else, the burden lies on the enchantment that was placed on the Sword of Solstice ages ago."
"Ah, okay..." Rainbow smirked, her tail flicking. "That's a good thing, cuz I've got a lot of stuff to talk to you about."
"As I am beyond enraptured to hear. I wish I could express how overjoyed I am at having a chance to speak with you so soon. At first, my heart leapt at the possibility that somepony in Commander Hurricane's bloodline had finally grasped the sword once more. But knowing that it's you, it's an even greater blessing than I had at first anticipated."
Belle smiled, leaning in to nuzzle Pilate as the couple watched the exchange.
"Well, I'm just sorry it's not anypony from Hurricane's brigade," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"As it possibly couldn't have been. I do understand, Rainbow. It has been many, many eons and I doubt any one of them would still have stuck to such a chaotic post."
"It's... it's a lot less cheerful than that, Princess Celestia." Rainbow gulped. "Hurricane... uhm... she and her party didn't last long after piloting Strato—err... the 'chaotic structures' out of Equestria."
Silence... and then: "I see..."
"You'll be proud to know, though, that they gave their lives defending the rest of the world from something far nastier than even you or Luna could have imagined. In fact, my friends and I barely got away with our skin intact. But... y'know..." Rainbow smiled nervously. "It's a good thing. I mean, a lot of good has come out of this. I know it's hard to believe, but you can totally kiss that evil floating city good bye and—"
"Queen Chrysalis..."
Rainbow blinked. "...what about her?"
"Did you run into Queen Chrysalis, Rainbow Dash? Or perhaps her older and wiser sibling, Tchern?"
Rainbow gawked at the other jurists, then stared at her reflection in the sword. "Well... yes. I mean, pretty dang much, yeah. Ahem..." She leaned forward. "Why do you ask?"
The broadcasted voice carried warmth—almost a ringing quality. "Somehow, I knew, Rainbow Dash." Pride resonated warmly from the blade. "I knew that you had a hoof involved in it..."
"Involved in wh-what?" Rainbow bit her lip. "Your Highness... h-has something happened in Equestria since we last talked?"
"A most remarkable thing indeed. In towns all across Equestria, sparse numbers of citizens suffered fainting spells. When they came to, they... weren't quite the same as they once were. For a brief moment, dismay and confusion swept the landscape from Appleloosa to Canterlot. A few panicked parties even thought that the landscape was suffering a full-on invasion. However, the citizens came across as entirely harmless. Luna, in her infinite wisdom as Equestria's chief ruler, calmed everypony, then gathered the altered citizens in question together... to protect them. Over the past few days, they've been recollecting long-lost memories about who they are and where they came from. We now have nearly five hundred ponies—a new and tiny demographic—who have been added to the cultural fold of Equestria."
Rainbow Dash exhaled. "Changelings..."
"If you have indeed stumbled upon Chrysalis—and now these shape-shifters have been freed from whatever previously bound them—then I can only imagine that, someway and somehow, you have done a good and harmonic thing over there, Rainbow Dash. Perhaps, for the sake of these timid citizens under Luna's charge, you could do us all a favor and illuminate the situation?"
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. She smiled warmly. "You do love your illuminations, eh, Your Majesty...?"
"Nnnngh..." Eagle Eye wandered into the ship's kitchen, his hooves taking him on a loose, zig-zagged path. He blinked blearily, wincing from the bright light sources in front of him.
As the room came into focus, the ex-mercenary caught sight of a familiar burgundy shape. "Well, good morning, sleepy head," Ebon remarked with a smile, all the while stirring a pot full of a dense soup mixture. "You certainly kerplunked for a long, long time."
"Mmmf... I-I was up late last night, practicing sword and shield maneuvers on the top deck."
"Pffft." Ebon smirked. "Didn't Stratopolis give you enough practice?"
"Funny you should say that." Eagle leaned against the doorframe and rubbed his muzzle, eyes blinking. "In truth, I'm super behind. Guess I wore myself out..." A few more blinks, and he squinted at the cook. "I thought we were scrimping meals for the time being."
"Mmmm... We are. But today, we've got reason to celebrate. So I'm making extra broth for everyone."
"Oh?" Eagle Eye stifled a yawn. "What's the occasion?"
"You mean you don't know?"
Eagle dizzily shook his head.
Ebon glanced over. "That's what you get for sleeping through half the day." He grinned. "Turns out Rainbow's sword that she found in Stratopolis is closely tied to Celestia."
"Celestia?" Eagle Eye's muzzle fell agape. "You mean as in Princess Celestia?"
Ebon nodded. "The one and only! That's why it's so empty below deck, in case you may have noticed. Almost everypony is up top, listening to what the ruler of Equestria has to say."
"Even Floydien?"
"Even Floydien."
"But... y-you came down here...?"
"Well, somepony's gotta feed the rest." Ebon smirked. "Besides, at this point, Rainbow and Celestia are probably just catching up. I already got a good earful, listening in on the Princess talk about Commander Hurricane, Chrysalis, and a bunch of freed changelings in Equestria..."
"Wait..." Eagle Eye suddenly stood up straight, his fuzzy ears perking. "Freed changelings? Chrysalis?"
"Hmmm?" Ebon glanced over while he continued to stir. "Why, yes. Seems like the Equestrians sequestered them from the rest of the populace until they could understand why there were suddenly shape-shifters in the kingdom." He smiled. "Turns out the changelings are mostly harmless. Heh... almost makes you wish we ran into them instead of the ones who brought us to Stratopolis in the first place, huh?"
Eagle Eye stared into the far corner of the kitchen. "Did... did they even know that they were changelings?"
"I... don't think so." Ebon shrugged, glancing into his pot. "From the sound of it, they've been posing as normal Equestrians for a long time. Then, out of nowhere, they showed their true colors. And it happened around the same time Rainbow Dash confronted Chrysalis face to face... well, maybe it wasn't her real face, but you get what I mean, Eagle—" Ebon looked up, and he dropped the ladle in his grasp. "Eagle?" He blinked.
The unicorn was gone.
"...and that's just the thing, there were literally thousands of pegasi who were mutated by the purple slime," Rainbow Dash said, her mane blown by the high winds. The ocean stretched around the Noble Jury in every direction as she paced a circle about the glowing sword lying atop the deck. "I mean, I didn't exactly count them, as I was too busy kicking their ugly flanks... but you get the picture."
"And that's quite distressing, considering that less than one hundred and fifty pegasi accompanied Commander Hurricane on her heroic trip."
"So you see where I'm getting at, Your Highness?"
"Indeed. It's only logical to conclude that the majority of corrupted pegasi you encountered belonged to something other than the Pegasopolitan Officer's brigade."
"Pilate and I think it's more of... y'know..." Rainbow Dash swiveled and faced the sword. "...the ancient pegasi I keep hearing about."
"The ones to whom the 'Herald' were supposedly faithful to?"
"All I've ever learned about them, Princess Celestia, leads me to believe that they were supremely bad dudes." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What if they were responsible for all the nasty crud that happened in Stratopolis?"
"Do you mean to suggest that they were the ones who steered the city into Equestrian airspace thousands of years ago?"
"Erm... no. Actually, I think they were wasted long before then."
"Interesting..."
"I know, right?" Rainbow squatted by the sword, staring into its golden surfaces. "Here's what I'm thinking. The old world—Urohringr—was once whole, a solid ring of sorts. But then it split up. And these giant floaty city thingies—the Sentinels—were lost in all the chaos. But—like—the pegasi found one of the Sentinels and took it over. Now, based on what Belle has experienced in her past sequencing with the likes of Nightshade and Nightshade's foals, it's a firm guess that these pegasi were also responsible for splitting Urohringr up to begin with. Now, wouldn't that make sense? If they wanted to separate the pieces of the ring, then it makes sense that they'd want to—y'know—dominate the newer and smaller piece of real estate. So they took over Stratopolis with the hope of flying it around and acting like they owned the place. And, for all we know, maybe they did. But... like... at some point they bit off a little more than they could chew..."
"And they infested themselves with this infernal, viscous material which you described..."
"I know, right?" Rainbow nodded. "Princess Celestia..." She gulped. "What if there aren't any of these pegasi left? What if they ultimately killed themselves off by doing this crap?"
"I detect a great deal of distress in your voice. Why does this possiblity worry you, Rainbow Dash?"
"Well..." Rainbow fidgeted, then ran a hoof through her mane. "If all the pegasi are gone, then who do we have left who'll have a clue to undo the damage that's been done?"
"From what you've told me, it sounds like that part of the world has more and more hints for you to uncover. Even with all of the resources and historical archives of Canterlot at my subjects' disposal, you still stand to learn for more than we can about this."
"Yeah, but... I feel like there's a lot that I'm supposed to learn in so little time." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She flung a weak gaze towards Pilate, Bellesmith, and the others. "And we both know it's very... verylittle time..."
Silence. Then, at last, Celestia spoke in a calm tone. "Rainbow Dash, I cannot pretend to know what truly happened to these ancient pegasi—nefarious or not. However, there is one curious observation that I must point out."
"Hrmmm... yeah? What's that, Your Highness?"
"The inner workings of Stratopolis—including those adorned with the symbols of 'Urohringr'—responded to you and only you. That said, it stands to reason that they responded in a like manner to Commander Hurricane as well."
"Right. And just what are you getting at?"
"Simply that I do not think that all of the pegasi of whom we speak about actually died out," Celestia's voice said. "And, if that is the case, then I refuse to believe that they are all innately evil."
Rainbow Dash blinked. She plopped back on her haunches, her ears twitching to the rattle of her pendant. She turned her head with a dazed expression and glanced nervously at Pilate and Bellesmith. The couple stared back, their expressions no less dumbfounded than Rainbow's.
Far away, across the deck, past where Josho, Zaid, and Roarke stood, Eagle Eye lingered in the shadows of the ship's rear stairwell. He listened in on the conversation, and his hooves trembled slightly. Over and over again, he fought the urge to gallop out onto the deck, for something anchored him in place.
"Princess Celestia," he murmured to himself in the faintest of voices. "Have you seen the changelings? Have you talked to them?" For a moment, it looked like he had gained the strength to charge forth, but he held himself in place, wincing. "Nnnngh... I can't. I just... can't..."
His ears drooped and his eyes grew misty. Slowly, his gaze panned across the deck... until his sight fell upon Elma's timid figure. From afar, the changeling looked as nervous and melancholic as he did.
Eagle heard his heartbeat pounding in his skull. Taking a deep breath, he slowly backed up and trotted down the stairwell, though his eyes remained locked on Elma as long as they could...
Ebon Mane dropped a bowl of broth onto the table in front of Josho. The obese stallion licked his lips, levitated a spoon, and prepared to dig in—
"Is Rainbow still up there?" Ebon asked.
Josho froze within inches of a scrumptious sip. He sighed out his nostrils and grumbled, "Yes, Mister Mane. She's still on the top deck."
"With the sword?"
"With the sword." Josho leaned in again to sip—
"How is that even possible?" Ebon thought aloud, rubbing his chin as he hobbled around the mess hall. A burning sunset lingered beyond the portholes. "I mean, what kind of a pony has an enchantment that powerful to communicate across such a long distance?"
"Apparently a sun goddess wise enough to rule a western kingdom full of sparkles and rainbows. Now, if you don't mind." He opened his muzzle again—
"It just... seems too good to be true, y'know?" Ebon remarked. "I mean, between all of the chaos dragons and changeling queens we run into..."
"Nnnnnnghhhhh..." Josho's eyes rolled.
"...I'm a little concerned if it's the real deal, ya feel me?" Ebon's muzzle scrunched in concern. "What if—like—it's some trick? What if it was Chrysalis and not Hurricane who planted that sword there for Rainbow to find it? What if the battle for Stratopolis never ended?!" He spun about with panicked eyes. "What if—" Three spoons flew into his mouth, shutting him up. "Mmmf-mfmmmmf-mmfmfmmf!"
"Drool on your own time, worrywort," Josho grumbled, leaning to finally enjoy some soup. "Mmmmf... I, for one, intend to relish the golden moment."
Ebon flung both hooves up and popped the utensils out of his mouth. "Well...!" He frowned. "The least you could to is say 'thanks for the meal,' you surplus sized hippop—" He stopped in mid-speech, then squinted across the mess hall. "Say... uhm... has anypony seen Eagle Eye lately?"
Elma reclined on the sofa located in the bottom deck's navigation room. A rumpled set of blankets were draped over the end. Choosing to remain a bit secluded, Elma was allowed to "bunk" in that particular space for the duration of the Noble Jury's journey to Alafreo. She was grateful for the peace and quiet, even though the engineering compartment loomed just a bulkhead away, rattling the ship's frame with a constant hum.
In the changeling's hooves was a book labeled "The Frozen Wastes: An Exploratory Description." Somehow, Floydien possessed the tome in his library. It was the first thing Elma pulled off the shelves when she spent the first night in the navigation room. The book was known far and wide by geographers and merchants on more than one continent.
"I've read this before..." Elma murmured to herself, almost in an inquistive fashion. Her green eyes curved and she gulped. "Or have I...?"
Silence.
She slapped the book shut with a sigh, then curled up against the blanketed couch. She pulled her legs in tightly, envisioning what it meant like to be a hatchling once more. Only...was she ever a hatchling?
"Did you lay me, Chrysalis?" She murmured to the walls "Or was it my mother... my other mother...?"
The changeling ultimately winced. She gripped her skull, moaned, and slid off the couch. On tired hooves, she wandered over to a map lying on the cartography table. She squinted at the illustration. Across from the Frozen Wastes, the continent east of Alafreo was a nebulous blob, mostly unknown to Ledomaritan and Xonan map-makers. She ran a hoof across the jagged fjords and mountainous peaks that represented her home. For the time being, it was just as strange looking to her as it was to the ponies of the western continent.
There was a knock on the door. With a slight gasp, Elma turned towards it. She gulped and said, "Yes? You m-may come in..."
Softly, the hatch turned and the door slid open with a metallic creak. A lavender shade entered, one hoof after another.
"Eagle Eye?" Elma blinked. "What brings you here?" She glanced up through the metal ceiling. "Usually you're spending dinner time with Ebon Mane."
"Funny you should say that," he said, attempting to smile. All that came out of him was a weak grimace.
The changeling squinted. "Eagle?" She leaned forward. "Is everything alright?"
"I... uhm..." Eagle Eye shifted slightly on his hooves. He avoided her gaze as he anxiously asked, "I was wondering if we could talk about you..."
"About me?" Elma blinked. "You mean... about Alafreo? About turtle culture? About the kingdoms east of my home? Belle's told me all about your career as a mercenary. No doubt someone as loyal as you would like to protect the Noble Jury against all obstacles—"
"Erm... no, Elma," Eagle Eye shook his head. "I was h-hoping that we could talk about the other you."
Elma's dragonfly wings twitched. She sat back on her haunches, took a courageous breath, and spoke in a firm tone. "Alright, Eagle Eye. What is it that you would like to know?"
Eagle Eye straightened his mane and meekly looked at her. "All that you have to give me..."
"...and once we arrive, I guess it'll be up to me and whoever else volunteers to go ahead and scout the place out." Rainbow Dash leaned against the wooden railing of the top deck. She casually cradled the Sword of Solstice across her lower body as she stared up at the dimly-glowing skystone above. "I mean, Alafreo's the only home that Elma Boreal knows. But... she's been through a lot, y'know. She might be better off staying with us."
"Do I detect a hint of concern in your voice?"
"Well, sure, Your Highness. Elma saved Pilate's life and helped clear the cobwebs out of Kera's mind. And all of this after her entire friggin' world collapsed. It'd be a darn shame not to pay her back in a way she deserves it."
"If being on board the Noble Jury is not the life for her, then surely she will tell you."
"That's just it. I dunno if she does have the strength to tell us."
"Didn't you just say that this is the changeling who saved two of your best friends, and through purely courageous and selfless means?"
Rainbow gave a long sigh. Her lips curved a little bit. "I guess it's kinda stupid, huh?" She gulped. "After all this time, to assume that my friends can't hold their own." She ran her hoof through her windswept mane. "I wouldn't be as far east as I am now if it weren't for them."
"If you ask me, Rainbow Dash, Elma Boreal has proven that she has integrity and strength. If nothing else, she deserves your faith."
"True... true..."
"I believe what you're planning about Alafreo is a wise thing. Elma will convey to you her feelings in the end."
"I guess I'm just afraid that... that..."
"Yes...?"
Rainbow exhaled, then muttered. "That some way, some how, Lerris will happen again..."
Celestia answered much sooner than Rainbow had anticipated. "It is understandable for you to be so paranoid. What happened along the warfront was truly terrible indeed. I wish it had not ended up that way, but for all of our strength and power we cannot change the past."
"No. No, we can't."
"And yet, not all is hopeless in your journey. Did you not experience quite fortuitous circumstances back in Stratopolis?"
"Well... at least a half-dozen of Seclorum's company died, including Aatxe. And then you had the Lounge members that—"
"Terrible tragedies indeed. But was it all for naught?"
Rainbow bit her lip. Ultimately, she murmured, "We destroyed the city... we freed hundreds of changelings..."
"Tens of thousands, I would venture to say, Rainbow."
"All in a blink..." Rainbow shook her head. "And... like... are they actually doing okay over in Equestria?"
"Absolutely," Celestia said. "Granted, there've been a few dramatic cases, with shape-shifters who thought they biologically belonged to certain families. But even they—for the most part—have begun adjusting to the new knowledge. Most households have even considered adopting the newly discovered citizens into their fold."
"No way..."
"Why not? After all, every one of us seeks the betterment of others. Of the changeling citizens discovered in Equestria, at least a quarter of them had replaced actual, living breathing ponies. But ever since they became cognizant of their situation, they volunteered whatever residual information remained in their minds. Over the past few days, Luna has sent companies of the royal guard to secret places hidden throughout the kingdom. Already, they have found more than half of the replaced citizens—frozen by Chrysalis' former broods into magically-induced sleep."
"Wow, that's... th-that's pretty great, Your Highness." Rainbow Dash smiled. "So everypony's getting along back there?"
"I would whole-heartedly agree."
"I guess... eh..." Rainbow shrugged. "I've seen so many places and dealth wish so much nasty stuff." She gulped. "Guess it's a bit hard to believe that a place as harmonic as Equestria still exists. But, hey, that's home..."
"And harmony exists with you, Rainbow Dash."
"Hrmmm..." Rainbow fidgeted, staring past the sword and into the wooden surface of the Noble Jury's top deck. "Both you and I know I haven't exactly been doing things harmoni—"
"Harmony exists inside of you," Celestia's voice said. "You are doing great things. You are doing good things. If I cannot convince you of that, then ask any of the friends and allies whom you've earned along your journey."
"Right..." Rainbow nodded, her eyes a bit misty. "I think I'll do that."
The sword started flickering.
With a gasp, Rainbow sat up straight. She craned her head and peered beyond the ship's stern. The sun was going below the horizon.
"Princess Celestia..." She gulped. "The Sun. I'm afraid—"
"I know, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said. "Alas, it is Luna's duty."
"Right..." Rainbow nodded. "I know..."
"Still, fear not. The Sun will rise again. We now have quite the many opportunities to commune."
"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded again, smiling this time. "The Sun will rise again..."
"Sleep well, Rainbow Dash." Celestia's voice grew more and more distorted. "Dream harmoniously... as y-you d-d-d-deserv-v-v-e—"
Her voice cut off.
Rainbow's hears drooped. As carefully as she could, she hugged the sword and its hilt to her chest.
From the open cockpit, Floydien turned his antler'd head and hollered back, "Done with the glow glow?!"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Done with the glow glow." She tightened her jaws and stood up. "For now."
Kera's green eyes opened. She stirred, winced slightly, then propped herself up in the darkness. Bringing a forelimb up, she rubbed her squinty eyes, then blinked at the bulkheads surrounding her. Her ears twitched, but all she heard were the gentle breaths of two slumbering equines.
Quietly, she shuffled over to the edge of her cot and leaned over. Her eyes peered down through the darkness. Two figures cuddled together on the lower bunk. A striped shape hugged a yellow shape to his chest, sleeping peacefully.
With a deep breath, Kera turned her body around, swung her legs out, and hung her limbs off the cot one inch at a time. At last, after holding her breath, she released.
The filly fell to the floor, landing on all four hooves with the slightest of echoes. She tensed her body, squinting at the lower bunk.
Pilate and Bellesmith shifted slightly, but neither woke up. There was an ear-twitch or two, and once again both were still.
Kera exhaled with relief. After fidgeting for the space of half-a-minute, she turned towards the door, shuffled across the tiny crew compartment, and began turning the handle to the hatch. Once it was open, she slid it slightly ajar with the tiniest of creaks, then slid out into the hallway of the second floor.
Alone.
"It's... very difficult to explain," Elma Boreal murmured, pacing around the navigation room. "I mean... uhm... not that it's troubling to me, mind you. I just don't know if I can make somepony else understand. Somepony who's not like... well..."
"It's too soon," Eagle Eye said, shaking his head. "You've been through a lot. I'm... uh... I-I'm very sorry, Elma." He turned and made for the vertical crawlspace beyond the entrance. "I'm sorry for bothering you—"
"No. It's fine." Elma reached a hoof out, then bit her lip with her fangs. "Erm... for the slightest moment—around the time when Rainbow Dash reached out to my... the other changelings—I felt a connection, you know? And I don't mean with just the changelings in Stratopolis... but with every changeling who was presently obeying Chrysalis." She stared across the luxurious room with a gaping expression. "I felt the changelings in Ledomare. I felt the changelings in Xona. I felt the changelings east of Alafreo. Changelings in places I couldn't possibly even recognize..." She winced and rubbed her head. "Archipelagos with sandy beaches. Cities made out of pure metal. Kingdoms with emerald plains."
"Was it like..." Eagle Eye squinted. "You were in their bodies?"
"N-no. More like... we all had the same body..." Elma blinked at him. "And we all had the same beating heart. We were all as one... but we've always been. Only..." She sighed with flinching dragonfly wings. "Only Chrysalis had always blinded us. With pain and malice and anger and misery." She stared up at Eagle again with thin green eyes. "She made us think that it was what we needed to satiate our hunger. And... we did need it, only there was so much more we could have benefited from. And when we all realized that—when we all awoke to what we've been missing all of our lives—we all became one. We unified as one mind... and then..." Her words fell apart.
Eagle watched patiently.
Elma sighed. She stared at the floor. Eventually, a smile came to her lips. "We grew up. We didn't need her anymore. And, in a way, we didn't need each other anymore. Now we are all separated... and yet we're still one beating heart, or at least we know that we have the capability of being so. If we just allow good feelings to flow through us. Goodness. Kindness. Love. All of that... it's a binding element. It always has been. And it's what we were truly hatched for."
"All of that..." Eagle tilted his head curiously to the side. "You grasped in one single epiphany?"
"I know it's a lot to chew," Elma said. "It's hard enough for me to put into words. I was positively floored by the event when it happened. From what Pilate and Rainbow Dash described of the other changelings, they were no less shocked than I was."
"But... it was a good thing... r-right?" Eagle asked.
Elma winced.
Eagle did too.
"Erm... yes. But... Chrysalis did so many horrible things to us... to me." Elma inhaled hard, trying to keep a steady posture. "There's so much to make up for. And as wonderful as it was to have that moment of an epiphany... of an awakening... it still won't bring back my past. Or, at least, the past that I believe in."
Eagle Eye nodded. "Elma, I am so very sorry for what was taken from you—"
"Only it wasn't taken from me. Don't you see?" Elma grimaced. "It was all in my head... planted there like the rest of Chrysalis' lies. But..." She cleared her throat and clenched her jaws tight. "I need to keep in mind what Rainbow and Bellesmith have been telling me."
"And what's that?"
"That I have the rest of my life ahead of me," Elma said. "And that this is the opportunity for a fresh start. To discover myself and see where my life goes from there."
"And you think that's going to happen in Val Roa?"
Elma said nothing.
"Erm... s-sorry..." Eagle Eye hung his head, sighing. "This is..." He gulped. "I shouldn't be bothering you with all this. I feel terrible."
"Yes, you do."
Eagle Eye glanced up at her, blinking.
"I... uhm... I-I can sense what you're feeling," Elma said. "I... I-I always could, really. I guess I just never gave it much thought." Her spines twitched and she murmured, "And waking up to who and what I am certainly helped."
"Then hopefully you feel..." Eagle Eye stood up straight. "You know that the ponies on board this ship care an awful lot for you."
"Yes. Yes they do." Elma nodded. Her green eyes flinched. "Well, maybe not Roarke..."
"Heh..."
"And they love each other very much too," Elma said. Her gaze lingered on him. "Some... more than others."
Eagle's brow formed a bead or two of sweat.
Her eyes narrowed. "You're dying to ask something, aren't you?"
Eagle opened his mouth... lingered... and eventually blurted, "How did you know you were freed from Chrysalis the moment that it happened?"
Elma blinked. "That's not what you wanted to ask me."
Eagle was already nodding. "The question that really bothers me is something I'll have to figure out on my own."
"Very well." Elma trotted quietly towards him. "You want to know how sure I am of my connection to Chrysalis? I'll tell you..."
Outside, a tiny peach-colored shape huddled against the door. Kera pressed her ear against the frame, hearing the muffled sounds of Elma's and Eagle's voices. One sounded decidedly more distressed than the other. Soon, the conversation quieted, and hoofsteps came closer towards her.
With a sharp inhale, Kera flattened herself against the wall and flinched as the hatch swung open and in front of her.
Eagle Eye stepped out, his eyes glazed and distant. He stared at the floor, his ears twitching.
Elma trotted out after him. "Eagle Eye..." She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Is... is there anything I can do?"
"I'm... n-not the one who needs help."
"I think I've been getting by quite nicely," she said with a nervous chuckle.
"I... w-wasn't talking about you either," he said.
She blinked curiously at that.
He turned and gave her a light hug. "Thanks for being so gracious to talk to me, Elma. I hope I didn't disturb you too badly."
"Not at all, Eagle Eye. Quite frankly, I'm glad to have somepony to talk to."
"You can come visit me and the other guys anytime..." He leaned back and smiled at her. "No need to stay down here all the time, alone with your thoughts."
"It's... b-been difficult coming out of my shell," she murmured, when winced. "Especially now that I'm getting used to the shell being inside of me..."
"Heh, I can only imagine."
"But... I-I think I'll take you up on your offer," she said with a smile. "These have been an anxious few days waiting for Alafreo's western bluffs to show. I wouldn't mind getting some sunshine."
"Yes..." Eagle smiled faintly and climbed up the ladder to the second level above. "Just don't let Josho blot out the daylight. The old stallion will do that."
"Heheh..." Elma waved. "Have a pleasant evening, Eagle Eye." She stood there, hugging herself slightly. Then, with a contented sigh, she backtrotted into the navigation room, closing the hatch behind her. Giving the handle a twist, she turned around.
Kera sat in the middle of the floor.
Elma jumped back, her green eyes flaming with fright. "Goodness!" She breathed and breathed... then exhaled with relief. "Kera, you gave me quite the start. What are you doing up this late, little filly?"
The foal stared up at her with unflinching green eyes.
Elma's fanged lips pursed. "Kera?" She took a nervous step forward. "Kera, what's wrong, honey?"
Kera started shaking. At last, she blurted, "Fix me."
"Huh?"
"Please." A tear ran down Kera's tattooed cheek as she sniffled. "I n-need you to fix m-me again..."
Elma couldn't help it. She chuckled slightly, nevertheless bestowing Kera a confused expression. "Fix you? What... wh-what do you mean, child?"
"Please..." Kera sniffled, trying her best to stand up straight as another tear rolled down her face. "You can do it. I know you can. You've done it before."
"I... I don't know what you mean..."
"Don't... grkkk..." Kera hissed, her upper body heaving in anguish. She stumbled, but caught herself with an oustretched hoof in time to sputter: "D-don't play d-dumb! You're the reason I'm here. You're the reason I'm talking... walking... living."
Elma stared at her. After a deep breath, she murmured, "Kera..."
"I need you to fix me! Right n-now!" Kera began hyperventilating, her knees wobbling. "Don't make me beg you."
"What I did was very impulsive and dangerous," Elma said. "I nearly hurt myself very badly. And to what end?" She tried smiling reassuringly. "Kera, it was your inner strength that kept you preserved all this time. All I did was pull the wool out from over your eyes. Being 'fixed' has nothing to do with it—"
"But you did it!" Kera shrieked. "You totally did! And it's... it's fading..." Kera gave the walls a five thousand mile stare as her breaths came in tiny little squreaks. "I can feel the fire again. I can smell the blood." Her ears folded as she started backing up from everything and nothing. "He's coming... he's coming to g-get me..." Sparks billowed out from her horn. Everything that wasn't bolted down inside the navigation room lifted slowly into the air. "I can see his eye in the starlight... like a beacon... and he's going to f-find me!"
Elma panicked. She batted floating books away, rushed forward, and grasped Kera's shoulders. "Kera! Please! Concentrate! You mustn't—!"
"Eeenngh!" Kera lightly batted Elma's forelimb. The changeling flew across the room as if launched by a cannon. As Elma's vision returned, she looked up to see Kera stumbling against the door to the engine room. By now, the bulkheads were rattling from the sheer energy wafting off of the filly's horn. "Fix me! Quick! Before he makes another pony suffer!" She sobbed into her curled hooves while her mane billowed behind her. "I don't him to get Mommy and Daddy! It's all my fault! It's all m-my f-f-fault!"
"K-Kera...!" Elma winced. She saw the rivets jostling on the doorframe to the engine room. Cursing under her breath, she briskly spun around and climbed up the vertical passageway to the Noble Jury's second floor.
Pilate's ears twitched. Seconds later, his blind eyes opened. He sat up in bed, holding his breath.
"Nnnngh... guh... b-beloved...?" Bellesmith murmured drowsily, turning over beneath the covers. "What... mmmf... what is it...?"
"Do you hear that?"
"I l-left my magical zebra senses b-back in Ledomare, Pilate..."
"Belle, I... I think the ship is shaking?"
"Mmmm?" Belle looked up, eyes thin as paper slits. "Maybe Roarke is finally taking her aggressions out on Zaid."
"Belle, I'm serious..."
With a creak, the door to the cabin flew open.
"Who—?!" Pilate gasped.
Belle looked over, squinting. "Elma...?" She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Elma Boreal? What's the matter?"
"Please..." Elma stammered between panting breaths. "You two need to come down to the navigation room. Quick."
"What's going on, Elma?" Pilate asked, stretching his hooves and swinging out of his cot. "You sound terribly distraught."
Belle blinked. The bleariness flew out of her eyes in a flash. "Kera...!" She reached to the wall, lit the lamp, and glanced up at the empty bunkbed above them. Jaw agape, she looked at Elma.
Elma merely bit her lip.
Belle flew out of bed and scampered into the hallway.
"Belle!" Pilate wheezed, stumbling to catch up. Elma held his hoof and led him carefully towards the vertical chamber. "Belle, don't go alone!"
"He's right, Belle!" Elma called out.
Belle was already sliding down the ladder between the observation room and navigation. Before she even reached the bottom floor, a strong wave of mana shoved her off the rungs. Her body flew heavily into the makeshift barrier erected in the doorframe to the observation room. "Oooof!" She rolled onto the ground, her mane kicked by an otherworldly wind. She looked up—wincing—and saw a pulsating source of green light inside the navigation room.
"Blessed Spark..."
"Belle! How bad is it?!" Pilate shouted from above.
Elma's voice interrupted. "I'm sorry, Belle! She just came to me after I was finished talking with Eagle Eye! I didn't even realize she had entered the room!" The changeling carefully made her way down with Pilate. The two picked Belle up and braced themselves against the waves of telekinesis. "She asked me to 'fix her!' The poor thing was so frightened and confused! Suddenly, before I knew it, she was starting to have a panic attack!"
"That's one way of putting it!" Pilate exclaimed, then bravely trotted towards the doorway. "Kera! Kera, darling! Please, calm down! We're here, Kera! Everything's going to be alright!"
"Nnnnnghhh!" Kera was curled up in a little ball on the floor, gnashing her teeth as books and blankets and shredded map parts swirled around her. "Mommmmmmy! Dadddddyyy! He's killing everypony! I can't stop him!"
"Oh Spark..." Belle grimaced, her eyes tearing into the magical wind. "She's relapsing."
"I b-beg to differ, beloved," Pilate said, shading himself with an oustretched hoof. "I don't believe she's ever stopped drowning in it."
"She came so close to begging me to help her again." Elma gulped. "Perhaps... p-perhaps it would be for the best if I—"
"No!" Belle frowned. "That is not the solution! Not for you! Not for her!"
"But... but maybe if you just let me—"
"Pilate!" Belle called over Elma's shoulder. "Can you get in there?"
"Yes!" Pilate said through gritting teeth as he trudged bravely against the telekinesis. "I do believe so!"
"If we can just get to her, maybe we can comfort her!" Belle said.
"I'm... tr-trying...!" Pilate marched and marched... and slipped.
Belle braced his body with her own, giving him leverage. "Here, Pilate. T-together!"
"Kera! We're here!" Pilate exclaimed, practically tugging himself one hoof at a time into the center of the magical maelstrom. "Darling, you can relax! You're no longer in Lerris! Nopony is in Lerris! Most expecially you!"
"He won't stop for n-nothing!" Kera squealed. "Mommy! Daddy! You have to go away!"
"We're not leaving you, Kera!" Pilate shouted in a determined voice. "Don't you fret! Your mother and father will be right th—"
"Pilate."
The zebra's ears tilted back towards Bellesmith. His name had barely been whispered against the cocophony. Both mates knew that only he could hear it.
With a neutral expression she said, "We cannot feed it anymore."
Pilate clenched his jaw tight.
"I know it will hurt her," Belle said.
Pilate hung his head. Then, after a heavy breath, he lunged forward, gripping the doorframe to steady himself. "Nnnnngh—Kera!"
"D-Daddy?!" Kera yelped above the noise.
"Kera, they're dead!"
The little foal's eyes popped wide—glowing.
The zebra struggled to shout, "Mommy and Daddy are dead!" He took the blow of a book slapping across his metal plate and grunted, "They died years ago, Kera! You couldn't save them any more than you could save Lerris! But none of it was your fault!" He barely dodged a desk lamp flinging past his skull. "And you know what?! You overcame that tragedy! Your strength and charisma carried you out of that pit and brought you into our arms! Me! Pilate! My beloved! Belle! You came to us and you savedus!"
"They're gone. But you're not! And neither are us!" Pilate hollered. "Kera, please!" He clawed across the floor with his forelimbs and tugged himself towards her with Belle in tow. "Come back to us! We need you! We need the brave little filly again!"
"I... I-I can't..."
"Nothing hurts more than knowing how helpless one can be!" Pilate shouted. "But listen to me! Trust me! There is strength on the other side! You just have to be brave enough to cross it! Nopony else can bridge it for you! Don't stay alone in the dark where our love can only barely reach you!"
"Just... just feel so..." Kera's teeth gnashed. "So... so..."
Pilate nodded. "I feel angry too! And sad!" Pilate stretched a hoof out. "Welcome to the club, precious. Induction is the worst and most painful part..."
Kera's body shook, quivered, and heaved. With a low pitched roar at first, then ascending into a violent wail, she yelled for a good twenty seconds. Every floating bit of debris flew outwards like particles from an exploding atom, colliding with the walls and falling limply to the floor as the green pulsing manastorm finally ended.
All was silent, save for Kera's quiet sobs.
Gathering his breath, Pilate stood up straight with Belle's help. Both rushed into the center of the room and scooped Kera up into their arms, holding her close.
"Kera, I'm so sorry. We're going to get through this, darling," Belle said, nuzzling the filly. "I promise you. You're a strong little pony. You can take on anything."
"It's so horrible..." Kera whimpered, covering her eyes with a pair of hooves. "Every time I dream. Every time I see darkness. He's there."
"We can't allow him to haunt us forever, Kera," Pilate said. "We have to live past the anguish. We have to show that he's not won."
"Just... so... so mad..." Kera hiccuped, burying her face in Belle's chest. "So stupid..."
"Nothing stupid about needing to find yourself," Bell murmured, kissing her forehead. "No matter how many steps it takes..."
Kera said nothing. She simply shivered, surrendering to Belle's and Pilate's embrace.
Eventually, the door to the engine room opened up, and Props stumbled in, clutching a wrench. "Where?! Where are the windigoes?! Hmmm?" She slid her goggles up and blinked at the tender scene. "Oh. You guys. Did Kera eat the windigoes?"
"So... uh... is she..." Rainbow Dash scratched her chin and turned to gaze sleepily towards Pilate. "Is she pulling on through?"
Pilate cracked the door shut to Belle and Kera's crew quarters. He then tilted his head towards the pegasus. "It is difficult to say. There really is no measure for this sort of a thing. She'll most likely be dealing with these scars for the rest of her life, as will the rest of us."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "I understand. Believe me."
"I'm simply glad that Elma came to us when she did. The sheer amount of magic that Kera can channel is unbelievable. We were quite close to losing another part of the Noble Jury."
"I heard a lot of screwy stuff went down while she was losing it."
"Nothing we can't live without," Pilate said. Then, with a nervous chuckle, he said, "Nothing Mr. Floydien can't live without."
"Yeah, but we all know how much you like maps and books n'crap."
"Regardless, most of that stuff is behind me. Behind all of us." Pilate leaned back on his haunches. "I'm good at following maps, Rainbow Dash. I'm not quite so good at making them."
"Val Roa's east of us, right?"
"Er... from what I understand."
Rainbow smiled wearily. "Then all we need is for a few good ponies to point us towards it and we're good. Who needs a map?"
"Well... erm..."
She shrugged. "I got along just fine without a map for the longest time."
"Yes. And it served you well."
"It could serve us all well, you know."
"But it's unknown territory, Rainbow," Pilate remarked with a gaping expression. "I know we haven't yet got evidence of any wars or tyrannies taking place, but it's still a whole new continent with hitherto undiscovered—"
"We have the Sword of Solstice," Rainbow said with a smile. "We have first access to the voice and wisdom of Princess Celestia." She winked. "I think we've got things covered in the safety department."
Pilate took a deep breath. "Yes... yes, I suppose we should look on the bright side of things. Erm..." He winced. "All puns forgiven."
"Spoken like a true blind zebra."
"Props has the skystone working. Kera may be struggling, but at least she's speaking again. Roarke's on our side once more. You're no longer having your dizzy spells. We're about to make landfall at any moment—"
"Four times."
Pilate's ears flicked. "I beg your pardon?"
Rainbow sighed out her nostrils and murmured, "I've had dizzy spells four times since we left Stratopolis."
"Four... t-times...?"
"Mmmmf..." Rainbow Dash nodded, gazing off down the second floor corridor. "I can't very well count the moments that happen in my sleep."
"Rainbow...!" Pilate hissed with a shocked expression. "Why haven't you told anypony? Are they happening more frequently? I-I mean, are they worse than before or—"
"Eh, it's about the same, really," Rainbow murmured, kicking at the floor with a loose hoof. "Truth is, they never go away. I'm just super thankful that they haven't recently screwed me over while I'm having to kick monster butt or fly at the speed of sound with tons and tons of ponies' lives depending on me."
Pilate sighed, hanging his head. "But nopony as well as you." He swallowed. "I suppose, with all of the many-many horrible things that we do battle with on a regular basis, it's so terribly easy to forget that the biggest crisis of all hasn't ceased to plague you."
"I wouldn't call it the 'biggest' crisis, dude," Rainbow said. "The 'lamest,' sure, but that's my thing to deal with."
"Not by yourself, Rainbow."
"Pilate..." Rainbow leaned forward with calm eyes. "Everypony here is a super awesome group. I have no doubt that—if they all wanted to—they could keep the Noble Jury flying forever. But that's not gonna work for everypony. And besides, who wants that? You all need a place to settle."
"And what of you, Rainbow Dash?" Pilate asked quietly. "Have you put more thought into that now that we're almost clear of the Wastes?"
Rainbow stood up straight. "There's only one way for me to ever settle."
Pilate was silent.
Flexing her wings, Rainbow shuffled past him. "You should rest. Stick close to Belle and Kera. They need you."
"Rainbow—"
"With the observation room wrecked, I really have no snazzy place I like to sleep. Not that I could get much shuteye anyway." She headed towards the crawlspace and pulled herself up the ladder rungs. "I think I'll hang out up top and wait for sunrise. I still got lots to chat with Her Highness about."
Once she was gone, Pilate silently hung his head, turned towards his room, and slid inside quietly.
Inside the mess hall, Eagle Eye sat on a sofa facing the port side windows. He was slumped down with his chin resting on his folded hooves. Silken violent hair draped over his head as he gazed lethargically into the metal surfaces of the bulkheads.
Something cast shadows against the manalight. Ebon trotted over, exhaling with relief. "Yeahhhhh... feels like it's been ages since I gave the kitchen that good of a scrub down." He paused, blinking down at Eagle Eye. A tiny chuckle escaped his lips. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's sleepless."
Eagle Eye said nothing.
Clearing his throat, Ebon leaned against the sofa. "I heard there was... er... some unpleasant business downstairs where Elma was bunking."
"Hrmmm... I wasn't privy to the conversation," Eagle Eye muttered. "Something to do with poor little Kera."
"Or perhaps you couldn't hear over Josho's snoring?"
"... ... ..."
Ebon fidgeted. "I... I-I'm sorry. That was inappropriate timing for a joke—"
"No. It was..." Eagle exhaled. "It was pretty funny."
"You seem exhausted. Perhaps you'd rather sleep where it's less bright?"
"It's not sleep," Eagle Eye droned.
"Then what's bothering you?"
The stallion didn't say anything.
Ebon bit his lip. At first, it looked like he was collapsing in slow motion. Whatever the case, with little hesitant shudders, he drooped down until he was lying on the sofa besides Eagle Eye. Leaning over, he softly rested the weight of his head and mane against the ex-mercenary's.
"We've been through so much... but we're past it now," Ebon murmured in a shaky voice. "We should be happy. Don't we deserve to be happy?"
Eagle Eye took a deep breath. He reached over and wrapped a hoof around Ebon's shoulder. "I am happy. I'm just... I'm just tired as well. But... it's different." He sighed out his nostrils and gazed at the portholes once more. "Everything is different."
Ebon fought the urge to reply, but failed. "I don't want you to be different."
"Hey." Eagle Eye raised Ebon's face so that they were gazing at each other. "Hey. Look right here. It's me. Okay? I haven't gone anywhere and I'm not about to."
Ebon gazed anxiously at him. After several seconds, he cracked a soft, weak smike. "Okay...."
Eagle slid both forelimbs forward, enveloping Ebon into a tender hug. Ebon sniffled once, but quieted as he nestled his chin into Eagle's soft mane. All the while, Eagle remained staring quietly—pensively—into the corners of the room.
Hours passed. Somepony fell asleep before the other. The night carried on.
Rainbow Dash lay upside down, her head dangling off the very bow of the Noble Jury. She squinted at the dim horizon while the wind kicked at her prismatic mane After several languishing minutes, she rolled her eyes, yawned, and kicked off the ship's hull. Flapping her wings, she carried herself around and about until she glided to a stop in the middle of the top deck where the golden sword waited.
Picking the hilt of the weapon up in the crook of her hoof, she swung it a bit left and right, feeling the weight of the thing. Not long after, a shuffling sound came to a stop behind her.
"Hmmmf... morning, Floydien," Rainbow muttered without looking. "Say, it's gonna be sunrise soon. Ya mind slowing the ship down a bit so that the wind won't be so noisy? Thanks."
"The only thing I can do with wind is break it," Josho's voice said.
Rainbow blinked, then glanced over her shoulder. "Oh." A bleary smile. "Hey, big fella."
"Hi yourself, ya talking surf board." Josho strolled to her side, his eyes on the sword. "You still out here talking to Your High and Sliceyness?"
"Actually, just about to," Rainbow said, stifling a yawn. She motioned towards the half-open cockpit where Floydien's cloven hooves could be seen. "Was hoping to tell the sky elk to slow us down a bit so I can hear Celestia's voice better when the dawn breaks."
"Don't we have some place to be?"
"And we'll get there better with an alicorn's illumination to light the way. Trust me."
"Yeah. Sure." Josho turned around and leaned lazily against the edge of the deck. "You think she'll tell us anymore about Chrysalis?"
"Believe it or not, but I think we know more about her than the Princess does."
"No kidding?"
"I guess? I dunno..." Rainbow shrugged and stared at her reflection in the blade. Her eyes spun around each of the six multi-colored jewels. "You know, you think you're on your own. Even with a gaggle of friends, you think that all that matters is fighting off creeps and getting out alive. And then you find out that something you've done has incidentally saved an entire race of ponies all across the world. Saved them from oppression and all that unsexy stuff."
"Do you feel like a hero?"
"I feel freaked out of my featherstalks," Rainbow Dash muttered, her eyes darting over towards him. "It's enough that I worry about you and the rest of the Jury. But to be constantly reminded that—like—the stuff I do and can do may have an impact on the rest of the world?"
"Yeah, well..." Josho shrugged. "You seem like the mare for the job."
"Sure. Maybe." Rainbow exhaled softly as she gazed at the blade. "Still, it was really wicked sweet to get this blade out of the whole mess. Almost like a trophy, only it lets me catch up with stuff back at home."
"You don't sound half as enthused as somepony might think."
"Only 'cuz, for the longest time, I wasn't." She turned and smiled limply at the horizon ahead of them. "You know, there was a time when I absolutely hated the very sight of the rising sun."
Josho squinted. "Then why did you friggin' fly towards it?"
"Because I had to be better than that which I detested," Rainbow said. She turned and gave Josho a warm grin. "Now I'm struggling to be just as good as that which I love."
With a nod, Josho quietly said, "You know, you spend your whole life searching. But if you live long enough, you find yourself questioning whether or not you deserve all the stuff you've ultimately found."
"Yeah, well, here's hoping I live long enough to at least find that out." Rainbow twirled the sword around with a sigh. "'Cuz I sure don't have time or room for a trophy case."
Bellesmith snuggled tightly against Pilate's side in the warm shadows of their bunkroom. She stirred and stretched, a contented smile on her face. Turning over, she reached a hoof out and stretched it around a foal-shaped impression in the cot... only the foal was gone.
Belle's eyes fluttered open. She lifted her head up, staring at the blank space. A length of bedsheets lay on the floor, trailing towards the compartment's cracked door.
After a long exhale, she droned: "Pilate."
"Mmmm?"
"She did it again."
"Mmmm..."
Not even half a second later, a high-pitched screech emanated from the far side of the Noble Jury. Frightened out of his stripes, Pilate jumped straight up and slammed his metal forehead against the top bunk. "Augh!"
Inside the mess hall, Eagle Eye flew out of the sofa with a start. He telekinetically tugged all around him for a sword that wasn't there. Panting, he heard the shriek once again and whirled to face the kitchen.
"Ebon?!"
"How in all that is roasted and garlicky could this have happened?!"
"Ebon!" Eagle Eye hyperventilated and broke into a gallop. The panicked figures of Belle and Pilate weren't far behind. "Hold on! I'm coming!"
Eagle Eye burst into the kitchen, breathless. There, he and Belle and Pilate saw the cook sitting on his haunches, pulling at his mane in utter shock and horror.
Several pantry doors were hanging wide open. Dozens of pots and pans and containers lay on the floor amidst a liberal scattering of spilt foodstuffs. Sitting atop an overturned pot inside a halo of crumbs, Kera balanced a bowl of lettuce in her lap and munched, munched, munched away. Upon the culmination of Ebon's ramblings, she stared up with bored eyes.
"Hrmmmfff?" She gulped. "What? I was hungry."
"But... but..." Ebon whimpered, lips quivering. "I was saving that! Rationing it! For all of us!"
Kera gulped again. "Well, that's kind of selfish, don't you think?"
"Kera...?!" Belle squeaked.
"Hey Belle. Hey Pilate." Kera smirked and held up a hoof-full of greens. "Want a helping? It's not grasshoppers, but I'm sure your squishy belly can deal. Meh."
"Kera, what's gotten into you?" Belle remarked, flabbergasted.
"Half of our rations in one sitting, that's what!" Ebon stomped his hooves, frowning. "What I want to know is how! You're just one filly! What could possess you to raid our own storage like this?!"
"Nnnnng-mmmmmmff!" Zaid slid out from behind an open closet, scarfing down a carrot stalk. He gulped and waved a clump of half-eaten vegetables in front of the filly's face. "Hey, kiddo, you've got to try this crud out. It can make your eyes see for miiiiiiles."
"Grrrrrrrrrrrr—Zaaaaaaaaaaid?!" Ebon's teeth grind so hard they could produce sparks.
"Hey there, Sailbuttboat!" Zaid grinned. "Nice stalks. I didn't know you had so many of them! Well... urp... until an hour ago, at least. Seriously, did it ever occur to you to bake a cake?"
"What's the meaning of all this?!" Ebon shouted.
Eagle tried sneaking up. "Ebon, calm down—"
"I'll calm down once he's tossed into the ocean along with a ball and chain!" The cook pointed and hollered.
"Hey, relax!" Zaid shrugged. "So the little tyke comes to me, saying she's got a case of the munchies. And I was like 'Shoot, that's funny, I've had the same case for thirty-five consecutive days, only no munchies!' So that's when we figured, 'Hey, let's tackle our munchies together, and then the rest of the crew will be safe!'" He belched, then grinned crookedly. "That makes sense in some parallel universe, right?"
"We have vanquished the munchies," Kera said in a dramatic voice.
"Belle..." Pilate tugged at the mare's front right forelimb. "If you don't mind..."
"My pleasure." She stuck her hoof out so that the zebra could rest his face against it.
"Ebon..." Eagle patted the enraged stallion's back and whispered into his ear. "The first killing is always the hardest. Are you sure you wanna trot down this road...?"
"Wuh oh..." Kera said, wide-eyed, from behind a head of lettuce.
Sweating, Zaid gave a nervous smile before dangling a limp bag of loose breadcrumbs. "Uhm... some croutons...?"
"Whoops-a-poopsy!" Zaid scampered to his hooves, scooped Kera up, and bolted out into the stairwell. "Time to make like leaves and burn!"
"Get back here, you pee-haired cult-sucker!" Ebon bellowed in a hysterical pitch.
"Ebon! Don't! Ebon!" Eagle galloped after him.
Belle and Pilate were left alone in the littered kitchen.
"Is it safe to look?" Pilate tilted his head up. "Even for a blind pony."
"I don't know..."
"And should we be worried for Kera?" Pilate fidgeted. "Or happy for her?"
"I... don't know." Belle gulped. "Perhaps both."
"I'm gonna strangle you with your own manure-eating grin!" Ebon's voice shouted from the stairwell.
"Whoah, doggy." Josho spun about with wide eyes. "No way in Ledo's uvula did the cook's balls drop overnight."
"Buh?" Rainbow Dash craned her neck to see.
Zaid galloped at full-speed onto the deck with Kera strapped to his back: "Weeeeeeee!"
"I mean it!" Ebon snarled, nearly foaming out the mouth as he chased the gangly stallion around and around the skystone support masts. "I'll bury you so deep at sea that even whale crap won't reach you!"
"H-heyyy!" Josho grined, cracking his neck joints. "I want in on this!"
"No, you don't, old stallion!" Eagle huffed, then tried in vain to throw his petite weight in between the bodies of the fray. "Everypony, please! Murdering each other is very unfriendly! At least last time I checked!"
"Eagle, I adore you, but the next time you hug me it'll be through the trenchcoat I've made of his flesh!"
"Pfft. A trenchcoat?" Zaid stuck his head out from around a mast, grinning. "Be economic, dude. Make a hoodie." THWACK! An angry burgundy hoof slammed into the wood, forcing Zaid to peak out the other side. "Fine. A scarf?" THWACK! Zaid backtrotted, sweating, from the middle of the deck. "You know what? Screw it. Hipsters stopped getting into taxedermy as soon as it became popular."
"Grrrrrr!" Ebon launched himself at Zaid, only to be held back by Eagle Eye. This didn't stop Ebon's hooves from reaching Zaid's neck, and soon all three stallions were being jostled and tugged around.
"Hey!" Kera giggled, pointing at Ebon's face. "I didn't think it was possible to be that red!"
"Yeah..." Josho chuckled. "It's like a raddish giving birth to beets that like to pleasure themselves in vats of ketchup!"
"Josho!" Rainbow gasped. "Ebon!" She gasped again. Flapping her wings with a snarling expression, she hung over the wrestling crowd. "Dudes! For real! Quit it before I wreck it!"
"Don't look at me, Ralphbow Dash!" Zaid wished. "He's the one with the Jockey Dahmer complex!"
"You cost us our entire remaining stockpile of food!"
"Dude, I offered you croutons!"
"This is seriously getting out of hoof, Ebon—"
"Zaid, knock it off!"
"He's the one with the knocking and the offing!"
"Please, just—"
"Everypony—"
"If we could only—"
"Hey..." Kera squinted eastward, shadowing a hoof over her eyes. "Why's the sun so tiny?"
"Kera, what are you even talking about?" Rainbow Dash turned to look. Her eyes blinked wide.
The struggling stallions froze in place. Zaid, Ebon, and Eagle blinked like some three-headed beast.
Josho stepped out onto the ship's edge, staring out onto the horizon. High above the water, a tiny light pulsed... pulsed... and pulsed again. It stood out as a pinprick of illumination against a flat, dim horizon.
"That... that's not the sun," Rainbow Dash murmured. She glanced down at the dull, glossy sword, then back at the horizon. "It's not up for at least a half-hour."
"That's because some boomer is giving us the glow glow." The cockpit door opened the rest of the way. Floydien poked his head out from the pilot's chamber. "Nancy Jane has been seen."
"You mean...?" Ebon murmured.
"A lighthouse," Eagle Eye said, his expert gaze locked east.
Rainbow Dash hovered a bit higher. As she did so, she heard the distant roar of crashing waves.
Floydien had slowed the Noble Jury's approach with Props' help. The vessel was now cruising eastward at an easy glide. The entire crew stood on the top deck, peering into the spectacle before them. The closer they came to land, the louder the crashing surf pounded their ears from below, approaching an almost absurd volume. This was because the land didn't have any soft, sandy shores to be seen. Everything was sharp rock and jagged shoals. The earth didn't rise gently out of the surf. It jutted steeply and violently out of the ocean, forming a series of outrageously thin pillars that stubbornly resisted the tide. In fact, these needle-thin mesas stretched eastward for as far as the crew could see, rising gradually with taller and taller spikes—dark and gritty at the bottom but topped off with dewy frost and splotches of alabaster marble at the peaks. The air was cold, but not frigid. Constantly, the waves threw themselves at the jagged bluffs with such strength that the spray reached as high up as where the Noble Jury hovered, sprinkling moisture onto the timid flesh of the gazing crew.
The lighthouse that first alerted the crew turned out to be a far more elaborate thing as the vessel drew closer. It wasn't anchored to the ocean floor, but rather propped on the very top of the westernmost cluster of earthen spikes. Several of the jagged peaks had metal braces attached in a circle. These iron beams crossed over in a spiraling fashion, supporting a heavy vertical stalk in the center that erected itself high above the rest of the landscape. A skeletonous array of diagonal metal bars wound about the entire vertical length, encasing a spiral staircase that culminated in a singular black box of a room within the bars—located right beneath the brightly lit lamp that illuminated the lighthouse as a whole.
Down by the base of the "tower," several metal planks and walkways led to a cluster of humble little shacks—all crafted out of iron and aluminum—that balanced themselves perfectly atop an array of flat brass plates. Along the outer fringes and facing the ocean, a series of gardens and planted flowers rested in shallow troughs. A few spaces over, several windsocks and pinwheels faced the sea, twirling in the constant breeze. It was a strangely tranquil sight that precariously loomed a few dozen feet above cacophonous, crashing waves.
The sun had risen by the time Rainbow and the crew passed by the pulsating light house, and yet Rainbow's focus wasn't on the Sword of Solstice. She hovered in little hummingbird zig-zags around the ship, studying the landscape from every possible angle.
"It's... it's not abandoned, is it?" Ebon remarked.
"Who do you think lit the lighthouse?" Josho grumbled. "Cockroaches?"
"I can't imagine anypony having to constantly deal with this noise," Bellesmith said with Kera balanced on her shoulders.
"I don't think it is ponies, beloved."
"I can't see anyone," Rainbow Dash said. She glanced back at the ship from where she hovered alongside it. "Who would want to live out here?"
"I know!" Props nodded. "It's only an island!"
"I don't think so," Eagle Eye said from where he leaned over the deck near the bow. He looked north and west with a peering gaze. "Or, if it is, it's a large island."
"Do you see where the jagged bluffs end?" Ebon asked.
"Uhm... I think the jagged bluffs are what make this place."
"Neato keano," Props murmured.
"If this is the mainland, then we stand to be outnumbered," Roarke droned. She gazed over at Josho. "This might be a good time to grab your gun."
"Right—"
"No!" Rainbow Dash spun, waving a hoof. "We're here to be peaceful!"
"And how do we know that they are gonna be peaceful?" Josho muttered.
Ebon gulped. "Everywhere we seem to go, things are wanting to kill us."
"Come on, burgundy." Zaid smirked. "Have a smidgeon of faith for once."
"You're lucky I don't give you a smidgeon of arsenic."
"Pfft. You still on that, buddy?"
"I'm with Mr. Zaid on this one," Pilate said, then squirmed. "Partly." He cleared his throat. "Let's not jump to conclusions."
"Yes," Roarke nodded with glinting lenses. "Let's just let the local populace jump us first."
"Roarke..." Rainbow muttered.
"Hey." Kera pointed. "Look."
Everyone turned their heads to see.
As the ship passed over a cluster of jagged peaks, they spotted a round plate situated on the very top of it. A two-story shack was situated in the center of the plate, and the crew could see a figure shuffling slowly, slowly out of the front door. In the early dawnlight, a peppery turtle shell glinted. A reptilian head looked up, then smiled a beaked smile before waving limply at the Jury. As the shadow of the ship passed, the turtle continued his long stroll towards the first of several metal hanging bridges fastened between more plates resting atop more stone peaks.
"Well, they seem friendly enough," Props said. She adjusted the goggles over her eyes and blinked at the others. "Unless waving is a turtle's way of saying 'Die a thousand deaths in candle-time.'"
"So, is this it, then?" Ebon remarked. "Is this Alafreo?"
"All of it is Alafreo," Elma said. Everypony turned to her. She stood in the doorframe to the cockpit with a dull expression hanging off her chitinous features. "The province covers a good chunk of the northwest edge of the continent, at least until the land draws dense to the east, beyond the Churning Line."
Rainbow flew down and hovered before Elma. "We could totally use your help in getting around this place, Elma."
The changeling gulped and nodded. "I'm very much willing to do what I can."
"But still... if you're up to it, we could..." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. "You know..."
Elma nodded. "I've been thinking about it a lot. Especially... uhm... especially overnight." Her eyes fell upon the furthest edge of the group.
Eagle Eye avoided her gaze, fidgeting.
Elma glanced back up at Rainbow Dash. "But... b-but would you be willing to talk to the cityfolk first? I... I-I don't think I'm quite ready to see my family again. I mean..." She winced. "Elma's family..."
"Sure thing." Rainbow nodded. "We'll do whatever we can. So... uhm..." She cleared her throat. "What city is this and how do we find it?"
"Look for a large cluster of brass plates centered around a tall stone spire with pronged peaks. There'll be a bright violet torch burning in a cauldron hanging from the two promontories. It's... r-rather high up, and definitely north from here. There'll be some snow, but no blizzards. At least... hopefully not."
"Uhhh..."
"And the township's name is Abinadi," Elma said. "If you have a hard time finding it, you can ask any of the sentries."
"Sentries?"
"Peak Watchers on small dirigibles," she explained. "They're probably taking off right now as we speak. Eagle could easily spot them. They're always tethered to a rocky Sentry Station on the outlying spires."
"Well, alright." Rainbow nodded and flew out beyond the edge of the ship. "Watching for Peak Watchers. You got all that, EE?"
"Right. On it," the stallion said, peering.
"Is it a bad thing if I'm excited?" Props said in a bouncy tone.
"Speak for yourself," Roarke droned. She sat back on her haunches and folded her forelimbs. "Looks like I'm not shooting anyone today."
"Good heavens!" A snapping turtle adjusted his bifocals and smiled against the early morning glow. "They have wings now!"
Rainbow Dash hovered in front of him. "Errrrrr... yeah. Sure."
The Noble Jury was yards behind her, coasting eastward slowly. Rainbow had jumped off and flown over to speak with the pilot of a tiny, tiny gondola suspended from a wobbly balloon. Tiny gears and motors puttered all around the miniature gondola, and a thick rope connected it to one of several jutting cliffaces down below.
"Tell me, madame, are they real?" the turtle asked. "Or the product of leather stitchwork combined with mana reinforcement?"
"Seeing as I was born with them, I'd say they're about as real as horse wings get," Rainbow said with a nervous laugh.
The turtle laughed, coughed, then ultimately cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yes. Well, we certainly don't get much like you visiting around these parts." He adjusted the controls of his dirigible, pivoting it around to face her more directly. "As a Peak Watcher, I often dream of spotting more exciting things than the errant, stray seagull."
"Believe me. There are a lot of 'exciting things' from back west that you are better off without brushing paths with."
"So you are from across the Wastes, then? Hmmm?"
"Er... yeah. You could totally say that." Rainbow nodded. "Well, I guess the bulk of my friends on board, are." She pointed at the Noble Jury. "Three are Ledomaritan. One's a Xonan, another's Searonese. Two are from Gray Smoke. One's from Franzington. And then we've got an elk and... uhm... an idiot."
"Sorry to say, but very few of those names have any meaning to me, madame," the turtle said. "Except for Ledomare and Xona, of course. Horrible... terrible war they're embroiled in, from what we Alifreons have heard."
"Well, actually, that war's kinda sorta over."
"Oh really?" He smiled through his beak. "How fanciful. There seems to be a common pattern now."
"What... k-kind of pattern?"
"Three fishing ships have returned to the Churning Bluffs over the past week, and all of them have claimed that the Flurries have dissipated. Hah! Can you imagine, the Wastes without a maelstrom!" The turtle adjusted his bifocals again. "I'll tell you one thing for sure. It'll certainly make trade and shipping lanes a lot less treacherous."
"Yeah, imagine that." Rainbow fidgeted in midair. "Say, uhm. Sorry to break a conversation short, but I gotta get my friends someplace."
"And just where might you be heading?"
"We're looking for a town called 'Abinadi.' I... uh... I do hope I'm pronouncing that right."
"Hmmmm... Good metalworking village. Also, home to some of the finest filet of fish this side of the Churning Line." The turtle smiled. "The twin peaks above the township hold a burning brazier that is almost impossible to miss."
"Yeah. I've heard about that. But I still dunno whether we're to head north or south."
"You'll wish to turn north a bit," the turtle said, rotating his gondola about so he could point past a ridge of rocky spires. "Skim the southern edge of the bouldery ridges. You'll know you're getting close once you see smoke in the air. There's a foundry not far from the twin peaks, and it's constantly billowing fumes from the forging stations. They built it so that the smog is carried off along the northern currents, you see."
"Alrighty. Thanks a ton."
"No, thank you." The turtle smirked as he pulled a pair of levers and ascended his balloon. "For giving me a conversation I won't soon forget."
Rainbow Dash flew low over the crooked rock structures. Every now and then she'd look behind to make sure the Noble Jury was following closely. Floydien and somepony else inside the cockpit would signal back, so Rainbow continued her careful flight.
Every now and then, a nervous twitch would overcome the mare, and she'd jerk her eyes left and right, envisioning some horrible battleship emerging from the spires or a deeply nestled sniper with a manarifle attempting to pick her friends off. But nothing dramatic of the sort happened. The air was calm, blisteringly cold, but somehow soothing. Flakes of snow fell gently to the rock summits, and far below Rainbow could hear the roar of waves constantly churning between the hard foundations of the slender mesas. It made for a soothing backdrop of white noise to the mostly peaceful environment.
At last, she did see smoke. A current of dark gray fumes carried its way north, bending sharply towards the arctic horizon from a trough of wind. Following the source of the trail, Rainbow could spot a billowing pulse of light along the horizon. What looked like a tall tower loomed in the distance. As the sun rose and as Rainbow scaled more plateaus, she saw the tower morph into double spires, in the center of which—high up—was a wide and shallow cauldron suspended from four massive chains. A blazing fire rippled from the center of the brazier, casting a cool, pale glow across the plates below.
The metal platforms almost entirely covered the rock formations beneath Abinadi. For the first time since entering Alafreo, Rainbow Dash saw massive courtyards and four story buildings and urban districts with enough room to allow roadways and traffic. A ring of dense apartments formed in the center, and they connected via suspended walk-ways and metal hanging bridges to other plates where blacksmiths and metalwork shops were huddled. It was still early morning, but Rainbow could see that more than half the city was already awake and bustling. She saw turtles at their forges, hammering metal tools and planks into shape. From what she could tell, they were building pieces of bridgework, presumably for expanding Alafreon cities all across the continental shelf.
Several of the residents looked up at Rainbow Dash and the Noble Jury. Most of their eyes were locked on her and her wings predominantly, and this led to all sorts of bright eyes and murmuring conversations.
Rainbow Dash fidgeted. She looked up at the Noble Jury and signaled them to come to a stop. As the vessel hovered still, she glided down and landed in the middle of a random street.
Her hooves struck metal plates and rivets. It was an odd way to make her first landing on a continent, but she wasn't about to complain. Sea turtles, tortoises, and snapping turtles gasped and murmured from apartments, workhouses, and store fronts. Rainbow glanced at them all, cleared her throat, and said, "I'm... uh... looking for the Boreal family."
"You mean you talk too?" a female tortoise uttered from a street corner.
Rainbow couldn't help but smile. "Yeah," her voice cracked. "So I've been told. Anyways, the Boreals—?" She felt a scaled foot touching her feathers. She glanced behind her.
A young male turtle was stretching and unstretching her wings. "Just like a bird. How ingenius." He glanced at her. "How long did you take to build them?"
"They're real. Look, this is really important, here. I'm trying to find a specific family of snapping turtles. Do they even live in this place anymore?"
"What name did you just say, dearie?"
"The Boreals."
"Hmmm... quite the common name. Could you be referring to the Boreals who own the western foundries? Or the Boreals who fish along the central canal? Or maybe the cave diving Boreals of the Churning Ridge?"
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow gulped. "The Boreals who... recently or not-so-recently lost a family member." Her eyes narrowed. "By the name of 'Elma.' Elma Boreal."
The various turtles and tortoises glanced at one another.
A citizen walked out from a nearby house and tugged at Rainbow's mane. "Perhaps, ma'am, you would like to speak to Boxer."
"Who's that, your leader or something?"
"Hmmm... something to that extent." The turtle smiled. "He is the elder of the group. Every turtle in Abinadi looks up to him."
"You think he'll know all about the Boreals?"
"Presuming the family you're asking about have been hatched sometime over the past four hundred years, then yes."
Rainbow Dash stood on a metal balcony beneath the twin spires and their burning brazier. Using her wings to stabilize herself, she motioned at the object floating down from the Noble Jury. The black sphere followed Rainbow's directions, descended slowly, and landed on the balcony's edge. Then, with a hiss, its sides slid open, revealing three ponies inside. Bellesmith and Eagle Eye trotted out, followed by Roarke who climbed out of the pilot's seat.
"Roarke," Rainbow grunted. "Leave the manapistol inside."
The metal mare froze with the weapon in her grasp. "Certainly you can't expect me to—"
"No, I am ordering you to ditch it." Rainbow frowned. "These guys are friendlier than fuzzy kittens on Nuzzle Day. Also, they're pretty dang intent on making us their guests. I won't allow you to aim a boomstick at their beaks. Got it?"
Roarke's metal lenses pistoned in and out. "Hrrrrrmmmf..." She tossed the pistol back into the tiny Lounge transport with nonchlance.
"Good." Rainbow nodded. "Now, let's—"
With a metal snap, Roarke detached another pistol from her hip and threw it inside. Then, with the others watching and blinking, she pulled a rifle out from behind her shoulder, retracted it, and dropped it into the ship. She then unsheathed two concealed daggers, a trio of grenades, and a ring of shuriken. At last, she stood before the group, relatively "naked" with just her metal leg-braces and brass plugs.
Bellesmith stammered, "Is... is th-that it?"
"Technically, I still have a taser on me," Roarke said. "But..." She glanced at the row of reptile onlookers. "...removing that from where it's currently hidden may... come across as 'lewd' at the time being."
"Uh huh..." Eagle turned to Rainbow. "Please tell me you found the Boreal family."
"Almost. I want you guys here for this. Come on..." Rainbow gestured and then trotted forward.
"What do you need us for?" Eagle asked.
"Moral support."
"And as for Roarke?" Bellesmith remarked.
"She's basically just walking metal porn," Rainbow muttered with a slight smirk. "I mean, look at this place. These Alafreons admire all things to do with metal work. To them, Roarke is probably a goddess."
"How delightful," the Searonese mare droned. "I'd ask for a harem, but I'm sure the scales would chafe."
"Shhhh!" Rainbow led them into a dark tunnel at the base of a domed building. "Okay, dudes, the guy's leader is named 'Boxer.' He's super old but he's also super cool. Just... let me take the lead, alright?"
"Sure thing, Rainbow," Eagle whispered back, then peered upwards with glistening eyes. He watched as they passed underneath hanging banners, rippling torches, and dangling braziers brimming with incense. The interior of the building had a mystical, hazy atmosphere to it, and the rusted black walls were chiseled with elaborate designs and words and texts that depicted a glorious history.
Soon, everypony's direction was centered on a series of cushions in the center of the room, flanked by incense and candles. A turtle with an enormous shell sat in the center, his old thick legs draped in every direction. At the sound of the ponies hoofsteps, he raised a wrinkly head. A pair of gray eyes blinked through a filmy layer of mucus.
"Hmmmm... so you've brought four more." The grand old turtle gave a wrinkled smile. "It's been at least a half century since I've had hooves sounding off the plates of this chamber. How I do delight in the complexities of horse culture. Ambitious, handsome, and unpredictable."
"Boxer, I've returned." Rainbow bowed her head and gestured. "These three are my friends. Bellesmith, Eagle Eye, and Roarke Most Rare. They're all members of the Noble Jury."
"Splendid..." Boxer nodded his frail head. "Splendid indeed."
"You asked to meet more of my kind, and here they are." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Now, perhaps, you would be willing to help me?"
"Hmmm... first thing's first." The aged turtle's head pivoted to face Bellesmith from afar. "You, my darling." Boxer's nostrils flared, then flared again. His scaled lips curved. "A proud mother, I take it?"
"Actually, sir..." Bellesmith fidgeted. "I-I've never foaled. But that is certainly kind of you."
"Well, I do beg your pardon," Boxer said. "But you most certainly carry a maternal air about you. Your lungs quiver anxiously for something precious. I am pleased to meet you, but do not worry, dear. You will soon be able to return to whatever you cherish back aboard your vessel."
Belle smiled, her eyes glistening. "Thank you, sir. You're most kind."
Boxer's head turned until it faced Eagle Eye. "Hmmm..." He sniffed the air. "Something so beautiful needn't be so afraid."
Eagle blinked nervously, on the virge of sweating. "Uhm..." He gulped. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, sir..."
"Fear not," Boxer said. "Whatever obstacle you think may or may not be in front of you, you have all that you could possibly care for. I think you should simply learn to... relax, young one..."
Rainbow glanced curiously at Eagle Eye.
The petite stallion gulped. "I'll... uh... try to, I-I guess."
"And you..." Boxer turned towards Roarke. His nostrils flared. "Why so dreadfully cold and tense?" He sniffed again, then all his muscles froze. His blind eyes glanced Rainbow's way, and he turned his head once more to Roarke. A slow, wrinkly smile formed. "Mmmmm... yes. Yes, but of course."
Roarke's brow furrowed. "What?"
Boxer took a deep breath and leaned his head towards Rainbow Dash. "Thank you for indulging me in my request, Miss Dash," the aged creature said. "It is not so much that I doubted you. Your words earlier were sincere enough, but I had to sense for myself what has driven you and your friends across such a long distance. And now I feel it. There is much love that binds you together. But there is much fear as well. I do hope we here in Abinadi can amend that."
"Yes, well, that sounds like a totally awesome thing, Boxer, but what we're here for is to—"
"You said that your ship was in disrepair. Am I correct?"
"Well, uh, we've certainly got more than a few good dints in the Jury."
Boxer raised his head and cleared his throat.
Two tortoises shuffled over from the entrance to the domed room.
"See that our finest metal workers take a look at the Jury's hull," Boxer said. "I do believe these travelers could use with a fixed ship."
Eagle Eye gawked at the leader.
"Are... are you truly serious?" Bellesmith exclaimed.
"We... uh..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted in midair. "We don't exactly have the money to pay for the kind of repairs we need right now."
"From what you've already told me, it sounds like the Alafreons owe you for ridding the Wastes of the Flurries," Boxer said with a smile.
"Anypony can make that claim," Roarke droned.
Boxer's wrinkled neck turned towards her. "And yet some know how to speak the truth, young one."
Roarke fell dead silent.
Boxer smiled again. He tilted his head towards Rainbow Dash. "It will please us to patch up the holes in your ship. For, after all, I sense that you've come here to patch the holes in Abinadi."
Rainbow Dash nodded firmly. "Elma Boreal, Boxer." She gulped. "She's been missing, yes?"
Boxer's head retracted a bit into his shell with a sigh. "I do remember the day when she was hatched. Her parents—the Boreals of the East Heights—brought her here along with her seven siblings to be blessed. Her scent was the sweetest of all. It matched her laughter. Then, the day that she hatched her young and brought them here to me, I could sense that she had given the scent to her own children. She divided her love equally among them, and every whiff and every soul was just as blissful and succulent as the other. Quite the tragedy it was when—two years ago—her second eldest son perished in a boating accident along the Churning Line."
Bellesmith gasped into her hoof. Her eyes instantly teared. "That's... th-that's so horrible!"
"Mmmm..." Boxer slowly nodded. "All of Abinadi wept for the loss. Well... all, save for one. Elma did not return from her voyages, even after several letters had been sent concerning the tragic fate of her hatchling. That is when we all knew—beyond the shadow of a doubt—that the Elma we all knew was gone."
Bellesmith lowered her head, crying quietly. Eagle Eye trotted over and rubbed his hoof on her shoulder. "But..." He glanced up, swallowing a sore lump down his throat. "All this time, what did you think happened to her?"
"She ventured into the west," Boxer said in a dark tone. "Brushing paths with a culture that kills itself slowly over the centuries is an instant recipe for disaster. Her heart followed the spirit of adventure and discovery, but everyone knew it was risking a great deal. Still, she felt it was best, for she had hopes of mapping out the treacherous Wastes for travelers like her. It was a selfless pursuit. I know this, for everytime she left, the sorrow of missing her family was left in the blistering winds to haunt me."
"I have no doubt that she died doing what she believed in," Rainbow said.
"I believe you," Boxer said with a nod. "And I also believe in the sincerity you have for what brought you here. Although..." He stretched his wrinkly neck out. "If you do not bring Elma or the corpse of her with you, then I wonder—Rainbow Dash—what is it that actually bring back to Abinadi."
Roarke glanced anxiously at the pegasus. Belle and Eagle leaned against one another.
In a firm breath, Rainbow flew forward and outstretched her hoof. "See for yourself."
Boxer leaned forward, his aged nostrils inhaling the air all around the pegasus.
She said, "Elma may have died. But the love she has for her family—for all of Alafreo—lives on. It was just... passed on to someone else. That someone... I have brought here."
Boxer leaned back. His filmy gray eyes blinked, and in a ragged breath he said, "So that's the scent." He tilted his head up and smiled wearily. "I believe you..."
"You still there, Unky Prowsy?" Props stammered, nervously fumbling over the controls to the engine room's communications array. "I think you're breaking up!"
"Snrkkkkt! No, I'm still here, lassie."
"Squee!" Props hopped in place while Pilate, Zaid, and Kera looked on. "So, go on! Like you were saying so sexily?"
"I swear. Everything's all confetti and arse sparklers over here! You'd never have guessed that a bloody long war just ended!"
"Are you actually inside Ledomare proper?" Pilate asked. "At this rate, in a ship as fast as the Tarkington, you could easily have passed beyond the demilitarized zone."
"Laddy, we've practically pole-vaulted past all that rubbish. Right now, we're in a place the locals call 'Blue Peak.'"
Kera glanced up, blinking. "Say. I've heard that name before."
"As well you should," Pilate said, nodding in the direction of her voice. "It's southeast of Blue Nova, not far from the eastern front." He faced the communications array. "Did any of the guards give you trouble for arriving from the east?"
"No. That's just the thing. It's warm welcomes all around. Everypony's pissed drunk with happiness over this war being over. But that isn't the half of it. I looked for those ponies that Rainbow Dash asked for..."
"Yes, and?"
"Well, maybe it's best that one of 'em does the explanation for me. Hold on a tick..."
There was the sound of shuffling hoofsteps and microphone scratches. After a brief whine of manafeedback, another voice crackled into being.
"H-hello? Rainbow Dash? Are you there?"
"Heyyyy..." Zaid smirked. "I know that sultry tongue."
Kera gasped with a little bounce. "Zetta! Zetta!"
The voice giggled on the other end. "Glad to know you both are doing well! We split ways under such chaotic circumstances, I wasn't sure you'd make it past the Xonan front!"
"Oh, we made it past alright," Zaid said, though he fidgeted slightly. "Mrmmm... for the most part."
"Such a remarkable device you have here, Mr. Prowse. Usually you need government tech in order to build something that communicates over such a range."
"Heehee! My Unky Prowsy knows how to spit a cosmic loogey!"
"Miss Zetta," Prowse spoke up. "Rainbow Dash is busy visiting the local township here in Alafreo. Still, any of us would be happy to know that which you've got to share about the continent."
"Well, there have been quite a few changes to say the least. Just this week, the New Council has been preparing the first of several long-term peace accords with the Xonan Empire."
Props blinked back at Pilate.
The zebra cleared his throat and leaned closer to the microphone. "I beg your pardon. Did you say... the New Council?"
"Yessir. Ever since the incident on the eastern front and the ensuing cease fire, a huge investigation went underway to determine the extent to which the higher echelons of both kingdoms have been infiltrated by shape shifters. However, the Council of Ledo under the Queen herself wasn't complying with established investigative protocols. This led to a great deal of civil unrest, with several city governments voting to replace the Council altogether. Although the majority of votes necessitated an election of new Council members, the current administration was refusing to comply."
"Great Spark..." Pilate grimaced. "Please don't tell me that Ledomare fell into civil war!"
"Oh no! You won't believe it! This actually has a good ending!" Zetta continued, "Before anything could happen, there was an inexplicable event that took place about a week and a half ago. Several hundred shape shifters appeared all across the continent. They were frightened, confused, and—above all—non-aggressive. This also included over half of the members of the Council of Ledo alone!"
Kera gasped, staring wide-eyed at the others. "The changelings! Rainbow Dash stopped them, didn't she?!"
"Must have been around the same time we were all farting around Stratopolis," Zaid thought aloud.
"Huh? Wh-what was that?"
"Uhhhh..." Props cleared her throat. "Basically, this isn't exactly a major surprise to us. But we're happy to hear it anyways!"
"Well, that's good. Because I'm certain it's changing this nation for the better."
"Do tell..." Pilate said.
"The shape-shifters who were exposed gave themselves up freely without posing any more harm. It's almost as if they were completely different ponies! What's more, they fully complied with military questions, exposing years upon years of abuses committed by the executive powers, even crimes against the citizens that were made before the shape shifter incursion!"
"So all the crazy bad stuff that Ledo got away with..." Kera blinked. "...it's finally coming back to bite them?"
"So much has happened in so little time. But, to make a long story short, Ledo found herself with a lot to answer for, and none of her explanations have made anypony happy. As a result, the provincial governments have enacted Vote of Monarchal Reform."
"The Vote of Monarchal Reform?!" Pilate's jaw dropped. "But... th-that hasn't happened in centuries! That must mean..."
"Yup!" Zetta's voice cheerfully exclaimed, "Ledo has been forced to step down from the throne! Over the last few days, a New Council has been established, and are preparing to crown a new Queen. Already, the prime candidate is a pony who's very popular among the citizenry, and she supports the New Council's peace accords with Xona. So, in a month's time, you may very well be speaking with a proud defender of the Luxmare Confederacy!"
"Weeee!" Kera hopped up and down. "Hah! Take that, fatso!" Kera turned to blink at the others. "Ledo was fat, wasn't she?"
"I can imagine another fatso who'd be enthralled to hear this," Zaid said with a smirk.
Josho stumbled into the room. "What would I be enthralled about, exactly?"
"Did you hear the good news, Josh Josh?!" Props spread her forelimbs with a bright grin. "Ledomare is now Luxmare!"
"Hrmph..." Josho tossed his mane back and grumbled, "Different name, same morons."
"Awwwwww..." Props pouted with drooping ears. "Do I have to be the only pony who's excited?"
"I'm always excited when I'm around you," Zaid said.
Prowse's voice crackled through the speakers. "Huh?! Who in the bloody hell said that, lass?"
"Oh. Uh. Uhhhhh..." Props slapped at the dials of the array. "Crkk-Crkkk! Oh noes! Crkkkk! You're breaking up, Unky Prowsy! Crkk-crkkk!"
"You're makin' that sound with your bloomin' mouth, aren't you?"
"Sorry! Crkkkk! Gotta get back to you! Crkkkk! Thanks a ton, Zetta! So happy to hear back from you! Crkkkkk! Bye bye!" Flip! She slapped the machine off and spun towards the others. "Well, that was fluffy!" She smiled. "No more Council of Ledo! Why, Pilate, that means you and Belle could fly back there and live without the fear of being whipped to death or something, r-right?"
"Hmmmm..." Pilate smiled. "Not even if you gave me a million working eyeballs."
"Bleachkkk!" Kera faux-vomited. "I'm with the zebra of awesomeness."
"Yowsers." Zaid smirked. "You guys really know how to hold a grudge."
"Yes, well, the blood of the innocent will do that." Josho said, then turned towards Pilate. "You may wanna head upstairs, copper bottom." He glanced at the array. "You too, blondie."
"Oh?" Props blinked.
"Rainbow's back," Josho said. "Turns out the local yokels are crazy enough to offer fixing the Jury for free."
"Oh!" Props swung her legs and bounced off the stool. "Coolie Crispies! I'll be up in a jiffy!"
"What do you need me for?" Pilate asked.
"You and Dr. Bellesmith are super close to Elma," Josho said. He paused, glanced at Kera, then glanced at the zebra again. "Rainbow and Company just got back from seeing a few members of the Boreal family. Elma... uh... she may need some coaching on this one..."
"We found your family," Rainbow Dash said, almost immediately wincing. Her eyes traced the walls of the navigation room. "Elma's family." She took a deep breath. "The 'Boreals of the Eastern Heights,' or at least that's what the village elder Boxer refers to them as."
Elma's green eyes lit up. "You've talked with Boxer?"
"Yup. Totally did."
Bellesmith glanced over Rainbow's shoulder. "You know him?"
"Why... of c-course!" Elma nodded vehemently. "Every turtle looks up to him! We all depend on his blessings. I met him several times in my hatchling years..." She winced. "I... I-I mean... I have memories of meeting him." She gulped. "Elma's memories..."
Rainbow Dash and Belle exchanged glances.
"Elma..." Eagle Eye walked past Props and Roarke, smiling gently. "They would very much like to meet you."
"They..." Elma glanced up, shivering slightly. "They would?" Her fanged muzzle hung agape as she glanced incredulously at the group. "But... how? Why?! I'm nothing but an imposter!"
"From the looks of things, what Rainbow and Pilate did in Stratopolis affected the whole world," Roarke suddenly said. Her copper lenses reflected the green illuminescence from Elma's eyes across the room. "Even here in Alafreo, the population has witnessed several of their numbers turn into changelings. You... won't exactly be a surprise."
"What..." Elma curled her forelimbs pensively. "...wh-what have you told them about Chrysalis and the hive?"
"Nothing," Roarke said, shaking her head. "All they know is that it was never your will nor your intent to ever impersonate one of the Boreals."
"Turns out they all collectively figured that something was up," Rainbow Dash said, looking squarely at the changeling. "The real Elma Boreal should have returned over a year ago. Seeing as she's not one to ditch her family—"
"No." Elma shook her head. "She's not."
Rainbow cleared her throat and went on, "They kinda sorta expected to hear the worst."
"You mean..." Elma fidgeted. "That the real Elma is dead?"
"As horrible as it sounds..." Pilate slowly nodded. "It stands to reason."
"But... b-but perhaps she is still alive somewhere!" Elma exclaimed, glancing at everypony. "Princess Celestia said that several of the replaced ponies back home have been found in the abandoned hives! Maybe the same is... t-true for Elma..." Then changeling's gaze fell on Roarke's cold expression.
"You know this landscape far more than anyone," Roarke droned. "What is the likelihood that a hidden hive would have been found in Alafreo in time for its victims to have survived?"
Elma bit her lip. Her gaze tilted down to the floor of the navigation room. "Not very good. Everything is so vast... so remote."
Silence.
"Elma," Belle spoke. "None of us can bring the real Elma back to these Alafreons. But you have in yourself the next best thing to bless them with."
Elma looked up.
Belle smiled. "You have Elma's memories. And they carry with them the love and admiration she has for her family and hatchlings."
"As horrible as things have been, this may be your opportunity to bring the Boreal family closure," Eagle Eye said. "And for you as well."
"Me?" Elma remarked, blinking.
"Do you wish to be Elma all your life?" he asked.
"I... I don't know..." Elma shuddered, then ran a hoof over her forehead. "All I do know is... is..." She hesitated slightly, her green eyes turning moist. "I want to see them." She looked up with an earnest gaze. "I really... truly do..."
Belle and Props looked at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow flapped her wings and hovered. "Then there's one turtle whom you should see first."
The large doors to the domed structure opened wide. Accompanied by drifting flakes of snow, Elma pensively trotted through the entrance to Boxer's domain. Her eyes darted nervously between several torches.
"Good heavens," she murmured. "It's like I was just here yesterday." She gulped. "And yet... I-I was never here, was I?" A chill ran through her body, and her carapace shook. "I... I-I don't know if I can d-do this."
Eagle Eye stepped up, resting a hoof on the shape-shifter's shoulder. "It's okay. You're not gonna be alone." He smiled. "Alright?"
Elma took a shuddering breath, nodded, and trotted forward. Eagle Eye accompanied her. Not far behind, Bellesmith and Pilate shuffled along.
Rainbow Dash hovered forward. She paused halfway towards the center of the chamber, turning around to glance over her shoulder.
Roarke stood emotionlessly in the wings. She stayed within the penumbra of the torchlight but didn't move any further.
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. Upon hearing Boxer's voice, she turned and looked towards the massive shape in the center of the dimly-lit room.
"Ahhh... do come here, child," the elder said. He stretched his wrinkly neck out from the inside of his shell. His forelegs gripped the floor as he leaned his weight forward slightly. "Do not be afraid. I only summon those to whom I extend full welcome."
"Oh great and wise elder..." Elma surprised everypony by charging forward and then lying—face down—to the metal floor before the large creature. "I am blessed by your presence."
"Hmmm..." His old lips curved. "Spoken like a true Alafreon." He narrowed his gray eyes. "Keep still, child. This will only take a second."
"What does he mean by that?" Pilate asked.
"Shhhhh..." Belle squeezed the crook of her hoof around the zebra's forelimb. "Not all the blind use O.A.S.I.S., beloved," she whispered in his ear.
Boxer held his head above Elma's skull. His nostrils flared several times. For a few seconds, he lingered, then spoke, "That scent... hmmm... yes. Yes indeed." His leaned his head back. "I know you are desperate to hold back."
"Elder...?" Elma glanced up.
"Relax, child," Boxer said. "Be that which you feel. There is no fear of deceiving me."
Elma's face was locked in a puzzled expression. At last, Eagle Eye leaned in and whispered, "It's okay, Elma."
The changeling gulped. She closed her eyes... then exhaled. Her muscles relaxed, and then a swath of green flame poured over her body. Within seconds, she morphed into a large snapping turtle with a scar across her shell. A few of the reptilian guards along the fringes of the room murmured in surprise.
Boxer, however, merely nodded. "Ahhhh... it masks the scent well. But not well enough." He smiled. "Over the past three decades, I have encountered no less than fifteen Alafreons with that same scent. A very pungent smell, I must say—some acquired halfway through adulthood, which I used to find quite puzzling. It isn't until now that I know the reason behind it."
"F-forgive me, Elder," Elma stammered, once more bowing her scaled head to the floor. "It was never my intent to deceive you—"
"Your breath carries truth," Boxer said. "But it also carries many other things." He took a deep breath. "Strange, sad, painful things." He lifted his massive foot and used the very tip of it to tilt Elma's weak chin so that she faced him. "Whether we are hatched from eggs, foaled from our mothers, or spawned in riverbeds, we all carry a heartbeat that makes us all the same. And your heartbeat is the most passionate and fervent I've encountered in years."
"I... I-I've been told that it's the way of changelings... the way of my kind to feed off of emotions," Elma said. With a nervous breath, she reverted back to her dark naked form. "We are empaths. And yet... we are thieves, Elder Boxer. We are robbers and plunderers of the absolute worst kind."
Rainbow Dash and Eagle Eye exchanged glances upon that.
Boxer didn't waste any time. "Robbers and plunderers, you say?" He leaned his head down towards her yet again. "Tell me, these friends of yours, have you gone out of your way to wrong them?"
Elma blinked. "Uhm... no. No, Elder, I have not."
"And do they hold any malice to you for your supposed misdeeds?"
Elma glanced over her shoulder.
Eagle Eye, Rainbow Dash, Pilate, Bellesmith, and even Roarke stared back. Patiently.
Elma exhaled, and she smiled. "No. No, Elder."
"Even at my age, I suspect I have much to learn of the nature of shapeshifters," Boxer said. "But so long as they have a beating heart, then I extend to them the same grace as I would to any other creature who wanders into Abinadi, seeking fellowship and encouragement. You are welcome here, child, as welcome as the Elma Boreal whom I was pleased to bless right after her hatching."
Elma turned towards him. Her lips quivered.
"Is there something you wish to say, child?"
A spasm ran through Elma's body. She broke down crying. The changeling hid her face in the crooks of her hooves.
Bellesmith bit her lip as she watched. Pilate leaned in and nuzzled her.
Eagle Eye sniffled, then trotted forward to squat down by Elma's side, patting the changeling's shoulder.
Meanwhile, Boxer spoke, "That's it, child. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Whatever you may have been bred for, know this: your emotions are your own. You may speak honestly and earnestly in this town."
"This t-town..." Elma whimpered and raised her chin. She leaned against Eagle Eye for support as she stammered to say: "I w-want this to be my town. With every fiber of my being, I want to believe that I have a home here." She shook her head. "But it's not! They belong to Elma Boreal! They belong to a turtle that I never was! And yet I still have her memories! I still have her love!"
"If you so desire, you can dwell here," Boxer said. "Until the memories of Abinadi become your memories. And as for the love... there are many on board your vessel that would love to share it with you in genuine comraderie."
"I know..." Elma hiccuped and smiled before nuzzling Eagle Eye. "And I-I'm so grateful..."
"And yet..." Boxer spoke. "There are those here who would wish to share your love as well, if even for a day." He cocked his head to the side. "Would you do me a favor, young one?"
Elma sniffled and nodded. "Anything, Elder. Anything..."
"Would you go to them?" he asked. "Would you see the hatchlings of Boreal at least once?" His aged lips curved. "I have full faith in your tranquil future. A lot of turtles here would be in your debt if you gave them the gift of a tranquil past."
Elma strolled through the metal streets of Abinadi. She wasn't alone. A good half of the Noble Jury trotted alongside her. It didn't make the trip any less nerve-wracking. In jittery little bursts, Elma flung her gaze left and right, spotting groups and clusters of turtles watching from blacksmith shops, eateries, storefronts, and libraries. Dozens upon hundreds of pairs of reptilian eyes watched the changeling's every step. The turtles murmured amongst themsleves, their scaled expressions bright and full of wonder.
Elma glanced up. She passed under metal-laced apartment buildings where young hatchlings gazed out the windows with wide glossy eyes. She shuddered, hanging her head slightly towards the floor as she trotted along. Eagle Eye caught up with her and gave the shape-shifter a reassuring touch with his hoof. Collecting her breath, Elma stood up straight and proceeded forward.
At the rear of the group, Rainbow Dash hovered alongside Roarke. The two lingered so far back that they mixed with the crowd of turtles shuffling curiously after the changeling. Without taking her eyes off of Elma, Rainbow spoke aside to the Searonese mare.
"You know, you barely know Elma. Nopony will fault you if you wanna go back to the ship."
"This is my place," Roarke said in a neutral tone.
"You sure of that?"
"Aren't you?"
Rainbow squinted aside. "For real, Roarke. What brings you out here? So far from the ship and all your stuff?"
"Somepony had to bring half of your friends to Boxer via the transport."
"That's not what I mean. This kind of thing totally isn't your bag," Rainbow said, squinting at the metal mare. "What are you hoping to get from this?"
"To be honest, Rainbow Dash, I'm not entirely sure," Roarke muttered. Her lenses twitched as she trotted along, facing forward. "Let's just say I've grown tired of making hypotheses in my life."
"Oh?"
"Besides. Elma's part of the crew, is she not?"
"I'd say she is."
"Then my duty is here with her," Roarke droned unemotionally. "Where she needs me."
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Pilate's right. You have changed."
"Are we supposed to be keeping score?"
"Well... uhm... no. But—"
"But nothing." Roarke gestured ahead. "Observe. Something is transpiring."
Roarke and Rainbow Dash came to a stop. Ahead of them, in the centermost portion of the metal plate upon which the visitors and citizens stood, a clearing had formed in the crowd. Elma stood in place... for she was staring at a full line of snapping turtles with shells of matching color and pattern. Reptiles both young and old stared at her. Their expressions were mixed—but most blinked with bright eyes and gaping beaks. On top of two of the turtles, baskets were rigged with seats for tiny, drooling hatchlings. Three whole generations of a single family had gathered, numbering no less than thirty.
Elma exhaled. She plopped back on her haunches, her lips quivering. "Kelvin... Belinda... Squire... Aunt Alessa..." She gulped, her eyes wandering from one hauntingly familiar face to another. "Naidre... Uncle Hector... Sven..." Suddenly, she gasped, and her green eyes watered upon the sight of four young adult snapping turtles staring steadily at her.
Belle leaned against Pilate as both gazed at the scene. Eagle Eye leaned in. "Are those her...?"
Belle nodded. "I do believe so," she whispered.
All the while, Elma was steeling herself. She stood back up and trotted forwards the group.
The turtles' eyes darted back and forth, gawking at the changeling's features. It was suddenly apparent that they were just as anxious as her.
This brought Elma's words out with a quivering exhale: "I know whom you all are hoping to see," she murmured. "But... I cannot help you there. All I would offer is a facade... a shade of the mother you once knew when I..." Elma winced, gritted her teeth, and squeaked, "...when she hatched you." Clearing her throat, she courageously continued. "But what I can offer is her memories... her feelings... and her adoration—for each and every one of you." Sniffling, she smiled and gazed lovingly at each face. "Claude... Helene... Rheba... little Maven." Elma shuddered. "Her every waking thought was centered on you and your own children. She dreamt of you. She sobbed over you. And the first and last thing she wanted out of life was to return to you after her long and treacherous journey. But... but th-that cannot be. And... I am sorry... I am so so sorry for th-that..."
The crowd gathered around the scene was dead silent as Elma broke down into quiet sobs. She hiccuped for breath, wiped tears away from her black face, and continued.
"But while I may not be able to bring your beloved Elma Boreal back, I can bring you her knowledge. I can bring you her joy. And I can bring you her love." She gave a fanged smile as more tears rolled down her face. "And she had so... so much love to give. Of all the creatures I could have been made to be, she was the greatest blessing. And if it is in my power to bring that blessing to you, then I will do everything in my power to make it so. I may not have a name... or a home... or a family... but if I can make sure that the thoughts and hopes of Elma come here to her home to rest, then I can finally be at peace with myself."
Silence. There were a few errant coughs, but nothing more was said.
Fidgeting, Elma sadly shook her head. The sound of shuffling footsteps shook her out of her melancholy. She looked up and twitched to see all four children gathered around her.
One reached a hand out and caressed Elma's face. A female turtle tearfully smiled. "You're not the only who can now have peace," she said. "And, if you want, you can have a home as well."
Elma clenched her jaw. She looked to her side as another turtle came in, rubbing the side of his face against her shoulder. The other two approached, laying their hands on her. As Elma found herself more and more collectively embraced by the Boreals, she cracked a weak smile. It didn't last long, for she was soon sobbing with joy. Her black face billowed in and out of a scaled beak, but soon—with a shuddering breath—she relaxed in their company, adrift in a natural black carapace supported by their arms.
Bellesmith sniffled, leaning her smiling face against Pilate's mane. Eagle Eye had to contain his squeals while the crowd around the courtyard broke into soft and endearing applause.
Rainbow Dash exhaled from where she hovered. In the pale glow of the cold Alafreo afternoon, she felt strangely warm. She looked up at the sun, squinting into its golden glaze beyond the misty mountain clouds. A smile overwhelmed her, and she closed her eyes while drifting through the air.
In the candlelight, a pen dipped into an inkwell and ran its way across a sheet of parchment.
Ebon Mane sat cozily on his cot, smiling pleasantly into the dimness as he wrote his words across the sheet. His ears twitched on either side of his head, and his muzzle stirred to fabricate the sentences forming in his head.
Dear mother,
The Noble Jury has been through hell in high places. We've watched ponies die, suffer, and lose all that's precious to them. And yet, in the last few weeks, we've begun to see the light that shines beyond the darkness. I mean that quite literally. Rainbow Dash has found a sword that lets her communicate with Princess Celestia back in Equestria. Kera has rediscovered her voice... more or less. Either way, it's a fantastic improvement. On top of that, Bellesmith and Pilate are back together, Elma has discovered her extended family, and Roarke—believe it or not—hasn't tried to kill any of us in the past few days.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I can very truthfully say that life is good.
Life is very... very good.
Pilate and Bellesmith sat side-by-side on a metal bench. From there, they gazed upon a circular plate amid the shadowy spires of Abinadi. Kera ran circles around hatchlings—giggling—while the young turtles tried in vain to catch up with the petite Xonan.
Off to the side, Elma sat amidst a crowd of turtles—all squatting around her. With a brighte-eyed expression, the changeling talked and talked, energized by a thick crowd of gawking listeners.
"...and then after the fishing season, Elma took her mate Garen to the sunny plateaus. That's the day she told him the answer to his question." The changeling giggled in a certain turtle's voice before continuing, "But, she almost had second thoughts at the very last second."
"You mean..." One of the young adults gasped. "Mom almost turned down Dad?"
"Well... it couldn't be helped." Elma bit her lip. "He was bagging trout every hour of every day. He didn't exactly... erm... smell good."
The family chuckled.
"But he made up for it!" Elma said with a chuckle. "I mean, of course he did. How else would so many beautiful hatchlings be around today?" A wink.
"What did Daddy do?" A female turtle exclaimed. "Mother never told us this."
"Uhm..." Elma's black carapace gave way to blushing scales for a brief moment. "Do you all really want to know?"
Several turtle heads bobbed up and down furiously.
Elma took a deep breath. "He... uh..." Her eyes rolled. "He threatened to toss himself off the bluffs."
"No way!"
"That sounds like Dad alright."
"Shut up! He was never that dramatic!" A beat. "Was he?"
"Heheheh... now don't you think differently about him," Elma said with a smirk. "Soon, he learned to respect me—erm..." She grimaced. "Elma. He learned to respect Elma. Good heavens..." She rested a hoof against her head. "I keep doing that..."
"It's okay... really..." A turtle placed his hand on her shoulder. "We get it. Believe me."
"Please..." One of the lady turtles leaned forward, wide-eyed. "Do continue. What ever happened to Aunt Regina and the leeches?"
"Oh... oh dear... did she never tell you this one?"
"Uhm... did she have good reason to?"
"Pfffft! Only if you wanna keep your lunch!" Elma slyly grinned. "Okay. I don't think anyone will hurt for knowing this. Ahem. So... one day, Aunt Regina fled by her lonesome to the Southern Shoals in hopes of cleaning in the Alafreon waters before any turtle could discover her... predicament. Little did she know that Elma and Garen were following closely behind in a tiny dirigible... with cameras..."
We've been in Alafreo for only a short time. And yet—in these past three days alone—the citizens of Abinadi have treated us like we were one of them. Somehow, I don't think this has anything to do with the fact that Elma has brought back a piece of them that had been lost for months. From the Elder Boxer to the youngest Boreals to the common stranger—they have all gone out of their way to help us feel at home. They've even agreed to fix the damage that the Noble Jury has suffered since Blue Nova without charging us anything! Can you believe that, mother?"
My stars, what a huge difference a single continent can make...
"Skystone, eh?" A turtle stopped welding just long enough to tilt his mask up and expose a smiling, grease-stained face. He hung along the bow of the Noble Jury, fastening the last bar of a fresh metal frame to the outer shell of the observation room window. "I knew I recognized that crystal when I saw it. A few crazy explorers brave the Strip of Flurries just to get here and barter mana stones for fish oil. I always thought they were crazy—but I suppose that comes with the territory... a territory wracked with war."
"And yet that war is over like red rover!" Props chirped from where she stood peering over the upper deck alongside Zaid. The ship was propped on an upper metal strut overlooking the metallic depths of Abinadi below. All along the vessel's hull, turtles clung by roped platforms and hovering dirigibles, tending to every square inch of the damaged vessel. "And so is the Strip of Flurries! Isn't everything so deliciously topsy turvy?!"
Zaid winked. "Not to mention sexy-curvy—" A cloven hoof shoved him aside. "—narf!"
"Be careful with Nancy's bumpy bumps!" Floydien spat, pale and frazzled. His eyes twitched as he struggled to oversee every reptile's handiwork at the same time. "She hasn't burped her wild way through thunder glimmer just to be mawed to turd-lengths by shell boomers!" He spun about and galloped frantically towards the stern. "Hey! Hey! Not so swift on the zap and zappy!"
The reptilian welder blinked. "What is he stressing about?"
"Oh, don't mind him." Props grinned from ear to fuzzy ear. "His paranoia and his handsomeness love to dosey-do!"
"Yeah, well..." Zaid wheezed, standing up. "I really wish somepony would take him back to the barn."
"Did you really build the steam rig to this thing all by yourself?" the turtle exclaimed.
"Well. Mostly me and a squirrel," Props said. She sniffled briefly. "And Simon gave his life so that Nancy Jane's womb would hum another day." She wiped the edge of her eyes dry. "We've put more than our sweat and blood into this ship. We've given our souls'n'smex too!"
"Well, I'm all the more pleased to be getting it back into perfect shape!" the turtle said with a grin. "You'll be the first skystone explorers I know of who bothered to travel beyond the Churning Line!"
"Well, pizz fah wizz!" Props gleamed. "Bonus points for a waxed shine!"
"Heh..." The turtle lowered his helmet and returned to welding. "You know who you're talking to, right?"
"Heeheehee!"
Zaid tossed his mane back. "You know, I never did meet Simon the Space Squirrel, but I heard traveling with him was nuts!"
"Hey handsome!" Props called across the deck. "I think Zaid-kun here bent one of Nancy's panels loose!"
"Wat."
"That's it! The boomer dies at midnight!" With the sound of thunder, electrical manalight shimmered across the top deck and slammed Zaid into the cockpit.
"Ooof!" Zaid stumbled to a stop inside. A few quiet seconds later, his voice limped out, "Okay, I deserved that one."
There've been times, Mother, especially lately, where all I had to look forward to was the next second spent alive. There was no point in dwelling on tomorrow, because—between changelings and prime enforcers and tattooed warriors and chaos dragons—there was no assurance of a morning after.
I want to say that all of that has changed, but—the truth is—it's always been an adventurous pursuit of the next dawn. We've all been galloping to the beat of Rainbow's drum since day one. Sure, there was a lot of mess and mayhem in the way, but so long as we followed Rainbow's example—and put our muzzles to the grindstone—then fate would eventually unravel itself straight once more.
And what a fortuitous dawn it was that awaited us...
"If I didn't know better, Your Highness, I'd say that a little piece of Equestria was dropped here along the western shoals of Alafreo."
Rainbow Dash smirked from where she perched high up on a rock outcropping just beneath the burning brazier of Abinadi. With a rag from her saddlebag, she polished the Sword of Solstice to an immaculate shine, even as it glowed in her hoofed grip.
"Everypo—er... everyturtle here is just so kind and selfless and gracious," she said, staring down at where the Noble Jury was reaching full-repair. From afar, she could even spot where Elma spoke with a crowd of Boreals and other Abinadi locals. "I think Boxer—the elder—can be thanked for a lot of their attitude. But it's somehow more than that. These guys just... are happy to be alive. There are no crazy politics or bickerings or any of that other stupid stuff."
"It is rather difficult to imagine a completely blameless society," Celestia's voice said.
"Oh, for sure, Princess. But compared to what I'm used to running into, it's certainly a breath of fresh air."
"You've since learned of a startling revolution in the lands you've already crossed, correct?"
"Yeah. Apparently Ledomare is no more. According to Prowse and Zetta, the place is being called 'Luxmare' and is voting to end the years of war with Xona altogether."
"With their long-lost monarch back, I would imagine Xona is happy to embark upon an era of peace and tranquility."
"From what I can tell, Lasairfion was a pretty sweet Queen. She's got nothing on you and Luna, though," Rainbow said with a wink.
Celestia's voice chuckled in the frosty winds. "Is it not clear to you now, Rainbow Dash, that in spite of all of your trials and tribulations, you are still a sower of peace in this world?
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash sighed, staring at her ruby pendant in the golden sword's reflection. "It certainly could have taken a lot less deaths to get to that spot."
"In over ten thousand years of faithfully guarding Equestria, Luna and I have thought the same thing to ourselves more times than even an alicorn can count. And yet, every morning we see the sun rise over the emerald landscape of this kingdom, we can live with the realization that our labors have been worth it."
"I wish I could have your kind of confidence, Your Majesty."
"Don't you? Rainbow Dash, you are but a mere mortal—and a very vexxed one at that. And yet, in only a smattering of months, you have gone farther and done more for this world than Luna and I have accomplished in eons."
"Pffft. Please. Princess, you and Luna have to stick to one place and control the sun and moon. Without that, the rest of the world wouldn't even tick."
"Mmmm. Yes. But would it prosper? Would it thrive? Would justice and retribution make themselves manifest so swiftly on their own?"
Rainbow was silent.
Celestia said, "From a land ravaged by dragons to an entire continent bloodied by endless war to a wasteland haunted by a damnable city—you have carried the spirit of harmony with you, and you have blessed millions, Rainbow Dash."
"I've just been... y'know..." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Following the sunrise."
"Rainbow, do not pretend to be a mere servant of light. For you are the beacon. Our pride in you knows no boundaries, and I'm certain my sister and I can speak the same for your friends... if th-they were still here to smile upon you as well."
Rainbow took a deep breath. She sniffled and smiled crookedly into the sword. "Friggin' princesses... why can't you just be ballroom gowns and tea parties?" She wiped her eye dry and cleared her throat. "Why you gotta be so friggin' wise all the time?"
"We've lived long enough to be enlightened by brave souls such as you..."
While Elma continues to socialize with her extended "family," the rest of the Jurists are already preparing for the next leg of our voyage. It's amazing how swiftly we can operate at this point in our sojourn. We're like a well-oiled machine, and certainly the expedient repairs by the Alafreon populace has helped give us the enthusiastic boost that we needed.
I've been granted access to a veritable cornacopia of vegetables, fruits, and spices. At some point, I think we started to feel a little too fortunate for the influx of bounty, and we opened trade with some of the outlying townships, bartering some of the metal tools that Roarke was willing to part with in order to get some scrumptious ingredients for my kitchen.
The things I have to cook with now are amazing. I haven't felt this stocked up since the days of working the restaurants in Gray Smoke. There's no doubt I can feed the entire crew for a month and a half... maybe two. What sort of ground could we cover in that time? I shudder to think... and yet I find myself actually excited for once, intead of frightened.
"Yes, I am very well acquainted with the ponies of Val Roa," Boxer said with a wrinkled smile in the torchlight. "While I may not have been blessed with venturing to their kingdom, I did entertain their ambassadors on several occasions over the last few centuries."
"Is there anything you can tell us about them?" Josho asked. Roarke stood in the shadows, gazing from afar while the obese stallion trotted closer to Boxer. "For example, just how large is their kingdom?"
"Oh, it's hard to say," Boxer remarked. "Unlike the rumors I hear of the land west of the Strip, the Val Roans aren't exactly territorial." His jaw clenched and unclenched in thought. "I've seen a few illustrations of the countryside. Most of Val Roa is outlying farmsteads and a few mining operations. However, at the heart of the kingdom? Upon the eastern crest of the Polished Mountains?" The elder turtle smiled. "Their capital city lies, and it is a veritable jewel of a metropolis, with beautiful architecture that will put most other kingdoms to shame."
"It's just on the border of the Grand Choke, right?" Josho asked. "We've been told it's the 'last bastion' of civilization or some other fartsmoke..."
"Ah, yes, indeed. Val Roa is a lush and beautiful countryside. But not that far east of its valleys, the landscape turns arid... lifeless. It is said that magic and the elements do not function in the Grand Choke like they do in the rest of the world. That is why very few creatures have been known to ever cross the desert... or the rumored waters that lay beyond. For that very reason, Val Roa exists in near-perfect isolation. Its citizens within the capital city live in tranquility. They are affluent—yes—but they do not hog their wealth. Above all else, they appreciate art, luxury, and the equal opportunity to enjoy life's bounties. If they weren't so isolated, it's difficult to believe that such a pinnacle existence could be achieved."
"Do they have a military?" Roarke asked. "Are they fond for using weapons of war?"
Josho squirmed awkwardly.
Boxer raised his head, squinting at her across the way. "A most interesting question... from a most interesting pony."
"I simply wish to know what we may have to contend with if we were to accidentally offend these 'affluent artists,'" the metal mare said.
"No doubt you wish to engage in some vile target practice," Boxer said coolly.
Roarke's lenses immediately retracted. "I beg your pardon?"
"You are obviously a mare bred for death and carnage," the elder continued. "If there's any chance of bloodshed—even in a land of peace—you will immediately sieze it."
"That..." Roarke grit her teeth. "That is not the purpose of my inquiry..."
"Admit it, child. You've been anxious for setting scaled flesh on fire ever since you got here. It's a wonder you haven't already assaulted any of my hatchlings."
"You misunderstand me," Roarke said, her voice rising slowly before turning into a heated snarl. "My motivation is not bloodthirst!" She angrily stomped her hooves against the metal floor, making the nearby guards flinch. "There are ponies in my party who—compared to me—are ill-equipped to deal with insurmountable threads and I simply demand to know if my friends are running into anything too—" She stopped in mid-sentence, breathing heavily.
Boxer was smiling at her.
Roarke's brow furrowed. "What are you trying to do here...?"
"I knew I smelled something deep inside your rusted shell, child," Boxer said calmly. "You may think that it betrays your character, but I'd say that it exemplifies it." He stifled a raspy chuckle. "Perhaps it would do you well to exercise your passion among your friends instead of reserving it for strangers."
Roarke merely frowned. She heard a rattling sound. Glancing down, she realized she was trembling through to her metal braces. She gripped herself and stared aside.
Josho turned and blinked at her. "You think I'm 'ill-equipped?'"
"Just get this over with, breeder," Roarke grunted.
Josho turned back to Boxer—but paused. He squinted at Roarke's brown coat, detecting a slight rosiness. Shrugging it off, he faced the elder once more and said, "So, unless you're gonna go on a tangent to troll my fat flank over visions of pasta, would you mind telling us a bit more about who exactly runs the show in the Val Roan capital?"
"It would be my pleasure, good sir. And perhaps when we're done, we can enjoy a little bit of red wine. I do believe it matches your companion's complexion right about now."
"Grnnnngh!" Roarke kicked at the wall and stomped angrily out of the domed building.
Boxer smiled after her. Once she was gone, he uttered, "I've always found that a soul is most precious when it's on the virge of shedding its outer shell." He turned to face Josho. "What do you think?"
Josho smirked. "I think I friggin' love this place."
I haven't put much thought into what waits for me at the end of this journey. I don't know how many of the other Jurists have. I guess—for us—the voyage has always centered upon Rainbow Dash. She's been the one to inspire everypony on board, after all. Her goals have been our goals, and her conflicts have been our conflicts.
I'm certain that—by this point—we are determined to reach Val Roa. So long as we have full knowledge of Chrysalis and her presence there, we owe it to the rest of the world to put a stop to her infamy once and for all. How long it will take us to get to the kingdom she's nestled in, I'm not entirely certain. The skystone will undoubtedly get us there quickly—or, at least, quicker than the average air vessel. I don't even know if airships are common over this continent.
But what about that which lies beyond Val Roa? From the sound of things, the Grand Choke isn't exactly mana-friendly. There's no telling if the enchanted tome in Propsy's engine room—or the skystone for that matter—will survive the trip. But, then again, there's no telling if Rainbow Dash would either...
I can't be the only pony who worries about her. Surely Bellesmith and Pilate have their hearts full of dread whenever the topic comes up. Who's to know what Eagle Eye or Propsy think... or Josho or Floydien or Zaid for that matter. Or Roarke...
Rainbow may be courageous, stubborn, and mule-headed at times, but she's no idiot. She wouldn't have survived as long as she has and against as many obstacles as she's encountered if she didn't have a level head on her shoulder. Surely the questionable nature of the crew's future has crossed her mind. Her loyalty isn't exempt of thoughtfulness and empathy, one would think.
She's not a pony to go down fighting, Mother. That quality in and of itself has saved the whole lot of us on countless occasions. I just hope she takes the not-too-distant future into careful consideration. I hope she does what's best not just for herself... but for the ponies who love and care for her.
I think the time has come for Rainbow Dash to realize that everypony's journey can't go on forever. So, then, the choice is hers. Does she stay with the ones whom she's come to love? Or does she fade off into the eastern wasteland, preserving herself forever as merely an awesome memory? I honestly do not know which of the two is the better choice, and I certainly don't envy her position...
"Certainly you've all heard of the Churning Line," Josho said as he paced to a shuffling stop. He faced several other crew members across the Noble Jury's top deck under starlight. "Well, according to Boxer, it's the eastern extent of these jagged bluffs. Beyond, there's a steep series of mountain ranges—known to most Alafreons as the Sky Stabs. Most vessels aren't capable of scaling the altitude required to pass over them."
"But Nancy Jane isn't like most vessels," Floydien said, almost bitterly. Props giggled off to the side, causing the elk to grumble.
"Right." Josho nodded, then turned to face the others. "Because of the Sky Stabs, most airships don't even bother to venture into central Alafreo. They typically take the winding ravines to the south. But—according to Boxer—the quickest way to Val Roa means scaling the Sky Stabs directly."
"Does he know what's beyond these peaks?" Pilate asked. Kera lay against his striped coat, curled up and yawning from the throes of an exhausting day. "These turtles don't exactly strike me as avid pilots."
"Yeah, well, Boxer's lived long enough to catch word of mouth from everything that passes through Abinadi," Josho said. "Central Alafreo is apparently lush, not to mention heavily forested. Fir trees for days, from what I hear. There's a very large valley that stretches across most of the continent, before ending up in the Polish Mountains just west of Val Roa and the Grand Choke." He cleared his throat. "However..."
Eagle Eye blinked. "However what, old stallion?"
"There's an area in the northwest corner of the valley that's separated by a smaller mountain range east of the Sky Stabs. A curved mountain range. The landscape makes a perfect circle, according to most travelers, and it's vastly unexplored."
"What are we talking about?" Bellesmith remarked. "A plateau?"
"More like a crater," Josho said. "And a very large one at that. Over two centuries ago, a group of ponies and turtles tried scaling the southern heights to explore what lay beyond, but a blizzard struck the expedition. They lost several members of their party and had to cancel the journey. No one has tried venturing into the crater since, and most pilots east of the Sky Stabs simply avoid it altogether."
"Is it dangerous?" Eagle Eye asked.
"Meh. More like annoying," Josho said.
"Hmmmm..." Kera smiled deliriously, nuzzling Pilate's side as she yawned. "M-maybe it's full of pillllllowssss..."
Belle rolled her eyes with a smirked. "Somepony needs to hit the hay."
"Yeah!" Props snorted. "She can count tortoises hopping a fence!" Eagle Eye giggled.
Josho glanced left and right. Clearing his throat, he leaned forward. "Has anypony seen the paint bucket around?"
"Rainbow's been speaking with Celestia all day," Belle said.
"It's night now," Josho droned.
The mare shrugged. "Perhaps she's gone to sleep. The Alafreons finished polishing up the observation room this afternoon."
"That's so neato keano of them," Props said with a warm smile. "Don't you agree?"
"Is something the matter, Josho?" Eagle Eye asked.
The obese stallion sighed, plopping back on his haunches. "All this Chrysalis business..." He narrowed his eyes at the group. "Just what are we even going to do to her once we get to Val Roa?"
"What else?" Floydien inhaled, eyes twitching. "March up to insect boomer's face and give her the hoof hoof."
Josho's brow furrowed. "I'm serious." He clenched his teeth. "We damn-near chopped off our heads and tails to get out of the trap that her broodlings set for us over the Wastes."
"Yeah, but she doesn't have her broodlinglinglings anymore!" Props exclaimed.
"Doesn't make her any less powerful," Josho said. "According to what Rainbow Dash has told us, she's old as sin and has connections with the dark side of the world." He gestured with a meaty fetlock as he spoke. "What's to say that she's not going to spring an even bigger trap for us when we arrive in the Val Roan Capital City?"
"It's okay to be worried, Josho," Eagle Eye said. "I'm not exactly thrilled about getting into a grunge match with Chrysalis either, but this group has been through crazier straits before." He smiled gently. "I have every bit of confidence that we'll figure something else! Besides, we've got Rainbow on our sides!"
"Yeah, but we're not gonna have her on our sides for long."
Pilate said, "She's proven to have greater fortitude than the rest of us combined—"
"But not forever," Josho firmly said. "Please. Let's be real here. You guys know this better than the rest of us."
Pilate opened his mouth, but he had nothing to say. He hung his head while Belle's hooves squirmed against the top deck.
Josho's gaze washed over the group, finally settling on Eagle Eye's melancholic expression. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and said, "Look, bad things are going to happen in this world. That's a given. We've all seen it for ourselves. But, we've also seen a lot of that bad stuff get kicked in the rear. Rainbow Dash has done a lot of good for almost every ass-backward place she's flow through. Plus, she made me sober." His eyes opened dully. "I know that I'm both the first and the last pony who should be saying this, but... I think it's high time she considered retiring."
"Her journey is an epic one, Josho," Belle said. "Not to mention a necessary one. It goes beyond what any of us can comprehend."
"And just where is that written in stone, huh?" Josho frowned. "As far as I'm concerned, all this Austraeoh prophecy stuff is a bunch of hooey. Never mind what an enchanted book and a bunch of freaky cultists think. Hell, just take one look at Zaid. Morons will believe in anything given enough idiocy and dedication. Or if somepony just promises them grilled cheese."
"The role of Austraeoh and Eljunbyro is quite clear," Pilate said. "My beloved and I have not only witnessed it—we have lived it. Embodied it."
"Won't make a damn difference once death and chaos catches up with Dash."
Belle exclaimed, "She's had every reason to die already! But with each peril she's faced, each beacon of the machine world she's touched—she's miraculously lived on!"
"And you think that'll make her go on forever?" Josho raised an eyebrow. "It didn't work for Hurricane. And from what I hear, they both had the whole 'Austraeoh' thing going for them... up until the end at least."
Belle bit her lip. Her eyes moistened slightly.
"Don't get me wrong. I care for the gal," Josho said. "She's changed my life in more ways than I can count. It freaks me out to think that I ever once tried hunting her down like she was a rabid winged dog in Foxtaur Forest." Her looked at the others. "But someday, her journey's going to end. She... is going to end. And I think we all owe it to her—I think the whole dayum world owes it to her to make it a good end. Good... relaxing... and p-peaceful." He swallowed.
The Noble Jury was silent.
Clearing his throat, Josho continued, "Or... y'know..." A sigh. "We just... play along with her until she can't go on any further. I dunno if that means beyond the Grand Choke or what... but if you can't retire the hero, then at least you can help warm up her blaze of glory. You feel me?"
"We... we f-feel you, old stallion," Eagle Eye said with a sniffle. "I just... d-don't really like what I'm feeling..."
This has been a happy week. A joyful and prosperous week. And yet, I can't shake this unsettling feeling that—at some point far from now—things will stop being this joyful. And, as silly as it sounds, I'd much rather have it happen tomorrow as opposed to constantly hanging over our heads for an insurmountable time.
I love these ponies. They are like family to me. I adore Propsy and I cherish Eagle Eye. But, without a shadow of a doubt, Rainbow Dash is at the center of it all. And once she goes away—be it to a grave or to the east beyond—I fear for what will happen to this family. I fear the idea of being ungrounded... of being lost.
For I have been lost before. And it was not a pleasant feeling. It still haunts me... tears at me in the dark of night. And for all of the warm comfort of the Jurists' companionship... for all the loving things that Eagle Eye says to me...
I'm still scared, Mother. I'm scared that I'll forever be lost, searching... searching for you... searching for myself.
But, who knows? If Elma Boreal's found herself, then maybe there's hope for me.
Maybe there's hope for all of us...
Rainbow Dash finished attaching a knotted rope-end to a bulkhead. With a satisfied sigh, she leaned back and blinked blearily at her hoofwork.
A newly knitted hammock hung neatly across the port side of the Noble Jury's refurbished observation room. The metal framework of the bubbled window had been repaired completely. The room looked like it had never been trashed by zombie pegasi to begin with. Even new glass panels filled up the webbed frame, peering out into mountain mist and starlight.
Stifling a yawn, Rainbow Dash trotted across the room and braced the Sword of Solstice against the corner. Dimming the lights, she spread her wings and prepared to leap into the hammock. On the final heave, however—
"Uhm... Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow tripped, pratfalling onto her chest. "Ooof!"
"Gah!" Elma winced, biting her bottom lip with a pair of fangs. "S-sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash stood back up, teetering slightly. "Naw, it's alright..." She brushed herself off. "The day isn't complete until I've crashed into something or another."
"Still, please forgive me. I didn't mean to startle you—"
"Elma, it's alright." Rainbow turned to smile tiredly at her. She slapped a nearby lantern with her prismatic tail, brightening the observation room slightly. "What's up?"
"I haven't seen you around that much lately."
"Well, that's to be understood. You've been catching up with your family." Rainbow winced. "Erm... Elma's family, I mean. Ungh..." She face-hoofed. "I'll never get over that, I swear."
"Eheh..." The changeling gulped and nodded. "You're not alone..." She paced about. "I spent all afternoon with the Tundras."
"The whats?"
"Distant relatives of the Boreals," Elma said with a smile. "I used to fish with two of their elders when I was a hatchling—er... I-I mean Elma..." The shapeshifter sighed. "You understand."
"If you insist."
"So many memories..." Elma shook her head, gazing into the bulkhead in thought. "And so many turtles to catch up with. And that's not even the half of it." She looked up, bearing a perky smile. "I keep remembering all of these... these projects that Elma left in limbo..."
"Projects?"
"She was a cartographer and an enviromentalist," the changeling said. "She had all of these expeditions and operations set in motion. They've all been cut off because of her untimely demise, of course. And yet... it's like... it's like they haven't." She looked at her own porous forelimbs. "They're right within reach of my hooves. And I remember everything about the parts where I—I m-mean where Elma left off at. There are hundreds if not thousands of turtles waiting on these expeditions to go underway. Lots of money is just floating around... turtles' livelihoods. And... and..."
"Hmmm?" Rainbow squinted. "And what?"
"Just... just seeing my—I mean Elma's hatchlings again..." She gulped. "There're so many things I want to learn about... to know about. Cousins and nephews I haven't seen in ages. Promises that were made to them and to their children and their children's children..."
"I'm guessing it's a lot to take in."
"You have no idea." Elma slowly shook her head. "And... and all this time, the Boreals have been extremely welcoming. The Tundras as well. But that's not all. I think... no, I'm pretty sure that this is helping them as well." Elma nodded at her own words. "I think something about me being here is helping them come to terms with the fact that the matriarch of the Boreal family is gone."
"And she is gone, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Elma looked at her.
"Who you were and who you are?" The pegasus shook her head. "Two completely different things, girl."
The shape-shifter gulped. "How do you even know that I'm a girl?"
Rainbow stared blankly.
"How do you know that this is my real form?" She flexed her dragonfly wings. "Or that it's the real form of any broodling hatched from Chrysalis?" She stared at her own hooves. "Or that this is what I truly should be beneath it all..."
"I... I guess I don't know."
"Neither do I, Rainbow," Elma murmured. "All I know is what Chrysalis made me into... what she robbed the Boreals of. And, yet, it's like they've never been robbed at all. Because... she's still here. She's not alive... she's not even a soul... but she's a gift now... and a talent." She clenched her jaws. "Something that I'm not about to take for granted."
"Elma..." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were almost wanting to—"
Elma looked pointedly at her.
Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-speech. She blinked.
Elma stared at her. She exhaled and smiled weakly.
Rainbow's ears folded. She glanced down at the floor, then gulped. "Oh."
Elma slowly, slowly nodded.
"Have you... uhm..." Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "...have you told anypony?"
"I'm telling you," Elma said.
Rainbow glanced up at her. "Why me?"
"Because you're the reason I'm here, Rainbow Dash. You're the reason I'm alive... why I still believe in myself..."
"Pffft... bite your tongue..." Rainbow chuckled awkwardly. "It was Pilate who showed you compassion in Stratopolis. And then Belle single-hoofedly carried you to safety—"
"But it was you who saved me through them, Rainbow..." Elma stepped quietly towards the pegasus. "It was you who whisked them away from their troubles. It was you who inspired them to be courageous and to show compassion and to never give up." She stopped and rested a hoof on the mare's shoulder. "It was you who brought the Noble Jury together... who led them my way... who helped them bless my life when I didn't know I had one to call my own."
Rainbow gulped and murmured, "And is ityour own, Elma?"
"It will be," the shape-shifter said. "Thanks to you... and thanks to Elma." She smiled, her green eyes tearing. "You've both been foundations... stepping stones toward where I need to be."
"I..." Rainbow Dash shuddered, forcing a smile across her muzzle. "I wish I could take you there faster, Elma. I really... really do."
"I know that," Elma said with a nod. "But for some of us, the quickest way to finish a journey is to stop moving."
Rainbow Dash blinked at that. Eventually her voice cracked, "I don't know if I can even understand that." A weak smile. "But I have full faith that you can."
"Good..." Elma nodded, sniffling. "I'll take that as a blessing."
"Sure." Rainbow leaned forward, smirking devilishly. "Just promise me one thing, at least."
"What's that?"
"You darn well better pick yourself a name," she said with a wink.
Elma did a double-take, then broke into giggles. She leaned forward as Rainbow Dash hugged her gently in the starlight.
Ebon's muzzle hung open while his body softly rose and fell with slumbering breaths. Spread across the cot around the stallion were several sheets of parchment and a dried up quill. A candle was burnt halfway down its length on a shelf across from him.
At some point, the metal door to the crew compartment squeaked open. Eagle Eye poked his head in. He saw Ebon's sleeping figure and quietly stepped inside. A gentle smile crossed his muzzle as he raised a hoof and brushed Ebon's dark bangs. Using his magic, Eagle drew a bedsheet over Ebon. The stallion stirred slightly, but ultimately fell even deeper into slumber.
Slowly turning, Eagle glanced at the parchment. He lifted several sheets from the bed, blinking at the headers of each letter. After a few seconds, the ex-mercenary sighed. He clung a wad of sheets to his chest and hugged himself, staring worriedly into the metal bulkheads.
"We're planning to scale the Sky Stabs," Rainbow Dash said, hovering before Boxer. "It'll be our swiftest way towards Val Roa."
"Wishing to avoid distractions, I take it?"
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked. "If all of Alafreo's 'distractions' are anything like this place, I'd be happy to run into all of them." She gulped. "But there's trouble brewing in the east. It's the sort of thing we'd be jerks to not deal with."
"I presume you speak of this... supposed 'Queen Chrysalis.'"
Rainbow nodded. "Though she may have been rendered powerless after the last time I saw her 'face-to-face,' there's no telling how quickly Chrysalis could regain strength. The mare used to be an alicorn. She could be real versatile."
"Oh, how I do wish I could be of assistance to you in this matter," Boxer remarked. "Alas, conflict is not our strong suit."
"You've helped quite enough. Believe me," Rainbow said. "And—if there's anything I can do about it—I intend to stop this with as little conflict possible."
"Have you a plan in mind?"
Rainbow sighed through a weak smile. "Not yet."
"How invigorating it must be to live in the moment." Boxer's wrinkled lips curved. "Such impulsive heroism has its merit."
"It has a lot of other things too that I could do without," the pegasus muttered. "But, it's all for the best. At least, that's what I have to tell myself."
"I heard that the changeling with Elma Boreal's memories is staying."
"Yes, sir." Rainbow nodded. "That she is."
"Is this a decision she came to on her own?"
Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Why, of c-course! She came to me about it personally. I really couldn't convince her otherwise. Besides, I feel that it's the best thing for her right now, so who am I to talk her out of it?" She exhaled heavily, her ears folding. "Believe me, there're a lot of ponies on the Jury who are sad to see her go."
"She's become part of the family, I imagine."
"For a lot of us, Elma's proof that—even in our darkest hour—good things can be born. Before we found her, we had just climbed out of the roughest spot imaginable. We didn't expect anything miraculously awesome to happen. And yet, it did. She should be a sobbing husk in the northern skystone fields along with the rest of Stratopolis by now, but she isn't. We pulled through for her and she pulled through for us."
"Something tells me that a sign such as this has been a long time coming."
Rainbow gulped, her eyes slightly misty. "Yeah. It was... pretty nice to witness..."
"Look at me, child..."
Rainbow's eyes tilted to meet with Boxer's.
The aged tortoise said, "Remember this moment. Dwell on it. Meditate on it. In the future, when your life once again becomes intolerably bleak, think back to what you've felt today, so that you may remind your future self that not all is lost. Hope stands to bring light to us in the strangest places. There is a purpose to living, otherwise there would be no life whatsoever. Everything would be death."
"There are times, though," Rainbow murmured, "When death is all that I see."
"Which is proof that you are in the position to triumph over it," he said.
She blinked at that. A smile came to her face. "I think Elma's gonna be super okay here."
"And when the day comes that she isn't, and she misses you and the rest of the crew terribly..." Boxer nodded his head. "I'll tell her how you looked and felt this hour before me."
Bellesmith finished nuzzling Elma. She leaned back, wiped her moist eyes dry, and smiled weakly at the changeling. "Are you absolutely sure you won't be changing your mind? You do know that we have a lot of love to give."
"Bellesmith..." Elma caressed the mare's fetlocks. "You have done so very much for me. It would be doing you a terrible wrong not to capitalize on it. I need to be here. In Abinadi. Once I have everything squared away, I'll surely discover that I have a lot of love to give as well."
"Of that, I have no doubt," Belle said, sniffling.
Elma turned to look at the rest of the Jury gathered in the metallic courtyard. She trotted up to Pilate. "You..." She leaned in and hugged him dearly. "You showed me true compassion when nopony else would."
"Yes, well..." Pilate chuckled and patted the back of her shoulders. "You saved my life."
"And you and your beloved gave me one," Elma said. "Thank you for putting me on a path towards learning that I wasn't expendable."
"Nopony is," Pilate said as he leaned back, smiling. "I don't see why changelings should be."
Elma smiled tearfully. Her gaze fell downward, and soon she was crouching before a tiny Xonan. "I have a long journey of discovery ahead of me. I'm sorry that I won't be around to help you with yours."
Kera gulped and nodded. "It's alright. You already totally did."
"Mmmm..." Elma slowly shook her head, then reached forward to caress the filly's chin. "You are your own savior, Kera. I wouldn't have even bothered reaching out to you if I didn't sense the strength and courage you had within yourself in the first place. You have what it takes to carry yourself past any challenge or obstacle that lifes throws your way."
Kera muttered, "I wish I could believe that, instead of being a friggin' lame-o." She gulped, trying not to look at her as she whimpered, "I'm s-so sorry for freaking out on you that one time. You totally didn't deserve it."
"But I can understand it," Elma murmured. "And I'm glad to see how well you've started to pull through." She nodded towards the two adults beside her. "Pilate and Belle can understand it to. When the going gets tough, go to them. Share with them. They love you more than I can put into words... and I know love."
"Yeah..." Kera nodded, smiling sweetly towards the shape-shifter. "You do, don't ya?"
"But not as well as you." She leaned in and kissed the filly's forehead before caressing her green mane. "You're going to grow up into a spectacular mare, Kera. Don't give into despair. Even those of us who've had nothing... who have beennothing can achieve wonderful things."
She stood up and gazed across the crowd.
"You all mean so much to me. It pains me to leave you be on your journey, but this is the closest thing I have to home. The turtles of Abinadi need me..."
"And you need them, Elma," Ebon said, nodding. He smiled painfully. "It's all for the best, really. I've never been good at cooking emotions."
A good half of the Jury chuckled.
Eagle Eye bit his lip and stared at the ground.
Elma saw it. She leaned her head down.
He glanced up at her.
Elma smiled. "Everything will be okay. Love has led me out of the depths of despair. I have every reason to believe it will take you someplace even brighter."
Eagle's lips parted. He felt a tender hoof on his shoulder, and he giggled while leaning into Ebon.
"Props?" Elma spoke while backing up. "Next time you speak to your Uncle, tell him I'm sorry I never got to know the real Prowse, but if he's anything like his niece, then I truly wish I had been stranded on a sunken frigate with him instead."
"Heeheehee!" Props waved. "I'll tel him! Good bye, Elma!"
"Bye!"
"So long!"
"Spark's blessings!"
"Let not the turtle boomers bite bite!"
"Ungh... let's get out of here, already."
"Heheheh..."
Elma watched as the crew trotted away. She sensed a sea of shells shuffling towards her, and she smiled as she leaned back into the gracious company of the Boreals.
The crew got on board the Noble Jury. The last two were Roarke and Rainbow. After Roarke had shuffled on board, Rainbow Dash lingered at the hangar. She stared down at the changeling, left alone in a sea of friendly reptiles. With a devilish smirk, she saluted, then slipped inside the vessel just as the hangar doors were closing.
With a flash of enchanted skystone, the ship undocked from the upper struts, pivoted east, and flew past the spires of Abinadi, piercing the haze of smoke from the bright brazier hanging above.
The changeling exhaled heavily, her eyes moist as she watched the ship grow distant and distant across the mountainous eastern horizon.
Around her, the turtles stopped waving, muttering towards one another.
At last, a citizen said, "They really were a remarkable bunch of travelers. We're truly blessed that you've decided to stay with us, Elma."
"So am I. But I am no longer Elma..." She turned around. "In fact, I've been thinking about a new name."
"Oh yes?"
"Mmmmm..." She nodded. "A name that's beautiful... that deserves to be beautiful, for the brightest spark yearns to be found when everything is seemingly dire and hopeless." She smiled at the others. "Please, call me 'Lerris.'"
Ebon finished pouring a cup of grape juice atop the table. As the cook drew away, Josho's hoof reached in and lifted the glass. The obese stallion held the container below his muzzle, sniffed, and muttered, "Eh... guess it'll have to do." He stood up, facing the rest of the ponies gathered inside the brightly-lit mess hall. "For this toast, I gotta use my own hoof. I'm not about to dirty it with magic. Ya feel me?"
"Mmmm... some of us do, I suppose," Bellesmith said with a smile. Pilate chuckled.
Josho's face was straight and serious as he stood up tall. "A toast... to Elma Boreal," the former enforcer said. "Maybe she wasn't a talking snapping turtle. Maybe she wasn't a scum-sucking broodling of Queen Chrysalis. But she was a damn fine Jurist."
"Amen."
"Buck yeah."
"I'll drink to that."
"We've met and parted ways with quite a few snazzy hooves in our journey together," Josho said. "Crimson... Lucky Strike... Tweak..."
"Phoenix," Bellesmith said.
"Basso," Zaid said, pointing. He smirked. "Sassy Zetta."
"Unky Prowsy," Props murmured, sniffling.
"Jasper Clark," Ebon said from the kitchen's doorframe.
Josho raised the glass higher. "Here's to her having a peaceful life for many, many friggin' years." He gulped. "And that she may find peace in ways... l-less painful than the ones whom we've lost."
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "Aatxe," she said.
"Simon," Floydien muttered, staring through the table.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She looked across the room.
Roarke stood alone in a distant corner, leaning back on her haunches. Her head tilted up upon Rainbow's eye contact. After a few seconds, the metal mare cleared her throat and muttered, "Imre."
The room hung in silence for several seconds. At last, Josho gestured towards the group. They all reached in with their glasses the best that they could. After a festive clinking, they all took hearty sips, exhaling in one accord.
The quiet was somewhat unsettling, until Zaid said: "I'd sing a touching ballad, if only all that I knew didn't involve one-night stands with working fillies at port towns."
Belle choked on her drink.
"Snkkkkt!" Props slapped the table and broke out in wheezing laughter. "Zaidstainnnns!"
"What?!" The stallion gestured. "Okay, so I was in a pretty bad place when the Herald recruited me!"
"Sticky boomer will be in an even worse place at the rate he's spitting," Floydien said.
"Nah..." Zaid shook his head, smiling. "I'm in a good place." He took a deep breath, his cheeks slightly warm. "A really, really good place."
"That makes the two of us," Props said with a wink.
"Uhm..." Kera blushed, raising a hoof. "Three of us?"
"Heeeeee!" Props leaned in and nuzzled the filly. "Hope right in, silly-willy!"
Kera giggled in the mare's grasp.
"I don't know about singing," Pilate said. The zebra smiled gently. "But perhaps a discussion is in order."
"It'd be a darn good idea to go over the travel plan," Josho said. "Once space elk here takes the Jury off autopilot, we've got some tall mountains to scale."
Pilate shook his head. "No, there'll be time for that." He tilted his head aside. "I mean... just talking. I feel as if we haven't had much time to... to relax and get to know each other more."
"I think that's a marvelous idea," Ebon said, smiling sweetly.
"I'm all for it, myself," Belle said with a nod.
"Well, sure thing!" Zaid finished his glass and slapped it onto the table. "Who's first?"
"Oooh! Me!" Props bounced up, grinning. "So, twenty-three years ago, I was conceived inside the broom closet of a book store!"
"Spkkktkkktt!" Josho spat out the rest of his drink, stumbled, and wiped his muzzle. "Dammit, blondie!"
"Whelp..." Zaid sighed. "I can't top that."
"Blessed spark..." Belle face-hoofed.
Kera squinted at Props. "I didn't know two ponies could fit in a broom closet."
"Actually, you can fit four!" Props grinned sweetly. "At least, that's what my mom always told me!"
"That's it." Floydien spun and marched off. "Floydien's checking on Nancy's instruments."
"Awwwwwwww..."
"How about this..." Pilate stepped closer to the table's edge. "How about I tell you a bit about my days as a zeppelin navigator."
"Oooooh!" Kera hopped in place. "That sounds adventurous!"
"Believe it or not, it actually was."
"Hell, I'm all ears," Josho said.
"Well, granted it was a rather short career," Pilate said. "Coming to an end on Ledo's Pride, for better or for worse." He tilted his head in Belle's direction with a smile. "Mostly for better..."
She smiled and nuzzled him. "Tell them about the high-altitude run-in with the parasprite swarm, beloved."
"Oh! That's quite an exciting tale!" Pilate cleared his throat and faced the general direction of the huddled group. "It was nighttime, and I was on observation duty, when all of the sudden we experienced a great deal of turbulence..."
As Pilate spoke, Rainbow Dash hovered in place, smiling proudly at her close friends. She blinked, then looked towards the corner once more.
Roarke sat in place, her copper lenses fully retracted. Her breaths came in heavy, melancholic waves. After a moment, a shadow crossed the floor before her. The metal mare looked up.
Rainbow Dash hovered with two glasses in her hooves. She held the full one towards her.
Roarke's brow furrowed. She looked at the glass, then at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow smiled.
Gulping, Roarke leaned forward... hesitated... and eventually grasped the glass. Upon seeing Rainbow's gesture, she slowly tilted the container to her lips... and drank half of it in one fell swoop. She gulped, exhaled—and suddenly felt herself being pushed forward. Stumbling, she saw that Rainbow was urging her towards the table with her hoof. She clenched her teeth once... but soon relented, all tension leaving her metal-laced shoulders. The two mares hung side by side as they listened to Pilate's tale.
Ebon smiled, his ears twitching from where he leaned against the table of the mess hall. His head tilted aside. Glancing across the way, he saw Eagle Eye. The ex mercenary stood several feet from the table's edge, looking lethargically at the gathered crowd.
Biting his lip, Ebon stealthily snuck out of the group and shuffled his way towards the far end of the mess hall. When he slid up to Eagle Eye's side, the unicorn didn't even flinch.
"Uhm... is... erm..."
"Hmm?" Eagle Eye looked up as if from a dazed dream.
Ebon smiled nervously. "Is there something wrong with your drink?"
"Huh? No... it's... it's very tasty... I..." Eagle winced.
Ebon looked down. The glass was full.
Eagle Eye gulped. "Guess I'm not very thirsty..." He fidgeted. "Or hungry..."
"I see..."
"It was still very nice of you to prepare it for the crew."
"Heh..." Ebon ran a hoof through his mane and shrugged. "We got practically overloaded from the turtles' generosity in Abinadi." He looked at the stallion, smiling warmly. "It's gonna be really, really hard to feel guilty over gluttony for a while."
"So, no more of you barking at us to fast?"
"Hah!" Ebon shook his head and giggled. "No... noooo. No more of that. I'm... uh... I-I'm sorry for being so hard on everypony. I know it's not cool to be abrasive."
"You have a very important job here on the Jury. Nopony envies it... but we all respect you for it."
"That's... uh... that's good to know."
"Yeah..."
Silence.
Ebon bit his lip. His ears folded against his better judgment. "Eagle... is..." He looked at him with glossy eyes. "...is something wrong?"
Eagle blinked. He turned towards him. "Wrong?" He shook his head. "Nothing's wrong."
"You sure you're f-feeling alright?"
Eagle opened his mouth. "I feel..." His features tensed.
Ebon stared at him.
Eagle exhaled and formed a weak smile. "I feel that the worst is behind us..."
Ebon nodded. "Because the best is right before us, right—?" He gasped.
Eagle Eye was hugging him dearly, nuzzling his neck down and over the back of Ebon's head. "No," he said, rubbing his cheek softly through the stallion's mane. "Because the best is right here."
Ebon exhaled. He smiled, and his eyes watered. So he closed them, lifting his head up to nuzzle against Eagle's chin. "I... I was sc-scared..."
"What for?"
"Because... I... I dunno... I guess just—"
"Ebon, look at me." Eagle leaned back and stared the pony face to face. "There is nothing... nothing to be afraid of."
Ebon squinted quizzocally.
"You are right where you need to be," Eagle said. He smiled gently. "We... are right where we need to be." A slight giggle. "And I couldn't be happier."
Ebon sniffled again and smiled.
"Okay?"
Ebon nodded and squeaked back, "Okay."
Eagle smiled, and yet his tail drooped behind him as he glanced aside at the bulkheads.
"You look exhausted."
"Guess I can't help it."
"Here..." Ebon took the glass from him and stepped back. "I'll take this for you. There's plenty more where it came from." He motioned down the adjacent hallway with his head. "Why don't you get some shuteye? If Zaid tells another zinger, I'll be sure to tell you."
"Won't that be something to wake up to?"
"Heheheheh...." Ebon chuckled. He stepped back, smiling. He smiled some more. Then, finally, he turned around, taking his eyes off Eagle as he made for the rest of the group.
Eagle Eye turned around. He made two steps... three... and slowed to a crawl. With a pained expression, he leaned against the doorframe to the hallway. His lungs heaved as if having carried the weight of the Noble Jury on his shoulder. Clenchings his eyes shut, he fought tears, then gazed forward into the dim shadows beyond the crew quarters.
Eagle Eye sweated anxiously from where he stood in the Navigation Room.
Elma Boreal's green eyes narrowed. "You're dying to ask something, aren't you?"
Eagle opened his mouth... lingered... and eventually blurted, "How did you know you were freed from Chrysalis the moment that it happened?"
Elma blinked. "That's not what you wanted to ask me."
Eagle was already nodding. "The question that really bothers me is something I'll have to figure out on my own."
"Very well." Elma trotted quietly towards him. "You want to know how sure I am of my connection to Chrysalis? I'll tell you." She shuffled to a stop, locking eyes with the stallion. "When I became my natural self... when the outer shell of Elma Boreal was—for the first time ever—completely shattered, I felt as though I was weak, naked, infantile..."
"So..." Eagle tilted his head aside. "...you felt like a child?"
"I knew that I was a foal. Subconsciously, I was always a foal. A broodling. But much more than that. In my creation, I had a purpose. When I lost my disguise, I realized and that that purpose all along was never mine. Instead... it was hers..."
"Chrysalis'?"
Elma gulped and finally said, "Mother's"
Eagle's ears folded.
"Her face... her eyes... her fangs... the c-color and smell of her mane..." Elma stared painfully into the distance as she said this. "I knew it all. I felt it all." She looked back at him. "I had a mother... the Mother... and I was made to either honor her or fail her."
Eagle stepped backwards, breathless.
"I... I can't bring myself to hate her. I think, in some ways, I've always loved her." She gave a shuddering sigh. "Even when I was 'Elma Boreal,' I knew her... I felt her. Wherever I go in my life—in Alafreo or beyond—my Mother will always be with me..." She blinked, then glanced awkwardly at him. "Eagle?"
He was shivering, on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Eagle Eye?" she asked.
The stallion raised his hoof and bit on the edge of it, finally calming his quivers.
The changeling leaned back, her lips pursing. "You... you've heard this somewhere before... haven't you?"
With a jolt, Eagle Eye spun about. He burst through the hatch of the Navigation Room, but came to a limping stop at the bottom of the vertical crawlspace outside. With glazed and distant eyes, he stared at the floor.
Elma trotted out after him. "Eagle Eye..." She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Is... is there anything I can do?"
He slowly shook his head without looking at her. "I'm... n-not the one who needs help."
"I think I've been getting by quite nicely," she said with a nervous chuckle.
Eagle's face grimaced. "I... w-wasn't talking about you either," he said.
"Please tell me the others are alright!" Eagle Eye shouted above the thunder and winds of Stratopolis.
Zaid looked at him across the Noble Jury's cockpit. "Thanks to you, a bunch of us are."
"Define 'a bunch of us.'"
"Kera's in one piece. Floydien recovered just in time to paint the skies with shape-shifter intestines. I'm still all around best background pony—"
"Ebon..." Eagle Eye gasped, his eyes growing wider. The fresh droplets of rainwater shook off his body as he sputtered, "Where's Ebon? Is he...?"
Zaid blinked, then smiled. He tugged at Eagle's wet forelimbs and switched places with him, taking the pilot's seat. "Let me be the autopilot pony once again until Floydien's ready. You go down into the engine room and check on yours turly, Romeoats."
"Okay..." Eagle Eye panted, shimmying swiftly down the crawlspace. "Okay okay okay..."
The stallion galloped straight past Floydien's stirring body. He lept over Kera's limp form. Breathless, he threw himself across the length of the navigation, swung open the hatch to the engine room... and froze.
The ex-mercenary stood dead-still, panting and panting. His pupils shrank upon a fixed point in the floor. At last, the ship shook with a jolt of turbulence, rocking him out of his stupor. Flinching, he spun to look behind him. Floydien was just then getting up. His eyes peered around the ship's interior from a compartment away.
Slowly, Eagle Eye crept into the Engine room. He closed the door behind him and rotated the hatch shut. Then he leaned limply against it, clenching his teeth. At last, he turned and looked at the floor again. Swallowing hard, he slinked forward on trembling hooves, crawling across the way until his hoof made contact with a dark black limb with porous holes.
Eagle Eye pulled the body towards him, cradeling is abnormally light-weight body against his chest. His breaths came in frightful spurts, all the while he ran a hoof along the sleek carapace and folded dragonfly wings. At last, he caressed the creature's muzzle, exposing two fangs that shimmered in the lavender light of the Jury's engine.
Eagle stifled a cry, biting onto his own hoof. His shivering tripled, and he gazed all around at every wall of the room. He was hyperventilating so hard, he nearly passed out.
Then the creature moved.
"Nnnngh... mmmm... M-Mother..."
Eagle clamped his mouth shut. His ears twitched.
"M... M-Mother..." The creature whimpered, his gossamer eyelids fluttering along with his tender wings. "I... I-I c-can't feel anything..." He seethed, murmuring in Ebon Mane's voice. "So... so alone..."
Eagle Eye gnashed his teeth. He leaned forward, burying his head in the shapeshifter's glossy webbed mane. A silent sob wracked through his body... followed by a second. Then, out of nowhere, his body relaxed. Sniffling, he lifted his head and hugged the creature's body from behind.
"Ebon..."
"M-Mother..."
"Ebon."
The creature merely flinched, dim pulses of green light emanating from beneath his eyelids.
"Ebon..." Eagle Eye spoke into what he judged was the thing's ear. "It's me. It's Eagle Eye..."
The ship shook again. Bulkheads rattled against them. The lavender light pulsed on and on.
"You have to change back, Ebon," Eagle Eye said. "Please... please. Everything's going to be okay..."
Another shake. Hoofsteps pitter-pattered through the ship, coming closer.
"Now, Ebon," Eagle Eye hissed, eyeing the door in abject terror. "Somepony's coming. They're all going to see you. So you have to change back now."
"Hey! Hey!" Zaid's muffled voice accompanied a salvo of hoof-knocks from the other side of the hatch. "Eagle Eye! Ebon! Is everything cool in there?"
Sniffing, Eagle Eye nuzzled his head against the thing's glossy black cheek. "Please, Ebon. I love you..." He hugged his arms around the changeling tighter. "I love you so much... but you have to come back now..."
"Mmmmm..." Ebon's lips slurred. Two liquid streams ran down his face. "Eagle... Eye...?"
Eagle clenched his eyes shut, squeaking an indecipherable sound. The room suddenly resonated with unfolding heat. He shuddered, his teary eyes flashing open.
He caught sight of the last few inches of the changeling's body turning to a fuzzy bergundy coat once more. The limp figure of the ship's cook lay draped in his embrace.
Eagle was too busy crying to register Zaid's words until the last second: "Guys? For real. Are you both okay? Can I have a look—or are you two being a pair of sticky stallions?"
Eagle gulped hard and called out, "We're doing j-just fine, Zaid." He clenched his teeth to fight back a monumental sob.
At last, the hatch rotated and the door creaked open. Zaid stuck his head in with a worried expression.
Under flickering lavender light, Eagle Eye could be seen cradling Ebon Mane's limp body. A pair of glossy violet eyes glanced over.
"Everything's okay," Eagle Eye squeaked.
Zaid blinked. "You... uh... you s-sure of that?"
Ebon stirred slightly, murmuring unintelligible words. Eagle Eye immediately nuzzled him, planted a kiss on his forehead, and glanced over with a sniffling smile. He slowly nodded.
Zaid bit his lip, smiled awkwardly, and backstepped out of the engine room.
As soon as he was gone, Eagle Eye exhaled through a grimacing expression. He held Ebon tight, gently rocking the stallion's figure as he stared—worriedly—into the nearest bulkhead.
That same expression hung off of Eagle's face as he limped down the dark corridor lined with crew quarters. Behind him, inside the brightly-lit mess hall, the Jurists laughed and talked merrily around the table.
With a heavy sigh, Eagle came to a stop. He glanced to his left. Quietly, he opened the door to Ebon's room and crept in.
His eyes immediately fell upon the bed. Squatting down, he reached under the mattress and pulled out a pile of written parchment. He held them out at forelimb's length. After several heavy breaths, he smiled.
His body shook as he cried quietly. Clenching his eyes shut, he tilted his head to the ceiling.
And he smiled.
"Do not worry," he stammered to the room. Then, with a firmer breath: "Fear not, Mother." He reopened his glossy eyes, smiling painfully at the sheets of paper. "I will take care of him for you." His lungs heaved, and he rolled along the crest of a cleansing sob. "I will m-make sure he never runs out of love."
The sun set to a cool evening, and rose again hours later.
Over the course of two days, the Noble Jury cruised over the remaining cluster of jagged spires that made up the bulk of northwestern Alafreo. The slender mesas blended together, forming a craggy plateau that sloped upwards, evening out and collecting soil and sediment. Soon, the landscape below had turned into a thick alpine forest, with expansive canopies covered in moisture and dewy frost.
"I think we've just crossed the Churning Line," Rainbow Dash said as she trotted into the cockpit after touching down from a scouting flight. "There's no more bluffs or watery ravines below. Feels like we've reached the main contintental shelf."
"Spit all you want, it's still a strange land," Floydien mumbled. He zapped the consoles, accelerating the ship slightly now that Rainbow was on board. "Did paint bucket see any new boomervilles?"
Rainbow shook her head. "Not in the last twelve hours. We haven't passed a settlement since that mesa full of platforms about a hundred miles back. I think the turtles choose to live where the water is."
"Then who are we gonna find in all these fir firs?"
"Beats me." Rainbow smirked. "But I wouldn't mind some close contact of the hoofed kind again."
"Meh."
"Come on, Floydien. Wouldn't you be thrilled to see some other elks for once?"
"Floydien has Nancy Jane and a basket of glimmer boomers. It's all it needs to be."
"Sure thing then." Rainbow scurried over to the crawlspace. While shimmying down the ladder, she paused, glanced up at the pilot, and smiled. "Though, oddly enough, I remember a time when you only cared for Nancy."
Floydien's ears twitched. He clenched his jaw and said nothing.
"Heh... fine. Be that way." She slid down. "Zoop!"
"How about now, beloved?"
Pilate gritted his teeth, his metal brow furrowing as the runes across it flickered and flickered. "I am... s-sensing shapes," he said, hissing slightly. "It's fading in and out, as if in a faint dream."
"I could increase the manaflow," Belle said from where she stood in the cramped infirmary next to him. Using precise movements, she connected one of several wires between the O.A.S.I.S. sphere on his choker and the Ocular Array. "But I'm concerned about overloading your synapses."
"If you're somehow frightened about repeating the debacle that happened at Lerris, I wouldn't be too concerned. That was out of your control."
"What?! No!" Belle frowned. "I simply do not wish to—"
"Belle..." Pilate smiled and raised a hoof to her shoulder. "I'm used to the unpleasant side effects of this technology. When Roarke first attached the Ocular Array to my skull, it was hardly a walk in the park. What I'm simply attempting to convey is that a little bit of discomfort could go a long way in making this synchronization work."
"I... I just don't want to hurt you, Pilate."
"And I'm glad for that." He nuzzled her hoof and smiled in her general direction. "And I hope you realize that—like you—I too can be brave."
She exhaled, smiling weakly. "Right... right..." Clearing her throat, she bundled three wires and attached them at once. "Well, then, how about now?"
"Gnkkk!" Pilate winced, sweated slightly, and exhaled. "Whew! Blessed Spark! I... I-I do believe it's working..."
"It is?!" Belle grinned wide. "What do you see, Pilate? Describe it!"
"I see... I see..." Pilate's gray eyes twitched as his choker flickered. Suddenly, he blushed, his ears folding. "Uhm... oh dear... h-how do I say this...?"
"Huh?" Belle blinked. She looked over her shoulder and realized where the ocular array was pointing. Her cheeks turned blood red. Clearing her throat, the mare lowered her tail and side-stepped across the cramped room. "Sorry. There. Better?"
Pilate smirked mishievously. "Depends on one's definition of 'better.'"
"Pilate—"
Outside in the main corridor, Kera scampered by. "Mrmmmmf!" She giggled into a pair of goggles dangling from her mouth. "You'll never catch me! Not in a million years!"
"Give those back, you adorable little fuzz scamp!" Props' voice cracked as she galloped after her. "I can't fix Nancy's womb without them!"
"You should have thought of that before you called me a 'cute bag of giggle kittens!"'
"But th-that was a compliment! Honest! Ohhhhhh—Zaidy Waidy! Help me!"
"Operation filly tackle is a go!" Zaid galloped after the other two. "She's on the thirty... the forty... the fifty!"
"Hey!" Bellesmith barked, making to dash out into the corridor. "Knock it off! Kera, give those back this instan—"
"Belle..." Pilate rested a hoof on her shoulder.
"But Pilate, they're both four times her size and—"
"Let them be."
"But—!"
He smiled. "It's okay. She's okay." He chuckled. "We have to learn to let go..."
Belle winced, grimaced, then sighed. She slumped down to her haunches, hung her head, then turned to smile weakly at him. "Will I ever stop being so overprotective?"
"I doubt it. It's in your blood."
"Mmmf... don't I know it?"
"I wouldn't love you any less."
"Sometimes I wonder if I should attempt to restore your sight... for fear of exposing you to your own sap."
"Heheheh..."
Roarke's lenses took on a dark shade as she crouched beside her spherical transport inside the Jury's hangar. She welded a loose plate back together, careful not to miss a single square inch of the hull. The door to the chamber flew open. The metal mare shut off her welding device and looked up. With a flick of her fetlock, she removed the tint from her lenses to see clearly.
"I mean it, scampsies!" Props craned her head around crates and boxes, sweating. "I can't see squat without those!"
Kera stuck her tongue out from where she crouched behind a container. "Then operate by fuzzspace! You know you want to!"
"Pleeeeeeease please please please give those back?" Props smiled nervously. "I'll let you juggle thermo-conductive-mana-filters."
"Not until you say 'Kera strikes fear into the heart of all things that pretend to sleep!'"
"Ewww!" Props shivered. "Why in the bubble-streaks would I ever say that?"
"And that is why you fail."
"Ah-HAAAA!" Zaid swooped in and snatched Kera from behind. "Sacked on the final yard line!"
"Hey! Let go! You can't—" Kera's green eyes bulged and she flew into a giggling fit. "Gaaaugh! No fair! You're cheating!"
Zaid smirked while tickling her. "Give up the Blonde specs and the torment will be over!"
"Stop it! Cut it out!" Kera writhed in hysterics. "I'll make you explode from the inside!" Her horn glowed.
"Holy chapstick!" Zaid sputtered as the two of them suddenly hovered upside down. "Blondie, help! She's using ESP! Especially Scary Ponytricks!"
"I dunno how, Zaidstains!" Props stifled a giggle. "Unless Josho and Eagle Eye are stallions of the cloth—"
Suddenly, with a metal pop, a grappling hook flew across the room, grasped the goggles in Kera's hooves, and yanked them out of her grip.
"Hey!" Kera pouted. Her horn immediately dimmed.
"Ooof!" Zaid wheezed, falling flank-first against the floor. He let go of Kera who trotted away safely. "Eughhh... who intercepted?"
Roarke retracted a hook into a metal band around her fetlock. She held the goggles out before Props. Her lenses retracted as she droned, "I... simply presumed you needed these."
Props smiled and took the item in question. "Oh, totally-dotally. But it's not like we were gonna crash and burn any second without 'em." She giggled.
Roarke cocked her head to the side. "I see..."
"This isn't over!" Kera scampered out into the stairwell. "The War of the Fuzzies has just begun!"
"You'd better sign the peace treaty!" Props hollered back. She giggle-snorted and shook her head. "How can something with legs that tiny run so fast?"
"I'm guessing she's tapped into the Sass Force," Zaid wheezed while standing up. He smiled across the way. "Hey Mickey. How's Whizzball doing? Squeaky in all the right places?"
"I've considered furnishing the interior with your pelt."
"Whoopsies!" He trotted eagerly away. "That's my cue to make like a tree and get lost in a Descoltian Conundrum!"
"Heeheehee..." Props winked at the metal mare. "He'd never have gotten the goggles back to me if it wasn't for you." She smiled warmly at her reflection in the thick lenses. "Though... he's a real sweetheart for trying."
"If you say so," Roarke said. She turned towards the transport, but stopped, fidgeting. "Erm... Props..."
"Huh?" The mare looked up, blinking her blue eyes. "Did you just say my name?"
Roarke nodded. "If... perhaps you are needing any assistance in monitoring the skystone engine or... improving the steampipe array..." She gulped and half-looked at the mare. "I am certain I can lend you help in any areas that you would like."
Props stared and stared at her.
"Or, if you don't, then that is fine," Roarke muttered. "But, as it stands, I too have thorough knowledge of engineering, and though it... mrmmm... m-may not compare to the excellence of yours, it would be a disservice to the ship and its crew if I did not offer what I have."
Props slowly smiled. "I think I would be really super-blessed to have your assistance, Roarke." She shrugged. "Or, y'know, if ever you just feel like chatting it up, girrrrrrl, then I'd be fine like wine!"
Roarke's brow furrowed. "That would not be necessary." She made to turn around again—but flinched. "Erm... unless you or the other ponies... feel like you need it?" She suddenly grimaced.
Props was hugging her from behind. "Heehee... it's okaaaaaay, Roarke. But we'll let you know."
Roarke shuddered, giving the mare's fetlock an ineffectual "pat." She said, "Right... uhm... you do that. I guess."
"I will! Heehee!" And Props bounded away. "Catch ya later, friendsies!"
Roarke stood in place for a minute or two. Then, with a calm breath, she knelt back down beside the transport and resumed welding. The bright flame of the tool canceled out any reflection of her own expression in the spherical vehicle's hull.
"Eagle, I can't thank you enough," Ebon said. He trotted across the cramped kitchen with a bowl of sliced lettuce and rinsed it over a sink with a pitcher of water. "This is cutting my work in half. Seriously, it's such a relief!"
"If you say so," Eagle Eye murmured, slicing carrots up on the counter with a telekinetically controlled knife. "I really don't know why I didn't help sooner. I feel awful..."
Ebon giggled and patted the ex-mercenary's shoulder. "No reason to. This is always a job I've elected to do on my lonesome."
"To be honest, I kinda expected something more... more..."
"What, glamorous?" Ebon smirked.
Eagle Eye shook his head. "Difficult."
"Oh." Ebon blinked.
"I mean, it just seems so simple." Eagle dumped the slices into a bowl and levitated over another carrot to slice. "All it takes is certain ingredients and a keen eye for blemishes."
"Well, it's a lot more than that," Ebon said. "There's the spicing and the blending and—in this case—adding just the right mixture of vegetables..."
"I suppose it's the tedium that turns most ponies off."
"Mmmm. Maybe." Ebon smiled. "But I wouldn't wanna do anything else."
"Why's that?"
"Being a cook gets you a feel for what other ponies want."
Eagle paused slightly, his ears twitching. "A feel, you say..."
"Mmmhmmm. It's certainly how I stayed sane in Gray Smoke," Ebon said while rinsing. "Even with perfect strangers, I got to know ponies in ways nobody else did."
"You're a very resourceful stallion. Has anypony told you that?"
"Sure..." Ebon shrugged, then smiled bashfully. "Though I don't think anyone's meant it until now."
Eagle smirked. "So, you feel like you've got a grasp on everypony on board the Jury, huh?"
"Well, being in my position certainly helps."
"So you know what to expect at all times?"
"Yes. No. Maybe?" Ebon shrugged—but as he did so, he felt a whole carrot being slid between his ear and his head. "Gah! What the—?"
"Heehee. Did you expect that??"
"Eagle? What are you doing?"
"I dunno, but I think it looks good on you." Eagle rubbed his muzzle, squinting at the strategically planted vegetable. "Fantastic mane accessory."
Ebon rolled his eyes. "It is not." He paused, fidgeted, and glanced nervously at his reflection in the back of a metal bowl. "Is it?"
"Mmmmmm... could use a little trimming." Eagle leaned in, nibbling.
"Eeep! E-E-E-Eaggggle!" Ebon was stuck between gasping and giggling.
"Oh. I'm sorry," Eagle Eye droned, his smile growing. "Did I get all ear instead?"
"You're insane!"
"Hmmmm..." Eagle hugged Ebon's side, resting his cheek against the stallion's neck with a contented sigh. "Guilty as charged..."
"Heehee... come on. For real. Not here."
"Oh?"
"We'll g-get something in the salad."
"Like what?"
"Erm... uhhhh... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"Alas, Rainbow Dash, what doth make that most horrifying sound?!"
"I must admit that I share Luna's concern, Rainbow. Are you encountering a ferocious dragon of some sort?"
"Nah." Rainbow shook her head with a smile from where she reclined on the bow of the Jury. "That's just Josho, Your Highnesses." She craned her neck to look. "The dude's picked up the habit of napping on the top deck in broad daylight."
"It soundeth terribly unhealthy," Luna's voice said from the glowing sword.
"Yeah, well, that's Josho in a nutshell... albeit a cracked one."
"In a way, we art quite relieved to hear that such is the worst of thy encounters as of late," Luna said. "Thou hast encountered innumerable things of a dismaying quality. It seemeth to us that thou hast earned this satisfying reprieve."
"Heh... well, I won't argue with you there," Rainbow Dash said. She hung her head upside down and stared at the fir trees and rolling hillsides below. Tiny currents of frost bespeckled the treetops with a fine powder. "It's been a good long time since things have been this chillaxed." The pegasus gulped. "I'm doing my darndest not to let my guard down, though."
"A wise precaution."
Celestia's voice spoke up. "I invited you to the sarcophagus to assist in Rainbow's encouragement, not to fuel her paranoia, beloved sister."
"Alas, Celestia, we desireth her prosperity with the same passion as thou. We simply wisheth to keep a rational head upon our shoulders. It carrieth on no differently in our monthly conversations by moonlight."
"Yes, but surely you know that she's been through many a great ordeal! If fate has warranted her relaxation, then who are we to confound that?"
"Rainbow Dash is more than capable of dealing with any emotion—both tranquil and turbulent. We feareth that thou underestimateth her, Celestia."
"Underestimate her?! Why—"
"Princesses... Princesses!" Rainbow Dash sat up, smirking. "Please, there's plenty of me to go around." A voice-cracking chuckle. "Don't start a civil war on my behalf!"
"A civil war? Please, Rainbow, do not insinuate such a horrid thing."
"Thou musn't worry, Rainbow Dash. We certainly receiveth the jest of thy jocularity."
"Unnnngh... Luna..."
"Heeheehee... For real, Your Highnesses, just chillax," Rainbow said. "Things are crazy cool right now. My friends are safe. We've got clear skies ahead. There's even a rough map that we've thrown together for how we'll arrive in Val Roa."
"We presumeth thou has considered all potential hazards along the way?"
"No offense, Luna, but we're what you would call 'professionals,'" Rainbow Dash said. "If we took on a floating city full of zombified pegasi and lived, then I'm certain a mysterious crater won't do us in."
"We admitteth that we were quite vexed when our sister Celestia related such a remarkable story to us. It's alarming to think that Commander Hurricane suffered such a tragic fate."
"Well, just like I told Celestia, I really don't think all of those possessed ponies were proto-Equestrians. I wouldn't doubt it if I got muzzle-to-muzzle with what was left of... y'know... the ones responsible for splitting Urohringr apart to begin with."
"Thou meaneth the winged ponies depicted in the ancient murals and stained glass?"
"Or, y'know, the ones whom the Herald called 'Angels,'" Rainbow muttered with a sigh. "More like demons." She hung her head upside down again. "Whatever turned them freaky did a real number on their brains. What I wouldn't give to have had at least one zombie capable of chatting with me." She gulped. "Explaining the origin of that horribad slime... or that giant freaky plant they were all experimenting with... or what they thought they could do with the Sentinel in the first place..."
Celestia spoke up: "The Sentinel was far from one of a kind, correct?"
"Er... right..." Rainbow Dash scanned the upside-down horizon. "From the shape of the Urohringr symbol we all saw, there were once tons of them. At least two for every ring..."
"Then doth that mean that there remaineth another one in close orbit of this plane?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "I dunno, Luna. I sure hope not. If only..." Her eyes suddenly squinted.
"If only what, Rainbow?"
"Hold the Sword, your Highnesses." Rainbow Dash hopped up to her hooves and slid the blade into a makeshift scabbard along her saddlebags. "I think I see a village of some sort." She kept her eyes trained on a series of wooden buildings nestled in the crook of a mountain ridge due east. She tapped on the cockpit windshield beneath her. "Hey! Floydien! Slow us down! I got something that needs checking out!"
"Heh. You've met with turtles, alright!" A mountain ram smirked. He squatted on a stool along the front porch of a sawmill and resumed hammering together planks of wood. "I can smell their good-nature on your coat. Swell bunch of neighbors, them Alafreons. Kind of give me the creeps, personally."
"I guess that could be forgiven," Rainbow Dash said. Behind her, the Lounge sphere had landed and Roarke, Bellesmith, and Pilate stood in a leafy clearing between fir trees and wooden cabins. Ponies, rams, and deer wandered from storefront to storefront, some of them peering up at the hovering sight of the Noble Jury. "Do you do much trade with the turtles?"
"Well, obviously, those dudes are super generous," the ram said as he moved onto another plank. "That's a good thing for wandering travelers like yourself, but for us locals?" He shrugged. "Meh. Altruism doesn't exactly make for a competitive market." He hammered and hammered. "We prefer exchanging goods along the Green Curve."
"Green Curve?"
"Yeah. Wow. You really are out-of-towners, aren't ya?" He glanced up past his horns. "It's what we mountain folk call the trade route that follow along the southern end of the Skystabs. It heads south from here to the Fir Nests, then bends east into Crater Fall and Boulder City."
"What about the crater itself?" Pilate asked. "Do you ever do trade from within?"
"Ha!" The ram dropped his hammer and hugged himself, nearly falling off the stool. "Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Belle fidgeted. Roarke's brow furrowed.
The ram wiped his eyes dry with a cloven hoof before smirking at the Jurists. "Whew! Sorry, but that was just too rich." He cleared his throat. "You've been through the Flurries, haven't you? Tell me, what's the sense in doing trade in the skystone fields?"
"Er... none whatsoever," Belle said with a nervous smile.
"Especially after what just crashed into the fields," Roarke droned.
"Shhhh!" Rainbow hissed, then turned back to the ram. "Is there seriously nothinginside the crater?"
"Oh, there's something inside, alright," the ram said.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"But whatever it is, it couldn't be assed to come out and open a trade route with us," he remarked. "And it's not like we have enough skystone to scale the Sky Stabs and find out for ourselves." He gestured towards the vessel overhead. "That's a sweet ship. It'd be a shame to wreck it over something so mysterious."
"We're quite versatile, good sir," Pilate said with a smile. "After what we've been through, I doubt we'll let anything overcome us so easily."
"Besides," Belle added with a nod, "The fastest way to Val Roa is to scale the crater."
"Val Roa? Pffft... just use the Green Curve, my friends," the ram said, picking up another plank. "You'll thank me in the end, so will your future children." He hammered away. "Hell, you might run into some fine trade along the way."
"Is there really something worth fearing from within the crater?" Roarke asked. "Or is your advice simply rooted in fear of the unknown?"
Rainbow quietly glanced at Roarke, then back at the ram.
The ram took a breath, placed his tools down, and stood up. He turned around and faced the group directly. "Every day, without fail, something beams out of the land within the Sky Stabs."
Pilate cocked his head to the side. "'Beams?'"
"You can only see it on a clear day, which—admittedly—doesn't come often this high up the western slopes." The ram's eyes narrowed. "But that doesn't change the fact that the lights are still there... and they pierce the skies at least three times a day."
"How do you mean?" Belle asked.
"Just as it sounds like, ma'am." He flicked his ears and said, "It's like a beacon... about as bright as the sun itself. None of us know what causes the lights. And, quite frankly, none of us want to. The last expedition that tried scaling the Sky Stabs didn't even make it up the peaks before freezing to death. So, if you wanna try it with your fancy skystone, be our guest. Don't say you weren't warned."
"We... uh... we appreciate you being so upfront with us," Rainbow Dash said before cracking a nervous smile. "For real."
"I believe you," the ram said. He smirked bitterly. "But if you really mean that, then you'll take my advice and follow the Green Curve. I dunno what your business is in Val Roa, but surely it can wait."
"Unfortunately, it cannot," Belle said.
He shrugged. "Suit yourself." He turned and sat on the stool again. "Still, I gotta admit, you've got my curiosity piqued. Any chance you happen to come back this way again, perhaps you can drop in and tell me what you saw beyond the Stabs."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "We're all pretty much 'east or bust.' This is kinda/sorta a one way trip."
"Hah! Haha..." The ram laughed again. He smiled back at them. "Hell, I coulda told y'all that!"
"Grnnnn-brbrbrbrbrbrrrrr..." Josho seethed through clenched teeth. Vapors wafted out of his muzzle as he paced back and forth across the top deck. All the while, the Jury swiftly ascended at a sharp incline to clear the Sky Stabs passing gradually beneath it. "I swear, if I have to go for another full week of these Spark-forsaken temperatures, I'm gonna piss out pine cones!" The stallion paused every now and then to shrug his shoulders in his leathery coat and clap his hooves together. "Why couldn't the turtles be assed to strap big burning brazers to this part of the continent, huh?"
"If you don't like it, then why not take your complaints downstairs?" Rainbow Dash muttered from where she stood along the ship's bow. "It's a lot warmer there, courtesy of Props' steam pipes."
"Ugh. You been down below lately?" Josho frowned with chattering teeth. "It's loud as all get-out! You can't swing a dead cat without running into a laughing youngster or a frolicking fruit basket!"
"It's called happiness," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. "I'm sorry that you can't get used to it."
"I can get used to things fine," Josho grumbled, plopping against the railing right beside Rainbow Dash. He rubbed his muzzle—made rosy by the cold—and squinted at the rock formations passing underneath them. "Ehhh... who am I kidding? Old soldier's gonna old."
"If you ask me, I'd say you were adjusting perfectly fine."
"So you're the expert on Ledomaritan veteran psychology, eh?"
"Pffft. Better than you are."
"True. True." Josho nodded towards the cockpit. Even Floydien refused to open the door more than a crack. Delicious steam wafted out through the slit in the elk's compartment. "I can't help but feel like we should be preparing for something."
"It's only natural, I guess."
"What'd they say exactly at that town back down there?" Josho's brow furrowed as he stared at Rainbow. "That ponies see beams of light shooting up out of the crater?"
"Something like that."
"And it doesn't freak you out at all that we may very well be floating into the mother of all traps?"
"I think the ponies who live in the shadow of the Sky Stabs have gotten comfortable with their superstition," Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, this place doesn't exactly strike me as a war-torn continent. I suppose the residents here have to choose something to be anxious over."
"My, if you aren't a confident spitfire."
Rainbow twitched upon hearing that word. "Hah!" Rainbow clenched her eyes shut and giggled helplessly.
Josho raised his eyebrow. "What?"
Rainbow cleared her throat and waved a hoof. "Eh... it's nothing. Just..." She sighed. "Ancient history. Really... really... ancient stuff."
Josho concentrated, sent a glow through his horn, and used it to warm the immediate area.
"Mmmm..." Rainbow shamelessly drifted over and hovered close to him. "Thanks..."
"Don't mention it," Josho muttered, rubbing his forelimbs together in the coat's sleeves. "Figured while I'm here..."
"Being sober has done loads of good for ya, Josho."
"Mmmf. Now you're starting to sound like that little lavender bed stain I'm saddled with."
Rainbow smirked. "Don't tell me you're not proud of Eagle Eye."
"'Proud' may not be the word for it," Josho said, staring at the deck beyond his own hooves. "'Content' is more appropriate, I guess."
"Seems like the dude's more than content," Rainbow said. "Looks to me like very day is his best day ever now."
"Yeah. A little burgundy goes a long way."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "You don't approve?"
"Pffft! I ain't his dad!"
"Aren't you?"
Josho clammed up.
"Y'know, I barely knew my parents," Rainbow Dash said. Her eyes took on a brief, bitter twinge. "And as for my dad, I wish I knew him even less." Clearing her throat, she nevertheless continued. "I used to tell myself that the day would come that I'd get everything squared away in my life." She gestured with her hoof while speaking. "A career with the Wonderbolts... a bunch of kickflank trophies... a big house... a fortune to live off of..."
"A wife," Josho droned.
Rainbow blinked savagely at him. "...is it that obvious?"
"Do pigeons shit earthward?"
"Heh... touche."
"Please, do go on."
Rainbow did. "And I told myself that once I had everything together, I'd go back home and make everything square with my relatives, old acquaintances, the school teachers whose lives I made a living nightmare. All that sort of fluff."
"What happened?"
"Jee..." Rainbow smirked bitterly, adjusting the pendant around her neck. "What do you think?"
"Hmmm..."
"Long story short, I've had no choice but to accept my life for what it is... or—more realistically—what it isn't." She gulped. "Words such as 'orphan' and 'outcast' and 'homeless' don't really have that much of a punch to my heart. Because it's not like it can be helped, y'know? At least not in my case. So, I might as well make the best of it all, and seize the things around me that I really, really love." She smiled at the stallion. "The Noble Jury is my family. This ship of Floydien's is pretty much my home. And—"
"You getting to a point somewhere or do I gotta shove you towards the finishing line?" Josho muttered.
"Yeah, there's a point." Rainbow nodded, staring at him. "The point is that Eagle Eye's kind of in the same boat as me, but thanks to you, he's not sinking. And it's funny, cuz I envy him."
"You what-now?" Josho glanced over.
Rainbow gulped. Her voice wavered, "I would kill to have a dad like you." A few seconds passed, and she smiled calmly beneath a pair of glossy eyes. "Anypony would, really. Just..." She gulped. "Pure inspiration, ya feel me?"
Josho's nostrils flared. He glanced off the starboard side. "I don't take much stock in feeling."
"At least you admit you can," Rainbow said. "I think that's the real reason Eagle's happy these days."
"Mrmmmf... maybe..."
Silence.
"You can head on down, now," Rainbow said, ruffling her wingfeathers. "I'm out here to keep watch, is all."
"Eh..." Josho shrugged. "I'll stick around with ya."
Rainbow smirked at his glowing horn. "I was born in Cloudsdale. I can deal with the temperature."
"Who said anything about the temperature?"
Rainbow opened her mouth... but paused. With a blink, she smiled.
Both ponies stared out at the passing mountainside.
"... ... ...so what do you think is really waiting for us in that crater?" Josho grumbled.
"Eh... some ancient horror that'll probably wanna fry us all to a crisp."
Kera floated the screwdriver behind her back, licked at her lips, and levitated an empty mug in its place.
Belle turned to her mate. "And now?"
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. Meanwhile, the O.A.S.I.S. sphere—dangling from his choker—fired a manabeam into the ocular array over his eyes. A swath of amber and red energy flickered across Kera and the object floating in front of her.
After two and a half seconds, Pilate's ears twitched and the zebra said, "A cup."
"Very nice." Belle smiled down at the filly. "Kera, darling, pick something of your choice. Be random."
"Really?"
"Hmmm. Yes, really."
Kera clenched one eye shut, her horn glowing brightly. Soon, something slipped out from deep within the roots of her mane. She waved it in the air between her and Pilate. "Ta daaaa! What am I holding up now?"
"Eungh..." Belle face-hoofed. "Kera..."
Pilate smirked, trying not to chuckle. "I do believe that is a grasshopper leg."
"Did you really use the O.A. to determine that?"
"Yes and no, but that's the beauty of how I 'visualize' things," Pilate said.
"Well, all and all, this is looking very good!" Belle said with a grin. "So far, you've been observing things with about eighty percent accuracy!"
"I still didn't know how I couldn't recognize the third item," he said.
"That's because Kera was holding the horseshoe the wrong way."
"Hey!" Kera pouted.
Belle giggled. "I'm only teasing, dear." She reached down and straightened the filly's mane. "You've been very helpful."
"Eh." She shrugged. "It beats hiding in Ebon's cupboard and pretending to be a spatula."
"Marvelous work, beloved," Pilate said as he reached up to remove the Ocular Array. "It's not even giving me a headache anymore."
"One moment, bree—erm... zebra," Roarke said, suddenly walking across the lounge side of the mess hall. She stood between Kera and Belle, looking over at the older mare. "Erm... if you don't mind."
Belle blinked... then blinked again. "N-not at all!" she remarked with a nervous smile.
Roarke turned towards the stallion. "Is it still switched on?"
"Indeed it is, Roarke."
"Good. Now look at me." She flicked her fetlock forward.
Belle flinched, but maintained her composure.
A tube sprung out from the metal framework encasing Roarke's limb. With a low hum, it flashed a bright red light straight at the Ocular Array.
"Now, Pilate, what am I holding in my hoof?"
"I... I..." The zebra fidgeted, his muzzle tightening. "I-I can't make it out. Everything's gone red. Like wool's been pulled over my eyes."
"Then you don't see what's in my hoof?"
"She's lying!" Kera raspberried. "She doesn't have anything in her hoof."
"Kera..."
"Indeed, it was a trick question," Roarke said, retracting the pointer and lowering her leg. "What do you see now, Pilate?"
The zebra exhaled with relief and smiled. "Two fine warriors."
Kera giggled as Roarke turned towards Belle. "You're making good progress in upgrading the array," the metal mare said. "However, you should take into account its vulnerability to light and mana feedback. This can make the difference between your mate accurately seeing the environment around him and being crushed to a bleeding pulp."
Pilate cleared his throat.
Roarke fidgeted. "But... truly... truly..." She nodded her head towards Belle. "A good job."
"Uhm... uh..." Belle glanced at Pilate, then back at the Searonese pony. "Th-thank you, Roarke! That's... uhm..."
"A very kind piece of advice," Pilate said, smiling.
"Yes! Very kind." Belle exhaled calmly. "Really, Roarke. I can't thank you enough for providing us with the Ocular Array in the first place."
"It was necessary for overthrowing the Lounge and assuring the continual safety of continental airspace from the flying undead." Roarke's lenses retracted slightly. "And... my pl-pleasure, of c-course."
"Of course."
"Have you..." Roarke lingered. "...most of you seen where Rainbow Dash was last?"
"Up on top!" Kera said, pointing at the ceiling. "Doing her scout-scout thing, I bet."
"At this time of night? I imagine it's even colder, as high up as we are."
"You know very well that we can't stop her, Roarke."
"Hmmm. Indeed." Roarke trotted towards the kitchen and the stairwell beyond. "Carry on, my little ponies."
Belle turned to watch her leave. "Beloved?"
"Yes, Belle?"
"Is it odd that I'm more scared of her when she tries to be friendly?"
"Heheheh... I find it charming."
"You've always seen the best in ponies... even when you couldn't see."
"Hey Belle!" Kera hopped. "When you're done with Pilate, could you guys build me a cool Searonese implant so I can roast grasshoppers alive?"
"Not on your life!"
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Poop smears."
Roarke stepped out of the stairwell and onto the top deck of the Jury, a slightly difficult job considering the vessel's twenty-five degree incline while ascending.
Her lenses pistoned in and out as she scanned the snow-sprinkled surface between the skystone and the hull.
"Rainbow...?"
Silence.
"Rainbow Dash...?"
More silence.
"Hrmmm..." Roarke scowled. "It's not exactly fortuitous for a late-night reconaissance flight. Perhaps she has a sound stone on her—" She froze.
A limp body lay over the starboard railing. Wings twitched and a prismatic tail flicked.
"Rainbow!" Roarke rocketed forward on metal-laced hooves. She scooped Rainbow off the ship's edge. As soon as she made contact, she became aware of how heavily the pegasus was convulsing. "Rainbow, what's happened?"
"Gnnngh..." The mare winced, her fluttering eyelashes sprinkled with snowflakes. Despite her shivers and spastic jerks, she managed the faintest smile. "You... d-don't... you sure d-don't c-call my n-name out much... h-heh heh... you know th-that...?"
"Damn it!" Roarke hissed, dragging the mare with her towards the stairwell. Once sheltered from the snowfall, she sat Rainbow up against the wall and rubbed her limbs. "You've spent far too much time out there in the cold! As the leader of this crew, you should know better than to put yourself at such unnecessary risk—!"
"It's... it's n-not the cold..." Rainbow hissed, clenching her teeth. "It's... it's just... the usual..."
Roarke stood still. Her brow furrowed above her lenses. "I... I had no idea that they could get this bad..."
"Lately, they h-haven't..." Rainbow gulped. "But ever since we cleared Stratopolis, they've been h-happening more regularly." She panted and curled her limbs up to her chest. "Guh... mmnngh... I-I can usually feel a dizzy spell coming. Try t-to get to the hammock in time..."
"Very well." Roarke proceeded to lift Rainbow up. "I shall carry you there—"
"No, not now!" Rainbow seethed, clinging to the wall. "Spinning. Sp-spinning to friggin' much. Just... just g-gotta be still." She gulped. "Let it p-pass..."
"And what if it doesn't... 'pass'?"
"Then every Jurist will have a bigger helping of Ebon's carrots."
Roarke fidgeted, glancing at the walls. "Rainbow, I... I do not know what to do to assist you..."
"You and me b-both, sister," Rainbow wheezed. "Just... g-gotta stay still... from... the sp-spinning..."
Roarke was silent. Ultimately, she slumped down against the wall besides Rainbow Dash. She lifted her hoof up—hesitated... and eventually rested it on Rainbow's far shoulder, pulling her in close, anchoring her.
"How is that?" Roarke asked. "Does it help?"
Rainbow shivered and shook. "Does wh-what help?"
Roarke glanced at her hoof holding Rainbow close, then back at Rainbow herself. "Never mind. Just... attempt relaxation."
"Are we inside?"
"Not exactly. It's the stairwell, sternside. I offered to carry you to the observation room, but—"
"Y'know, the crew's b-been warming up to you as of late."
Roarke's mouth lingered open. She cocked her head aside. "How do you mean?"
"Exactly what it s-sounds like," Rainbow smiled in spite of her shivers. "Seems like you're threatening them with d-death less and helping around the k-kitchen more."
"As an integral member of this crew, I find it necessary to be helpful in any way possible."
"That's n-never stopped you from b-being a total stick in the mud before."
"Hrmmmm..." Roarke frowned, staring off.
"Heh..." Rainbow hissed through her teeth, curling her dizzy head inadvertently against the mare's shoulder. "Is it so tough to admit th-that maybe you're st-starting to like this motley crew of sky farters?"
"We have a task to do in Val Roa. It is a very important loose thread that needs to be pursued. It would be counter-productive if I was to act abrasive during this leg of our journey."
"Funny you should call it that."
"Call it what?"
"A 'leg,'" Rainbow said. She was starting to shiver less. "Because I would almost put it as a 'last leg.'"
Roarke jolted.
Rainbow felt it through her trembles. "Does that bother you?"
"Does it bother you?"
"I've been flying into death for... for... well... maybe going on for a whole friggin' year now."
"Perhaps Pilate would be the appropriate timekeeper to make that esti—"
"Doesn't m-matter. Look, the point is..." Gathering her nerves, Rainbow Dash sat up against the wall beside Roarke, sighing. "Things are pretty bad right now."
"It was my understanding that we had reached an unprecedented moment of tranquility in our journey."
"For me specifically, I mean," Rainbow Dash said. "I've felt this bad before... but they were always... like... r-right before I found a way into the machine level."
"You speak of the ruby flame?"
"Yeah. Pretty much."
"You believe that has a direct relation to your predicament?"
Rainbow giggled. "You even hearing yourself right now?" She smirked, shivering less and less. "That friggin' lavender tome nearly crippled me! Why, if it wasn't for that Odrsjot hooflet thingy that Zaid and the Herald used—"
"I know that," Roarke said, growling slightly. "What I mean to inquire is whether or not you think that contact with an underworld flame has anything to do with you recovering from your ailment?"
"I'm half chaos monster, Roarke," Rainbow Dash said. "It's not really an ailment. It's... like... my future. And if you know anything about how my culture feels about chaos..." Her words trailed off.
Roarke took a deep breath. "You don't strike me as an avid supporter of suicide."
"Who said anything about something lame as that?"
"Is it no less analogous?" Roarke's lenses rotated as she turned to look at her. "Everything about your trip has been self-destructive... or at least destructive."
"Heh... I wasn't born yesterday, y'know," Rainbow smirked bitterly. "I've flown circles over ideas like this more than I've scaled the world's surface. Silvadel... Aridstone... Ledomare... Lerris..." She gulped. "Seems like a lot of bad stuff follows me wherever I go. Almost makes my trip seem like a bad thing in and of itself."
Roarke let loose a woeful sigh. Her ears flicked above her braided mane. "However..."
"However... would you call Elma destroyed? Would you call the freed changelings destroyed?" Rainbow Dash's teeth chattered one last time as her body began to relax. "Or Luxmare? Or the survivors on board the Tarkington? Or Belle and Pilate?" She blinked, then tilted her head over. "Or you?"
Roarke clenched her teeth.
Rainbow smiled. "The way I see it, if I just gave up and rolled over like a cockroach back in Equestria, a lot of good stuff east of my kingdom wouldn't have happened. Duke Zaap Nator would still be murdering foals. Axan would have massacred the remaining Silvadelians before abandoning the other Divines forever. Hell, your friggin' mentor, Lady Pissedoffagus, would still be running the show in Searo's Hold and—"
"I get the picture," Roarke droned. She glanced over. "But does all of that necessitate the awful things that have happened."
Rainbow was silent for a while. Her wings coiled tightly as she said, "There was something Twilight taught me once... that eons ago—before the Alicorns could straighten up Equestria well enough that a harmonic nation would be formed—the land was full of angry, bickering, violent ponies. And, even after the Elements of Harmony were established, a lot of nasty crud went down—even within the boundaries of my homeland." Rainbow took a deep breath. "For millennia, Luna and Celestia have only been able to maintain harmony in one tiny spot in the center of this... bigass floating plane. Never before has there been a feasible opportunity to send a representative of harmony outward in any direction."
"Do you qualify as this?"
"Heh... if I do... it's kind of bitterly ironic," Rainbow said. "Though, I'd like to think, if there was any Element Bearer capable of stomaching the reality of what it takes to make Harmony 'work' this far from home?" She shrugged. "It was me."
"Then, perhaps, it was a good thing that you survived the chaos-bearer."
"Yeah, I guess. Cuz—hell—if Fluttershy was the one of us who made it, I couldn't friggin' see her making it past Windthrow." Rainbow chuckled maniacally. "Or even Luna-forsaken Dream Valley. Goddess!" She giggled and giggled again.
"I..." Roarke fidgeted. "...will pretend to understand the humorous implications of that."
"Eh... it's sad, really. But I don't know what to do with sad these days other than laugh at it." She gulped. "My whole journey—before and after meeting Belle and Pilate—has always been about letting these underworld beacons guide me. It seems like—with each flame I come across—both good and bad things happen, but it's all for the best... y'know?" She exhaled. "Like... Harmony had a plan... long before even the alicorns knew what to do with this world."
"And if you fail to grasp or perform this supposed 'plan?'" Raorke asked. "What then? From what I understood from your talk of Axan, this world isn't exactly prospering. In fact, it is dying."
"Yeah. Bummer, huh?"
"And if Austraeoh should perish before the journey's end?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Eh... somepony else will probably pick up the torch. I mean, that's what happened after Hurricane, right?"
"That's still a subject of debate."
"Not from where I'm looking at it."
"If you insist."
"I do."
Silence.
"I take it... erhm..." Roarke gazed at Rainbow. "You are feeling better now?"
"Yeah, sure..." Rainbow nodded. "Good enough to feel your hoof around my shoulder this whole time."
Roarke jerked so that she sat perfectly on her haunches. "I am... unaware of that which you are referring to."
"Uh huh. If you say so."
Roarke fumed, staring down the steps of the stairwell.
Rainbow chuckled... then giggled... then fell over in convulsing laughter.
Roarked groaned, covering her face with a hoof while the pegasus beside her writhed on the floor.
"Did I ever tell you about the one time I kicked a dragon in the face?"
"Do you refer to Nevlamas? Because I do believe I was somewhat of a witness to that."
"No no no. Before that. Waaaaaaay before that."
"Axan?"
"Nope. Even earlier."
"You're playing on my ignorance, then."
"Well, I did. I totally did. This was back when my friends were alive. This big ol' dragon was hibernating in the mountains southwest of Ponyville. Its snoring breath blotted the sun out with nasty smoke. If things remained the way that they were, then most of central Equestria was gonna experience a super long winter."
"Sounds like a mild crisis if I ever heard one."
"Yes, well, it was pretty big business for us in Ponyville. Turns out Princess Celestia was right on top of it, and she ordered her apprentice—my friend Twilight—to strike a peace agreement with the dragon."
"How so?"
"She was gonna politely ask the thing to move and resume its sleeping elsewhere. That way, everypony could be happy."
"Certainly sounds easier said than done."
"Right. So Twilight enlisted the help of me and the rest of her friends. We had just barely gotten to know each other at that point in our lives, and I think a lot of us were still rubbing off of one another the wrong way—like new friends are bound to do, y'know?"
"I take your word for it."
"Anyways, now that I look back at it, the whole quest was more a test for all of us than just for Twilight. Could Celestia or Luna have talked with the dragon themselves? Pfffft. Totally. But this was an opportunity for the Elements of Harmony to work together on the first super-serious thing since Nightmare Moon tried to cover Equestria in eternal night."
"I was promised dragon kicking..."
"I'm g-getting to that! Yeesh... So where was I? Oh, right, so we march up the mountain—"
"On hoof?"
"Er... yeah."
"Sounds rather counter-productive."
"Not all of us were pegasi, y'know."
"My mistake..."
"What, you assumed I only hung out with winged ponies in Equestria?"
"Seems strange that you would let yourself be bogged down otherwise."
"Er... uh... huh..."
"...so you ascended the mountain?"
"Right. And we met with the dragon. He... wasn't very cooperative, to put it lightly. Twilight and the others were patient, but I had just about all I could take of this huge scaled freakjob. An entire afternoon of hiking had gone by. All the ponies I knew and cared for were in danger 'cuz of his foul breath. On top of all that, I hadn't had a bite to eat in over a dozen hours."
"I'm guessing you pulled a 'you.'"
"Wham! Right in his friggin' snout!"
"And you lived to tell about it."
"Heh. Barely. He let loose a dragon roar straight in my face. I was thrown out of his mountain cave, and then my body barreled through my gal pals. Then the dragon came out, all stomping and snarling and spouting fire..."
"I thought it was some terrible chaos lord who ended your companions' lives."
"Oh, that's another story... one that I'm... erm... not b-big on retelling..."
"I see..."
"Anywho, we all trembled, expecting this dragon creep to gobble us all whole. I remember all of us hugging each other, shivering like filly scouts during a thunderstorm. Heh... I really didn't like cuddling back in those days..."
"And you're somehow different now?"
"Anyways, the most anticlimactic thing happened. Fluttershy—dainty wuss extraordinaire—trotted up and stared the big scaley dude down. Out of nowhere, she shows this... well... awesome display of guts, and she single hoofedly convinced the dragon not only to leave us alone, but to fly off to another part of the landscape. Wherever he ended up going, his smoke wouldn't bother Equestria anymore."
"Somehow, that wasn't quite what I expected."
"What? You wanted a story with more explosions?"
"In truth, I expected a heavy helping of blood."
"Yeah, well, that wasn't like me... at least n-not at that time."
"What changed?"
"For real?"
"Mmm-hmmm..."
"... ... ... I guess when my friends all passed away, it's like whatever was holding me back suddenly vanished. If you've no longer got ponies to be loyal to, then why bother being loyal to your morals?"
"Is it really that simple?"
"Pffft. Of course not. But it's helped me reason things out in my head when I feel like absolute trash... which... wh-which is a lot more often than I'd like to admit. Meh..."
"What brought upon this sudden nostalgia?"
"I dunno. Everything. Nothing. Feh... I guess it's just this shivering time bomb of an affliction I'm having to deal with."
"I see..."
"I'd say it was karma. But... if it was truly karma, then I'd have been done in a lot earlier, ya feel me?"
"Perhaps."
"But, for some reason or another, I've been allowed to live... even beyond death itself."
"That's something you have over Hurricane."
"Huh...?"
"She perished during her journey. But you? You perished and came back."
"Heh... yeah, well, Hurricane never ran into technologically gifted and egotistically psychotic Ledomaritans."
"Or perhaps it was fate."
"I doubt I'll ever take you for a mare who subscribes to fate."
"And what of casual conversations in stairwells?"
"Oh... uhm... huh..."
"Indeed."
"... ... ... It's strange to think that adventuring was once fun."
"You no longer feel thrilled by flight and exploration?"
"Okay. So maybe 'fun' isn't the right word. There was a time when dragons, diamond dogs, and parasprites seemed like serious business. That one moment when the big scaley creep was staring down my friends and I? I felt seriously friggin' scared. I wouldn't have admitted it to my buddies at the time, of course, but it freaked me the heck out. But... looking back? I don't think I ever once thought I would die. It's weird. Even when dealing with Nightmare Moon, I felt like things were somehow gonna be okay in the end. Maybe that was because I was part of something bigger and far more harmonic than just myself..."
"Are things any different now?"
"Well... y-yeah! And no. I mean... unnngh... Like weeks ago, when I was flying circles around Stratopolis with Pilate dangling in my grasp and a ton of undead pegasi on my tail? I wasn't scared. I mean... not really scared. I was just... going through the motions. So much of what I've done since Ledomare—heck—since Windthrow has been me just flying by the seat of my saddle."
"You're certain of that?"
"Huh?"
"I don't know the mare you were before you began your epic journey. Are you certain it's been the same ride all throughout?"
"... ... ...I guess Silvadel changed me."
"The place where Axan nested, yes?"
"It was a landscape that had seen death. Like... it was almost a glimpse of what Equestria could perhaps have been like if creatures like that one snoring dragon had gotten their way in the end. The ponies who still lived there—Sam Rose and all his subjects—they had nothing but the ashes of once-happy lives to build a future on. In a way, they had already lost before they were even born into battle."
"And yet, your intervention saved them, yes?"
"Doesn't change the fact that the whole situation royally sucked! That was... th-that was an eye opener for me! I had gotten used to the high of doing fantastic things for ponies whenever I breezed by their towns. But there? In Silvadel? The best I could do was shine light onto a graveyard. Sure, I may have convinced Axan to get up and leave, but that doesn't take back all that the Silvadelians lost."
"You could have flown on without helping them."
"Sure. And yet... no... I couldn't..."
"What held you back?"
"I guess... I-I realized I was my own Silvadel. I was a living sepulcher of all that was once precious to me. The last Element of Harmony was around my neck, and it was a flimsy seal to a vessel of chaos. Gone were the days when simple misadventures in Ponyville would make my heart race. If I wanted to deal with Axan... like really deal with her, than I had to put everything on the line. I probably wouldn't have come out unscathed. In fact... I didn't. I should have died... I should have stayed dead..."
"But it's a fortuitous thing that you didn't, right?"
"I... I like to think so. I like to think that it was worth it just to meet Belle and Pilate... Eagle Eye and Kera..."
"It stands to be said that one life put at risk to help so many others is a sign of true heroism."
"And I got to meet you, Roarke."
"... ... ..."
"For real. Don't you think that's a fantastic thing? That you're here right now? That we're both here? Instead of—I dunno—lying in separate ditches somewhere?"
"I could perhaps hypothesize about the ample bounty I'd be in posession of right now if it weren't for your inexplicable intervention."
"Pffft! At what cost? Being the lap dog of the big-flanks up in Searo's Hold?"
"Well put..."
"I often think about what it'd be like if Discord hadn't dropped in on my friends and me. Like... imagine an alternate universe where we never died... where we'd still be hanging out... doing the whole Elements of Harmony thang... battling—pfft—I dunno... pillow monsters and sea ponies..."
"You can't be expected to predict something like that."
"But still, it just... it used to seem like such a happy, dreamy scenario to me. But now? Now that I've unearthed all the crap that Chrysalis has been up to? Now that the likes of Shell and Zaap Nator and Nightshade and Nevlamas have been dealt with? I can't fathom having lived another existence. Even... even if it m-means that my friends have to stay dead. It's like I was meant to come out this far... to do so many awesome—and not so awesome stuff... just to make sure the world becomes... y'know... better."
"I think it's the mark of a strong pony to account for all of her calamitous circumstances and see them for the good that they've brought about."
"Yeah, I guess. I just wish I didn't have to struggle with such a perspective for so long."
"Indeed."
"How about you? Do you ever pine for the life you had before you got caught up in all this nonsense?"
"There was one particular occasion at a young age where I commissioned by an older warrior to fetch her a dozen eunuchs from the southern kingdoms. It wasn't until the delivery was made at the cost of much blood and sweat that I realized she actually desired a dozen studs for a private brothel."
"... ... ..."
"It... erm... was exceedingly amusing to me at the time."
"Maybe we should go downstairs where it's closer to the lavatory or some other place where I could vomit."
Ebon Mane tossed and turned. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get comfortable enough in his cot. Even with all the blankets bundled around him to ward off the chill of the Jury's high altitude climb, he remained restless.
With a groan, he sat up, rubbing his eyes with a burgundy hoof. Staring blearily across the dimly-lit compartment, Ebon groaned and plopped down onto all four legs. He opened the valve and shuffled out into the narrow corridor outside. Once there, he looked down towards the bow. Emptiness hung with shadows and more shadows. He turned and looked towards the mess hall—
Eagle Eye's slender frame was obstructing the light from the lounge.
Ebon did a double-take. Blinking hard, he shuffled down the passage. "Eagle Eye?"
No response. The ex-mercenary stared gloomily into the bulkheads.
"EE?"
Finally, Eagle twitched. He glanced up. At first sight of Ebon, his features softened and he breathed, "Ebon? You're up."
"Yeah..." The cook nodded, shuffling to a stop before the other stallion. "Seems to be contagious."
Eagle fidgeted. "Yes, well..." He glanced down at the floor. "I couldn't fall asleep."
Ebon leaned his head aside. "Too busy thinking about what awaits us in the crater?"
"Uhhhh..." Eagle brushed at his silken bangs. He blinked and grinned mechanically. "Yes! That's... uh... that's it!" A dry chuckle. "Fear of death and gloom and spontaneous village murders!"
Ebon raised an eyebrow.
Eagle gulped. "Also some indigestion." He bit his lip. "Just a little."
"For real?" Ebon leaned in and placed his fuzzy ear straight up against Eagle's side. "Oh jeez! I hope it wasn't because of what I cooked!"
"Uhhhh... buhhhh..." Eagle flushed deep red and gently pulled Ebon back up into a standing position. "Nah! It's... it's fine!"
"Honestly, no. Not really." Ebon shook his head. "Ever since Abinadi, we've been really chill."
"We h-have?"
"Yeah. Even Roarke is starting to come out of her shell. Haven't you noticed?"
"Well... uhm... I-I guess I'm just not used to being... er... weaponless!"
Ebon's eyebrows were flat. "Weaponless..."
"Yeah! I lost my sword in Stratopolis! And my shield is practically garbage now! Why, back in Foxtaur, I used to practice with my sword every morning, noon, and evening! It got my mind relaxed. Heh... although Zenith used to say I'd go blind sooner than later."
"... ... ..."
"Eh..." Eagle Eye avoided Ebon's mane. "I guess that's only a joke that the old stallion would laugh at."
"Eagle..." Ebon leaned forward, speaking within a warm whisper's distance. "If... if s-something was troubling you, you'd tell me wouldn't you?"
"Oh, t-totally! I mean... why wouldn't I?"
"Because I think... that is..." Ebon exhaled quietly and murmured, "We have something special, don't we?"
Eagle stared back. He simply smiled.
Ebon's eyes wandered into the shadows. Suddenly, his lips curved. "You know..." He leaned in again. "If you're having trouble sleeping in your quarters... you c-could always try mine."
Eagle blinked.
"I mean... at th-this point..." Ebon played with his mane and giggled aside. "Why not?"
"Heh... heheheh..." Eagle wheezed through a crooked smile. "Yeah, why n—" He suddenly flew forward and collapsed into Ebon.
"Gaaaah!" Ebon fell hard to the floor, his legs tangled up with Eagle's. "I-I didn't m-mean like th-that!"
"It w-wasn't me! I sw-swear!" Eagle stammered, struggling to disentangle himself. The bulkheads around them shook with massive turbulence. "It was the ship!"
"Wh-what's happening?!"
"I can't t-tell! I can't even get up!"
The ship shook and rattled some more. One by one, bleary-eyed jurists slipped out of their rooms.
"What in Spark's name...?" Belle and Pilate reeled.
"Unnnngh..." Props clutched a blanket while rubbing her blue eyes, yawning. "I was dreaming of some really smexy soot..."
Josho frowned. "By Ledo's balls, what's fartin' at us now?"
"One way to find out!" Zaid hopped nonchalantly over the fallen stallions. "Hey Eagle. Hey Ebon. Nice pretzel." He rushed up to a starboard porthole within the brightly-lit lounge and squinted out. "Whoah... now that's a lot of squirrel homes!"
"'Squirrel homes?'" Pilate stammered.
Zaid craned his head. "I mean 'trees,' you silly magical zebra!" He galloped back down the narrow corridor and brushed his way past the sleepy ponies. "Looks like our boring days are over with!"
"Oh great." Josho rolled his eyes.
"How can there be trees up this high in the Sky Stabs?" Belle thought out loud.
"That's what I aim to find out!" Zaid reached the vertical crawlspace and motioned down the hallway. "Come on up, Blondie! Anomalies are soooooo you!"
"Oooh! Ooooh!" Props ditched her blanket and scampered—frazzled—after him. "I wanna be confounded! Wait for me!"
"Me too!" Kera scampered towards them.
"Hold it, little lady," Belle caught Kera by her tail. "Let's wait for some of the craziness to boil down first."
"Awwwwwww..." Kera squatted, pouting with folded forelimbs. "How come only Props gets to chase Zaid around these days?"
Belle glanced at Pilate while the zebra bit his lip.
"Htttt!" Zaid climbed up into the cockpit and helped Props up after him. He looked towards the sparkling antlers while the cabin shook. "What's the story, elkbone?"
"Grnnngh!" Floydien snarled, jerking left and right on the controls while foggy mists unfurled against the cockpit windows. "Nancy Jane's run into thermals!"
"What, you mean like socks?" Zaid raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid I left my copy of playcolt on board Khao's ship."
"No, not stockings." Props leaned forward. "You mean rising warm air currents, don't ya, handsome?"
"Pffft..." Zaid rolled his eyes. "Find, take Rudolph's side...
"They came a'glimmering up Nancy's chest out of nowhere!" Floydien's red eyes darted to the corner of his vision. "The heat heat is starting to settle out, but it's still gonna fill boomers with bumps for a spit minute!"
Knock knock knock! A hoof pounded against the outer deck's doors.
"Really?" Zaid blinked. "This high up, and we're still being hoofed copies of Whinnytower?"
"It must be Dashie!" Props jerked a handle, opening the doors wide. Warm air billowed into the cockpit as the pegasus stumbled through. "Dashie!" Props blinked. "You're all wet!"
"I was knocking for nearly ten minutes!" Rainbow sputtered, slicking her mane back as she stumbled in and stood behind Floydien. "I'm guessing you couldn't hear through all the turbulence!"
"Seriously, did you go for a skinny dip or something?" Zaid asked.
"What, you mean this?" Rainbow pointed at her soaked hair. "This is from the frost! It's all melted!"
"Melted?!"
Floydien spat, "What kind of glimmer is this?"
"I saw trees when I looked out the window!" Zaid said.
"Damn straight, you saw trees!" Rainbow smirked devilishly, then patted Floydien's side. "Take 'er down a bit, why dont'cha?"
"What?! Lower into the heat spit?! Is color wheel crazy?!"
"Trust me! I have a reason to believe we'll be safer the lower we go!"
"Mmmmff..." Floydien pushed at the controls. "Floydien isn't too sure of this..."
"I'm not asking you to be sure. I'm asking you to have faith!"
"When has that ever gone wrong?" Props said with a nervous titter.
Zaid stood up, squinting over the shoulders of the pegasus and the elk.
The ship lost altitude. Gradually, like spreading curtains, the thick of the fog faded. An enormous basin appeared before them, covered all over in sprawling flora and fauna. Thick, emerald tree trops dangled in wet, humid air. The gentle haze of a morning sun fell into the landscape, casting a lively glitter across the entire flouncing canopy.
"Pizz fah whizz..." Props cooed.
"It's like some giant Goddess salad," Zaid stammered.
"Heh..." Rainbow Dash smirked, her eyes aflame with curiosity. "Now there's a title if I ever heard one."
At last, the Noble Jury lowered far enough that it was no longer being rocked about by thermal currents. It still hovered relatively high above the bottom of the crater—or at least the bottom as perceived by those on board the vessel. As the sun continued rising, a golden haze glittered across the dense forest canopy below. The basin was colored by a verdant emerald hue all throughout—even in the few sparse patches of wet and exposed earth.
Roarke stepped gingerly out of the rear stairwell and onto the main deck. Her lenses retracted to take-in the enormity of the landscape below and around them. Beyond the ship's stern, the east faces of the Sky Stabs were covered with dangling foliage that spilled over cliffs with copious vines and lichen. Along various spots of the craggy summits, enormously tall waterfalls had formed, emptying melted frost from the western heights into the belly of the crater. As the skystone ship hovered its way east, its crewponies experienced the continuous roar of rushing water and the ensuing echo against stone walls. Beneath all of that was the ever-present hum of nature, shrieking wildlife, and buzzing insects.
The door to the cockpit opened. Rainbow Dash trotted out, followed shortly by Zaid and Props. Rainbow made her way to the port side, staring out with a gawking expression. Zaid and Props were no less awestruck by the enormity of the microcosm they had just stumbled upon.
"I suppose this defeats the point of wearing leather coats," Roarke neutrally mused.
"Just look at the size of this place!" Rainbow Dash said. She pointed off the port side, outlining where the western wall of the Sky Stabs bent northeasterly, disappearing into gray humid mist and fog. "I can't even see to the far side of the crater!"
"Same can be said from this angle, Dashie!" Props said, pointing past the bow. "I can't tell where anything begins or ends in this super sauna!" She smiled. "Reminds me of the factory districts of Gray Smoke!"
"Oh yeah?" Zaid muttered. "Reminds me of the showers back in the Herald's monastery."
All three mares stared at him.
"What?" He shrugged. "Khao hated stinky robes. I couldn't blame her."
"It's unnaturally humid," Roarke remarked. "Judging from the distance between the mountain summits and the tree canopy, I suspect that the base of this crater is well above sea level."
"What, you think this is some sort of volcano or something?" Rainbow asked.
"It would be the simplest explanation."
"Yeah, well..." Props giggled, tossing her blonde mane in the warm breeze. "We're not exactly used to 'simple', are we, Roarkie?"
Roarke raised an eyebrow above one lens. "Roarkie...?"
"I'm not seeing any crazy light beams," Zaid commented. "Maybe the dudes west of here were exagerrating?"
"They've had plenty of decades to do it," Roarke said. "There's nothing more appealing to superstitious ponies than the unknown. We could very well be the first living beings to have explored this place."
"I dunno about that," Rainbow said. "But it sure is friggin' exciting."
"Totallies!" Props giggled.
Roarke sighed. "Shouldn't we simply ascend and fly as swiftly as we can out of this place?"
"I don't think Floydien will want to encounter more turbulence if he can avoid it," Rainbow said. "We're pretty safe at this altitude. I'd say, let's just coast on through like this and..." Her words trailed off as she stared down over the ship's edge. "No way..."
"What is it?" Props asked.
"No friggin' way!" Rainbow's ruby eyes sparkled.
"It's squirrels, isn't it?" Zaid winced. "Please say it's not a civilization of sentient squirrels. Cuz then we'd have to explain to them about Floydien's dead friend. Plus, squirrels don't make good cheese."
"Floydien heard that spit!"
"Elks don't make good cheese either!" Zaid hollered.
"I can't believe it!" Rainbow giggled, a smile plastered across her face as she hovered on flapping wings. "Celestia on a bike!"
Flash! The sword hanging off of Rainbow's saddlebags glimmered in the morning haze. "Yes, Rainbow? You summoned me?"
"D'oh!" Rainbow turned her head over her shoulder, gripping the hilt. "Call you back, Your Highness!" She sheathed it the rest of the way into her satchel. "Buck me, this is amazing! I gotta get a closer look!"
"A closer look?" Zaid asked.
"A closer look at what, Dashie?!"
"Apples!" Rainbow said, already flying out into the misty air. "From real apple trees! The edible kind!" She began descending. "Goddess, they look delicious even from here!"
"Rainbow!" Roarke galloped up to the deck's edge. "Are you sure this is wise?!"
"Nope!"
"Whatever happened to flying swiftly to Val Roa and stopping Chrysalis?!"
"We can charm her with apples!" Rainbow laughed, then shouted up as she dove backwards with a salute. "Tell Floydien to bring the ship to a stall! Oh, and grab a pony or two and come down and join me for the plucking! Better bring Whizzball!"
"It is not..." Roarke slammed her hoof down so hard against the deck it produced sparks. "...called Whizzball!"
"Ha ha ha ha!" Zaid doubled over, slapping his knee. "Looks like Best Pony disagrees with ya, robo-ovaries!"
"Gravity is about to disagree with your testicles, Mr. Zaid."
"Yeah... ahem..." Zaid gulped and trotted briskly for the cockpit. "Count me out of this away mission..."
The Noble Jury hung in the air at a great distance, floating listlessly above the trees. Meanwhile, the Lounge sphere hovered east, descending gracefully until it lowered past the thick moist branches of the crater's forest canopy. It landed not far from where Rainbow Dash was eagerly zipping about, bucking one apple tree after another and collecting the fallen fruit in her outstretched wings.
With a hiss, the doors to the transport opened. Eagle Eye and Bellesmith immediately hopped out. Roarke trotted gingerly after them, her lenses glistening with humid condensation as she peered across the misty jungle.
"Well, it certainly is... green," she murmured.
"I for one really like it!" Belle said. She took a long, deep breath, her fuzzy muzzle smiling. "Mmmmmmm... it's like Blue Shelf on a warm summer day!"
"Girl, I'm sure this place blows Blue Shelf off the mountains!" Eagle Eye giggled as he trotted over and batted a hanging tree branch with his hoof, watching as the water-slick leaves flounced. "The plants here are practically bursting with moisture! And you hear that wildlife?"
"Memories of Foxtaur, EE?"
"Pfffft. That forest felt like a threadbare fossil compared to this place." He gasped, his nostrils flaring. "Do you smell that?"
"Smells like... like..."
"Pears!" Eagle Eye galloped to a smattering of trees with low-hanging branches. He grinned into his reflection on the golden globules of fruit. "Oh wow—I bet Ebon would be beside himself once he hears about this bounty!"
"Over there..." Bellesmith pointed. "Are those orange blossoms?"
"This crater has everything!" Eagle exclaimed. "See those flowers in that bed by the brook?"
"Oh, Spark, yes! What are those, marigolds?"
"Bellesmith, I think we've just stumbled into paradise..."
"Unnngh..." Roarke shuddered all over.
Belle stifled a giggle. "Not a fan of beautiful tranquility, Roarke?"
"I've lived long enough to never trust anything labeled as 'paradise,'" the metal mare said.
"Awwwwwww... don't ruin the moment!" Eagle said with a smile. "Instead, why don't you help us pluck some of these pears?"
"You don't seriously plan on eating those...?"
"Well, it's not like we're going to let them eat us."
"Heeheehee!" Belle called across the grove. "Hey! Rainbow! Did you see? We've found pears and oranges!"
"Buck your pears and buck your oranges!" Rainbow Dash hollered back, ever smirking. "I've got nature's candy right here!" She spun and kicked another tree. "Hnnngh!"
The branches shook. Two crimson delights fell earthward.
She caught one with the stem of her tail and another with her left wing. With one thrust of her rump, she flipped one apple upwards, turned, and caught it in an open pocket of her saddlebag. Chuckling to herself, she rolled the other apple across her wing, over her shoulder, and bounced it off her head. Catching it in two hooves, she turned it over, observing her smiling expression in the red skin.
She gave it a sniff, turned it over, rubbed its edge against her forelimb, then opened her jaw wide. Her mouth was instantly flooded with an explosion of sweetness. Juice ran through her tonsils and trickled down her throat.
"Hrmmmm-mmmmffff..."
She slumped back, closing her eyes as she relished in the frest, juicy taste overwhelming her body. After two more bites, she smiled to herself, her wings outstretching. She glanced at the half-eaten fruit, then leaned forward to inhale its pulpy center. The edges of her face tingled, and she felt her heartbeat quickening.
"Hmmmm... yeah... can't believe I've almost forgotten..."
She sighed warmly, glancing at the forest ahead. More apple trees lingered beyond a swath of springy, waving high grass. Clamping the apple in her mouth, Rainbow Dash galloped forward, practically frolicking. She leapt over a cluster of bushes, using her wings to glide forward. Landing, she made her way for the thick of the fruit trees. The other three ponies were far behind her now, their pleasant voices like dull echoes against the dense forest. The Noble Jury was practically unseen through the lush canopy.
When Rainbow approached the trees, she saw that a bunch of apples were already lying on the grass besides the trunk. Despite having been plucked from their branches, the fruit was still noticeably fresh.
"Hrmmmmfff..." Rainbow pulled the half-eaten apple out of her mouth. "That's weird." She glanced up at the branches and their fruit. They were shaking to a stop. The mare's brow furrowed. "Uhm..."
Something emerged from the bushes ahead with a loud rustling.
Rainbow Dash glanced over. The apple fell out of her grasp.
A pony with a fuzzy gold coat was calmly foraging through the grassy forest floor, picking one apple after another and slipping them into a satchel at her side. With each movement she made, she tossed an ivory swath of mane hair to one side or the other. A matching tail flicked thoughtfully as she stopped to inspect a bundle of apples, sniffing them, then choosing two or three out of the bunch to toss in her bag.
Rainbow blinked... then blinked again. "Uhhhhhh..." She raised a blue hoof and waved nervously. "Greetings?"
"Hey." The mare didn't even look at her, instead scraping at the roots of a tree and squinting at its bark. "Hrmmmf... Not as thick as last month. Better keep a mental note for Jerrio..."
"Uhm..." Rainbow leaned her head to the side, feathers twitching. "You... it... I mean... how?"
"Any luck on your end?" the mare asked.
"Excuse me?"
"What, Jerrio's not got your flank on sample collecting?" The mare sighed. "Lucky goose." She looked straight up at the dangling apples overhead. "Hmmm. Those should do."
Rainbow glanced up at them, then smirked at the mare. "You want me to grab a few for you?"
"Nah, I got 'em." The mare spread her golden wings and soared up with a burst of air.
Rainbow did a double-take, her jaw dropping.
In swift fashion, the mared plucked several apples and tossed them into her satchel with a flick of her feathers. She twirled around the trunk, glided upside down, and cruised upside down in a casual hover. "Hrmmmmm..." She sniff-sniff-sniffed one apple, took a bite, and smirked lightly to herself. "Hrmmf... screw it. These samples are mine." She took another bite, relishing in the taste.
Rainbow simply stared, dumbfounded.
At last, a pair of pink eyes darted down. The mare descended until she was drifting in a lazy circle around Rainbow Dash. "Hrmmmf... I like those colors." She took a few more bites, gulped, and muttered, "Where're you from? West D or East D?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"You certainly sound like East D," the mare said, flipping so that she glided upright. She gulped the remainder of the apple, crunching the core in her mouth before swallowing. "What? You felt like stretching your wings a bit? Y'know, I used to fly the length of the green too. That was before I found other ways to 'stretch.'" She giggled mischievously. "I'm just kidding, first born."
"I... uhm..." Rainbow fidgeted, her eyes locked on the mare's shiny, shiny feathers. "I-I like your wings," she blurted.
"Hmmmf..." The mare flipped with ease and landed on the other side of Rainbow. "You're not half bad yourself, girl." She reached down and unabashedly grasped Rainbow's tail. "I like this. Most first-borns don't bother giving their tails the Valkyrie treatment. Now I know you're East D."
"Oh... y-you bet!" Rainbow smiled awkwardly, feeling the tug of her tail as the mare hoofed through each colored layer. "Uhm... east side represent!"
"Rayvinnnnne?" a voice echoed from above. "Where in Valkyrie's name did you fly off too?! Jerrio will be pissed!"
"Unngh..." The mare rolled her eyes, then shouted towards the forest canopy. "Why don't you be a big pony and home for once, Kitsune, ya stupid pigeon?!"
FWOOSH! A mare with a midnight black coat landed heavily beside her. Rainbow reeled—gasping—as a cyclone of air settled around the pegasus' outstretched, onyx feathers. Coiling her wings, the mare turned about, her bright amber eyes like spotlights against her dark face. A mane hung off her head in three-toned braids: red, green, and blue. "Rayvinne, who's this?"
"East feathers," Rayvinne said, casually picking up apples, inspecting them, and slipping them into her bag. "Out for a gust, it seems." She tilted her muzzle up, smirking. "Certainly puts your head to shame, Kitsune."
"Yeahhhhh..." The other mare squinted. "Your folks get a little carried away there?"
"Yeah, well, I-I guess I couldn't stop 'em!" Rainbow said with a nervous titter. She shook her mane in a sliver of sunlight and smirked. "But hey, nopony's perfect, right?"
"Kitsune..." Rayvinne leaned in and murmured in the mare's ear. Both looked at Rainbow's tail, then giggled collectively.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
"Ahem..." Kitsune tilted her head aside. "What's your name, sparrow?"
"Rainbow Dash."
"Pffffft!" Kitsune nearly wretched. "The buck kind of name is that?"
"An awesome one," Rainbow smirked. "At least when I say mine out loud, I don't sound like I've got mosquitoes caught on my tongue!"
"Well, at least we know she's not Central." Kitsune smirked and panther-trotted Rainbow's way. "What's a matter, fartspeed? Did you break your homing on the same thing that broke your voice?"
"At least I'm not so slow that I became my own shadow like you," Rainbow said.
Once again, Rayvinne squealed. "Oh, she's great! Really great! Heehee! I gotta head to the east greens more often!"
"You're not half bad, Rainbow," Kitsune said with an approving smirk. She trotted really close and gave the mare's mane a heavy sniff. "Mmmmm... not bad at all."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow fidgeted, her cheeks slightly red. "You're welcome...?"
"Hmmm..." Kitsune fanned herself with her own wingfeathers. "That remains to be seen."
"Rainbow! Where'd you go, girl? You won't believe what I found!" Eagle Eye galloped over a mound of grass and held up a cluster of fruit with a victorious grin. "Peaches!"
Rainbow winced. Her eyes darted between him and the two mares.
Both pegasi had frozen, their gazes locked on the unicorn stallion.
Eagle Eye blinked, his smile slowly melting into a confounded expression. Not long after, Bellesmith trotted up. "EE? What is it? Did you find—?" She froze, covering her muzzle with a pair of golden hooves. The mare's eyes were instantly locked on the ponies' wings.
"Ermmmm..." Rainbow Dash gulped.
"K-K-Kitsune...?" Rayvinne bit her lip as she trotted nervously beside her friend. "Who... what are those...?"
Kitsune's amber eyes darted between the one-and-a-half growths coming out of the Jurists' skulls. "Uhhhhh..." She stared at their wingless sides. "By Valkyrie's shouts..."
Rainbow flew into the air. "I'll tell you who these are!" She shot down and landed in a nimble slide, standing between the two pairs of equines. "These are my friends! And—since they hang out with me—they're totally awesome!" She smirked. "I'll prove it!" Grasping two apples from her saddlebags, she spun and threw them hard at Eagle Eye. "Think fast, lavender!"
"Gaaaaiiie!" Eagle Eye leaned back, wincing with curled forelimbs. The apples stopped just inches from his muzzle, expertly hovering in a magic field that matched his glowing horn.
"See?" Rainbow turned back, smirking. "Cooler than a blizzard with lightning!"
"Will you look at that?" Rayvine hissed aside, eyes staring at Eagle Eye. "He's got the gold lights!"
"Don't be a gull," Kitsune grunted, nevertheless staring. "Nopony can make the gold lights..."
"Then how do you explain this?" Rainbow grasped Eagle's petite body and flung him skyward.
"Rainbowwwwww—?!" Eagle clenched his muscles, catching his whole body in a glowing field and hovering just a few inches above the ground instead of hitting it. "Nnnnngh... must you...?"
"Heeheehee!" Rainbow Dash smiled proudly and pointed his way. "See?"
"That's amazing!" Rayvinne said.
"Wrong a-word, but everypony misses on their first try."
"Heehee!"
Kitsune squinted at Bellesmith. "What's wrong with yours?"
Belle smiled. "I'm afraid my gold lights are broken." She turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, this... this is incredible. Where are these ponies from?"
"Pffft. Where all ponies are from," Kitsune said, raising a hoof towards the treen canopy above. "Durandana."
"Nnngh..." Eagle Eye fumbled, then plopped himself down on even legs. He panted for breath. "D-Durandana?"
"She's and east bird, for sure," Kitsune said, pointing at Rainbow Dash. She trotted forward and shamelessly tapped Belle's horn-stub, forcing the mare to flinch slightly. "But you guys? I couldn't be feathered to know."
"Bet with homing like that you could scale beyond the greens," Rayvinne said, trotting up to Eagle Eye. She squinted, leaned in, and sniff-sniffed his mane. She leaned back with a gasp. "A stallion!"
"Er... yeah..." Eagle sighed, glancing aside with folded ears. "I get that a lot..."
"So... uhm..." Rainbow Dash stepped in the center of the group. "About this Durandana..."
"Heh..." Rayvinne smirked at her. "Why talk so funny about it?" She gestured towards the unicorns. "How about telling us where you met these friends of yours?"
"Well, we flew in here on a skystone sh—Mmmmmmf!" Eagle went cross-eyed.
Rainbow leaned over from where she had her hoof planted over his muzzle. "I found them... wh-while on a hike!"
"Rainbow..." Belle droned.
Rainbow grimaced at her, then turned to smile at the ponies once more. "But we're an awful long way from... uh... East Durandana!" She smiled nervously. "Been so long since we hung out with our Western and... Central sisters."
"Heehee... we can tell."
"Jerrio's gonna pop all his feathers once he sees you."
"Think we can have a chat with him sometime?" Rainbow asked.
"Depends on when Sivrem's flock is done sky herding."
"Uhhh..." Belle leaned her head aside. "Excuse me—who?"
Kitsune gawked at her, then at Rainbow Dash. "You seriously haven't told your friends about Sivrem?"
"Why?" Rainbow fidgeted. "Does he smell?"
"Mmmmmm..." Rayvinne tossed her mane, blushing pleasantly. "And how..."
Several shadows rushed overhead, briefly breaking the sunlight through the trees.
Eagle gasped, glancing straight up. "Rainbow... d-did you see that just now?"
"Ah! That must be Sivrem's flock!" Kitsune said, smirking. "Bet the leatherbacks are extra stubborn this morning."
"Leather... backs...?"
"Can't blame him for slacking off. We all know Sivrem's a great stallion, but he can't be feathered to milk a calf for Valkyrie silver."
"Hahahahah... I know, right?"
Just then, Roarke galloped up, breathless. "Rainbow! Something large flew over us just now! We have to warn the..." Her face twisted in confusion as her lenses retracted. "...Jury."
"Gaaah!" Rayvinne flinched. "Speaking of Valkyrie silver...!"
"Hoo boy..." Eagle Eye shuddered.
"Oh... uh..." Rainbow turned to grin nervously at the alarmed pegasi. "This here's my friend Roarke. She's also got a horn." She winked. "It's just stuck someplace hidden."
"Is that so...?"
Just then, more shadows darted overhead. The tree canopy shook as several bodies swiftly drifted down, coming to a low hover over the forest floor. Pegasi of every coat color imaginable gathered in the dimly-lit air, shaking the nearby leaves with their collective wings. About a third of them had noticeably colorful manes, with dyes of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet.
"Kitsune! Rayvinne!" A stallion with a four-toned mane sighed, adjusting a pair of goggles over his brown face. "You broke your homing or what? We need to carry the fruit back to the West Tower before First Light!" He flinched, tilting his head down to glance at the four strangers. He raised his goggles, exposing a pair of green eyes. "Who're these gulls?"
"Uhhmmm... Jerrio?" A pegasus beside him leaned in, eyes wide. "I don't think they're gulls... or ponies."
"Of course they're ponies!" a stallion spat. "Look at them!"
"I am. And I'm about to puke my eggshells."
Several pegasi laughed while Belle and Eagle squirmed awkwardly.
"Roarke!" Rainbow hissed, squinting at her. "Quick! Do something cool!"
Roarke turned and droned, "What is that going to accomplish?"
"These are pegasi," Rainbow said. "It'll accomplish everything!"
"Uhhhh... sure." Eagle Eye grasped as many pears and peaches from his saddlebag that he could, then tossed them up high.
Roarke flicked her neck to the left. A panel opened up along a metal brace across her shoulder. Three tiny barbed missiles flew through the air, impacted the fruit in mid-air, and sent juicy bits of mush flying across the flinching faces of every pegasus in attendance.
"Roarkkkke!" Bellesmith squealed, frowning. "That wasn't very smart!"
"You say that as if it was my idea," Roarke said.
"Uhhhh..." Rayvinne flinched, trying in vain to shake fruit pulp off her limbs.
"That... that..." Kistune stammered.
"That was so awesome!" One stallion overhead hollered.
The air filled with cheers and whoops and hollers as the winged ponies all voiced their approval. The wind kicked up by their combined feathers made it difficult for the three grounded ponies to stand upright. At last, several pegasi touched down and crowded around the group, leaning in and murmuring a cascade of awestruck words and exclamations.
"Hmmm..." Jerrio smirked slightly, folding his forelimbs from where he observed the ceiling. "Well, if this hasn't been an interesting morning."
"Yes... uhm... v-very..." Eagle Eye said, squirming as several ponies reached in to poke his mane and horn. "Uhm... Rainbow?"
"You enjoying yourself yet?" Roarke grunted, shaking slightly as pegasi tapped her metal braces and leaned in to see their reflections in her lenses.
"Heeheehee..." Rainbow hugged herself in mid-air, wiping her eyes dry as she smirked. "Ohhhhhh this is too rich..."
Kera glanced up from where she and Ebon were peering over the edge of the Noble Jury's top deck. "Pilate?" She waddled over and tapped his fetlock. "What is it?"
"I..." Pilate shifted uncomfortably. "I think I heard something."
"Jee, could it be one of the millions of indeterminate animals hiding away in this bush?" Ebon sighed, slumping against the edge of the ship. "Mmmmf... I still don't know why Eagle Eye dives into these things."
"He's good at bouncing back with a smile, Ebony!" Props exclaimed.
"Besides, his coat's a few good shades away from red," Zaid mused, stifling a yawn as he leaned against one of the skystone masts. "He'll come back safe. Don't worry."
"I'm serious, everypony," Pilate said, trotting down the center. "I heard... something out of place."
"Did a tree sneeze or something?" Zaid cocked his head to the side. "It's not very windy."
"It almost sounded like an explosion," Pilate claimed. "Or rocket fire."
"Well, Roarke is with them!" Kera exclaimed.
"Then just what does that mean?" Props remarked.
"If we're lucky?" Ebon muttered. "They found a giant rampaging beast and Roarke's just won us some steak dinners for the next month."
"What is every boomer spitting about?" Floydien stuck his head out. "Floydien sees nothing but mist mist."
"Pilate's getting one of his funny feelings again!" Kera exclaimed.
"It's not funny." Pilate briefly frowned. "I'm just... feeling a bit uneasy."
"Relax, stripes!" Props trotted towards him, smiling. "It's okay to be worried about Belle, but she's come back from shadier places than this!"
"Yeah, besides, they've got the comfort of Whizzball not that far away," Zaid said. Just then, a huge shadow woooshed by, rocking the ship slightly. He blinked dumbly into the metal bulkheads. "...speaking of whizzing."
"Wh-what in the heck was that?!" Ebon exclaimed.
"See what I mean?" Pilate spun about, ears pricked. "We're not alone out here!"
Josho galloped up the rear stairwell, breathless. "What just rocked the ship? I thought we were stationary!"
Something wooooshed by again, this time causing the vessel to rock back and forth.
"Yeepsies!" Props squelched, grabbing onto Zaid for support.
"Floydien does not like this glimmer," the elk muttered.
"Hey!" Kera peered over the port side, grinning. "That's so awesome!"
"No no no, little larva boomer. Wrong spit."
"Nah..." Kera turned as she pointed towards several approaching shapes. "I'm talking about the huge flock of nightmare-black creatures soaring our way!"
"Buh?" Ebon craned his neck, and his eyes widened. "Buhhhhhhhh!" he stumbled back onto his flank.
Just then, the rest of the shadows arrived, their scaled bodies glistening in the morning sun. Cartiligenous "fins" rippled in the air, pivoting their bodies so that they sliced right past the Noble Jury with long leathery tails whipping behind them. They resembled enormous manta-rays, even down to the dual cephalic extensions at the front of their triangular bodies. Instead of gills, they possessed large porous pouches that consistently belched fumes of light gases from the lateral edges of their fleshy bodies. Dull bass purring notions emanated from their gaping mouths as they roared just inches off the Noble Jury's hull, one by one.
To say the least, this rocked the vessel heavily, nearly flinging Floydien and his fellow crew ponies off the sides in the first fly-by alone.
"Gaaah!" Kera yelped, suddenly being flung into the green space beyond.
"Kera!" Pilate hollered.
In a flash of telekinesis, Josho caught the filly and floated her back to where he stood, gripping a mast. "Elk! Get us the buck out of here!"
"Floydien... grnnngh... is trying!" Floydien clawed his way back towards the cockpit in futility. "Stay still, Nancy!"
"Guys!" Ebon whimpered, peering past the stern with wide eyes. "More of them are coming!" He gulped. "They're going to hit us!"
"Floydien, we have to move!"
"It's too late!"
"Everypony grab onto something!"
Just as the creatures were about to bear down on the ship, the air filled with the chorus of eagle and osprey calls. Tiny, colorful shapes darted in and out of the flock of leathery creatures, herding them northward so that they avoided the Noble Jury by mere feet. The airship rocked less and less, hovering once more to a stand-still as the beasts soared harmlessly northeast over the jungled basin.
"What... what...?" Ebon stood upright, panting. "What just happened?"
"Did a bunch of birds save us?" Zaid remarked.
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. "Friends... I do not think that those are actual birds."
Ebon glanced back, frowning. "Then what the hay made that sound?" Th-Thud! A winged stallion landed on the ship's railing in front of him, staring the cook in the face. Ebon looked up and immediately flailed backwards. "Gaaaaie!"
"Ledo's girdle!" Josho stammered.
Dangling in his magic field, Kera grinned upside down. "Cool!"
"Uhhh..." Zaid and Props craned their necks to look better. "Did Rainbow Dash get a sex change...?"
The light-blue stallion turned his head about, wide red eyes peering intently like an owl's. The bulk of his mane hung down the back of his head in a dark green braid, but two separate locks hung down past each ear—one blue and the other red. Around his head there dangled a necklace comprised of multi-colored feathers and songbird skulls. His fetlocks were bound with fossilized talons wrapping all about, and a smattering of thin scars blemished his otherwise shiny coat.
"Somepony, please..." Pilate murmured aside. "...tell me what just landed on the ship."
Floydien squinted. "Floydien wishes he could say..."
"Uhhhh..." Props trotted up, smiling nervously at the stallion. "Hey there, bright eyes! Welcome to the Noble Jury!" She leaned forward, blue eyes blinking. "Do you have a name?"
The stallion squinted, sniffed the air between them, then tilted his head skyward. His muzzle opened, letting loose a loud, hawk-like shriek.
Props fidgeted. "Uhm... I-I'm not sure I can pronounce that."
The wind kicked up, accompanied by several flapping feathers. The Jurists glanced up, gasping to see that they were surrounded by five... ten... twenty... over thirty pegasi, all hovering above the ship and staring intently down at it.
"Hoooooo boyo..." Zaid gulped, eyes darting from one winged pony to another. "Talk about Alfred Haycock presents..."
"I'm so confused," Pilate wheezed.
Josho leaned in and whispered, "Lots... and lots of pegasi."
Pilate's blind eyes twitched. "...undead?"
"Nope." Josho winced. "Creepy nonetheless." He jumped as one pegasus landed not far from him.
Then another pony landed. Then another.
The whole ship rocked as—one by one—the bulk of the pegasi made contact with their hooves, trotting over the top deck and running their hooves across the various metal surfaces. They cooed and made birdsong with clicking tongues, smiling at one another.
"Hey! Hey!" Floydien snarled, shaking a cloven hoof. "Get your feather glimmer and chicken spit off my Nancy!" His antlers began sparkling. "Floydien means it!"
"Mr. Floydien!" Pilate called out, stretching his hoof blindly. "Whatever you do, please don't—"
"Ooooooh..." A stallion gasped, eyes locked on Floydien's antlers. "Home in on those gold lights!"
"By Valkyrie's shout," another said, flying towards Floydien.
"Grnnngh!" Floydien fired a volley of energy.
"Handsome, no!" Props shouted.
It was too late, the male pegasus took the brunt of the energy blast. His body toppeled backwards, but hovered to a stop in the air off the port side.
Every Jurist winced.
"Hnnnngh!" The stallion shook the pain off, tossed his mane, and grinned. "Again!"
"Wooo!"
"Ha ha!"
The air filled with whoops and cheer as pegasi flew in tight circles around the confounded elk.
"Do me now!"
"I'm first born! I can handle it!"
"No! Do me! Do me!"
"Beak it in, Jagold, you'd only puke up eggshells."
"Nuh uh!"
"Uhhhh..." Floydien backed up until his haunches were planted against the cockpit's doorframe. "For the first t-time, Floydien is c-confused..."
"Just relax, Mr. Floydien, I... I don't think they mean us any harm—" Pilate stopped in the middle of his speech, for a pegasus was hovering right in front of him, tapping the runes of his metal plate.
"Look at this gull!" she said. "Valkyrie silver becomes him!"
"And here as well," another pegasus crouched low, tapping the O.A.S.I.S. sphere. "Hmmmm..." He smirked. "I wonder if all his balls are shiny."
"Hahahaha!"
"Please..." Pilate gently shoved their hooves away, backing up into Josho. "That's quite enough, thank you."
"Look!" A mare squatted low, beaming as she stared Kera in the face. "This one glows all over! And she's got a rod in her head!"
"Heeheehee..." Kera smirked. "You ain't seen the half of it, lady!" She lifted a coil of roap with her magic and made it twirl like a serpent in the air. "Tadaaaaa!"
"Aaack! Aaack!" The mare and several other pegasi fled skyward, perching frightfully atop the skystone and peering down. "Gold lights! Gold lights!"
"Not a very good idea, pipsqueak," Josho muttered aside.
"What?" Kera glanced up, smirking. "Better than shooting your boomstick at them!"
"I'm almost tempted..."
Suddenly, an eagle shriek flew across the top deck again. Most of the pegasi cleared a path across the top deck in an instant. The stallion with the colored locks and bird necklace trotted down the center, approaching Pilate.
"You are not of the Valkyrie's flock," he said. "Tell me." His red eyes narrowed. "Are you from beyond the greens?"
"Uhm..." Pilate cleared his throat. "If you mean to ask if we are outsiders, then I do believe the answer is yes."
"You manage to make Valkyrie silver fly," the stallion said, his bone necklace rattling. "How?"
"It... is certainly a long and complicated explanation," Pilate said, smiling nervously.
"Hrmmm..." The stallion's lips curved. "Fortunate for both of us, Durandana does not favor long and complicated things." He leaned in close, sniffing the flinching zebra's mane. He leaned back. "You have a mate?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I do."
"Good." The pegasus smiled. "That means through your gullish stripes, you are still a pony." His wings outstretched, nearly knocking Ebon and Props off their hooves from the sheer gust. "I am Sivrem, First Born of the Central Tower. This is my flock. We are all warm lovers and fighters of the Valkyrie."
"And... uhm... I am Pilate, faithful navigator of this ship, the Noble Jury."
Suddenly, Sivrem lunged forward, snapping his teeth just an inch in front of Pilate's face. The other jurists flinched—but Pilate didn't. Sivrem's red eyes widened. "You are blind?"
"That I am, sir."
"And yet you home?"
"I... suppose I do?"
"Heh... heh heh heh heh!" Sivrem let loose a booming laugh. "The Gray Feathers will never believe this!" He turned and smiled at the other pegasi. "I've not imagined such wild things! Even in the Gold Lights!"
The pegasi laughed and whistled shrilly.
Just then, a half-dozen more winged ponies flew in and touched down on the ship's bow.
"Sivrem!" a stallion with a gray coat spoke with a rattle of his bird-bone armor. "The leatherbacks have been herded back to the raked earth. I sent two ponies to home in on Jerrio." He paused to gawk at the ship with a dumb smile, his green mane billowing in the wind. "By Valkyrie's shout... it's even shinier up close!"
"Where are the feathers on these ponies?" asked a yellow-coated mare with shiny blue hair.
"Smythe... Jagold..." Sivrem whistled, summoning the two pegasi at his side. "These are ponies from beyond the greens."
"Beyond the greens?" Smythe trotted in, sniffing Josho's muzzle, then immediately reeling back with a forelimb stretched before his wrinkled muzzle. "Nnnngh! Eggshells! You take us for gulls, first born?"
"By the Gold Lights, it's true!" Sivrem said, smiling proudly. "The leatherbacks almost reduced them to down. I do not believe they can fly."
"Well, one of us can!" Kera said.
Josho cleared his throat.
Smythe blinked quizzically. "What's that, little sparrow?"
"Jerrio's group hasn't shown up at Central yet," Jagold said. "Maybe they met more of these gulls?"
"We're simply passing through," Pilate said. "We had no idea that there were actual ponies living in this place. When our leader saw fruit trees below, we decided to stop and stock up on supplies." He gulped. "Please, forgive us for intruding. We meant no offense."
"Offense? Intruding?" Sivrem laughed loudly. "Does the gull know that Durandana's skies are free to all ponies, Valkyrie's flock or not?"
"You mean..." Ebon bit his lip. "You don't want to tear us limb from limb?"
"Hmmmm..." Smythe trotted over, sniffed Ebon's mane, and smirked coyly. "That remains to be seen."
Ebon sweated nervously. "Uhhhh..."
"Relax, sailboat," Josho grumbled. "These hippies strike me as harmless..." Josho nevertheless batted two curious mares away. "Among other annoying adjectives..."
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... guys?"
Everypony looked over.
By this point, the majority of the pegasi had flocked around Props, all forming a tight circle. Several hooves poked/tapped her face, cheeks, leg muscles, and even her cutie mark. She broke an awkward smile, giggling breathily.
"Okay... okay! Heehee! That tickles! Smokestacks! You guys are really, really friendly, aren't you?"
"By Valkyrie's shout! She even sounds like silk."
"Why doesn't a mare so airy have feathers?"
"Is..." One stallion batted at her dangling tail. "...is it actual gold?"
"Heeeeeeeeee!" Jagold leaned in, hovering upside down as she nuzzled-nuzzled her head deep into Props' mane. "I could just sleep in this for daysssssss!" The other pegasi chuckled and laughed.
"Heehee! I bet you could!" Props sing-songed.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaay..." Zaid stealthily trotted his way in, ushering the tight circle of ponies to spread apart. "Petting zoo hours are over. For realsies, even birds build nests. Personal space, much?"
"Oh Zaidy waidy, they're only saying 'hello,'" Props said with a smirk.
"I hate to see how'd they say 'good bye.'"
One mare leaned in, sniffed Zaid, and pointed at him. "This one smells like a leatherback cave!"
"Hey!" Zaid cackled. "My mother was a saint!"
Kera giggled. "Isn't this awesome?"
"That's an operative term," Josho mumbled. His eyes scanned the eastern mists. "Speaking of which..."
"Our leader would be very... very interested in seeing you and your fellow ponies, Mr. Sivrem," Pilate said. "Is there a chance you could... uhm... allow us a chance to meet up with our fellow friends again?"
"If they are in Durandana, then I assure you that they are safe."
"That... that's nice to know, but even still—"
"You cannot mask your own scent that easily," Sivrem said with a smirk. "Anxiety clings to you like a plague. But don't worry. I will send Smythe to fetch your friends. His homing is a solid gift from the Valkyrie." He whistled at the stallion in question. "Go and seek the other outsiders, so that we may commune as one."
"But Sivrem!" Smythe winced slightly. "First Light is upon us!"
"Then these outer gulls shall bear witness and rejoice in the Gold Lights."
"What will the Gray Feathers say?"
"The Gray Feathers only need to know what we sing to them." Sivrem winked, then chuckled. "Now gust, already."
"Yes, First Born." Smythe leapt off the Noble Jury's side and glided out into the mists. He whistled over his shoulder.
"Whoops!" Jagold backflipped and flew after him. "He needs his wingpony." She winked and blew a kiss at Props before diving out of sight along with three other pegasi.
Zaid glanced at Jagold, then did a double-take at Props as the mare pleasantly waved back. "Oye... I don't know whether to feel sick in the good or bad way."
"Hold your eggshells in," Sivrem said, trotting leisurely across the top deck full of pegasi. "And tell me more about the land beyond the greens."
"Well, uhm..." Ebon scratched his chin. "There's a lot of death and mayhem and wars and—"
"Ahem..." Pilate calmly blushed aside and approached Sivrem with a smile. "Allow me, Mr. Mane."
"Fine. Handle every multicultural first contact, then."
"I believe I shall. You, on the other hoof, can think about cooking them a complimentary meal."
"Hoo boy..." Josho groaned. "Then they'll have a real excuse to go to war with us."
"That is a most striking manestyle, Ms. Kitsune," Bellesmith said. She then glanced at the other numerous pegasi gathered around the apple trees. "May I ask what's inspired you and your friend Mr. Jerrio to color it so?"
Kitsune's amber eyes twitched as her face contorted in confusion. "For real...?" She looked sharply at Rainbow Dash. "You mean you haven't told her?"
Rainbow gulped. "Uhhhhhh..."
"She's your friend, ain't she?" Rayvinne giggled. "And your name's 'Rainbow Dash' for crying out loud! Heehee!"
"Hey, one thing at a time!" Rainbow curtsied with a smirk. "It took them a long time to get used to my feathers!"
"And a whole lot of bruises," Roarke droned. Eagle Eye lightly swatted her forelimb without looking. The mare's lips tightened.
"But, y'know, one thing at a time!" Rainbow turned to smile awkwardly at the winged ponies. "Now I've... f-finally introduced them to you West Durangos!"
"Durandanans, girl."
"Whatever. Just tell them the age-old mane story," Rainbow said with an air of sarcasm. "If I do it one more time, I swear, my tongue will fall off."
"Well, it's kind of boring, really," Kitsune said with a wry smirk thrown in Belle's direction. "The First-Borns get to dye their manes as a sign of their higher allegiance to the Valkyrie. It's all in her image, after all."
Jerrio nodded and said, "The Gray Feathers teach us from the scrolls that they represent both the Valkyrie's natural colors as well as her fiery, righteous passion for defending Durandana from all that would try to corrupt the Gold Lights with—"
"Blah blah blah blah..." Rayvinne rolled her eyes, then flew in to nuzzle Kitsune cheek to cheek. "What matters is that it's downright beautifullll."
"Heehee... Please, Ray..." Kitsune nudged back. "Nothing beats your mane."
"So... being First-Born makes you a leader?" Eagle Eye asked.
"Pretty much, yes," Jerrio said.
"Pffft! Makes you 'lucky' is more like it," Rayvinne said.
Jerrio frowned across the clearing at her while several pegasi chuckled and laughed. "The Rite of the First-Born involves a great deal of wisdom and responsibility—"
"Face it, Jerrio. All that happened was you were squirted out first!"
He stomped his hoof and snarled, "Come on, guys! For real!" They nevertheless laughed as he leaned back with folded ears. "Hrmmmph... none of you would say this to Sivrem's face if he was here."
"Nnnnnngh..." Jerrio face-hoofed, groaning. He turned to the strangers. "My apologies. I imagine you all must have a ton of questions. Valkyrie knows I do..."
"Oh, naturally," Belle said with a nod. "Though, to be perfectly honest, I'm a little worried about the rest of our friends."
"Yeah..." Eagle Eye trotted up. "We had no idea that this place was populated with such incredible ponies! If we're this surprised, then there's no telling how surprised the others may react."
"The... others?" Jerrio asked, squinting.
"They're perfectly harmless!" Belle insisted with a nervous smile.
"Yeah!" Eagle turned and pointed skyward. "Why, we left them way up back there in the—"
"In the cave!" Rainbow's voice cracked as she flew in between the unicorn and the Durandanans. She smiled nervously. "High up... in the outer gr-greens, y'know!"
"Uh huh..."
"Rainbow, seriously..." Belle turned towards her. "It's more than obvious that these pegasi are nothing but friendly."
"Belle..."
"I think it will make things all the better if we simply dropped the act and told them about the Noble Jury."
"The Noble What?" Kitsune made an awkward face.
"Hey!" Smythe and Jagold touched down with a flurry of feathers. A small group of bone-armored equine landed beside them as they approached Jerrio and the others. "Guys! You'll never guess what we saw back there!"
"A giant slab of Valkyrie silver!" Jagold exclaimed. "Suspended from crimson lights! And it's full of ponies without wings or feathers or—" She turned, her pupils shrinking upon the sight of the strangers in the group. "...eggshells!"
"Oh, hey!" Smythe smirked. "You found them!"
"Huh?"
"The others said that their 'leader' would be here with a whole group. I guess you met the outsiders as well."
Jerrio turned towards Rainbow Dash. "You came in with another group?"
"Heh..." Rainbow brushed her mane back, blushing slightly. "Guess there's no pulling the wool over your eyes."
"I... don't get it," Kitsune murmured.
"Look, I just didn't want to freak anypony out," Rainbow said, suppressing a giggle. "It's hard enough—heehee—as it is trying to c-contain my own inner explosions, ya dig?"
"Why? Is there a reason for shovels?" Rayvinne asked.
"No. It... that... unnngh..." Rainbow face-hoofed while a few nearby pegasi giggled.
"I think you're doing more harm than good, Rainbow," Roarke droned.
"Oooooooh..." Jagold trotted up, cooing. "This one is made of Valkyrie silver..." She raised a hoof to Roarke's braced flank. "...and it talks."
"It also does not like being touched!," Roarke hissed, several metal bands popping loose with errant sparks.
"Eeep!" Jagold zipped to the far end of an apple tree and hid, trembling.
"Did you really have to do thatttt?" Eagle Eye sighed.
"Yes..." Roarke grunted, retracting the metal pieces while the gawking pegasi flinched from a distance. "I did."
"I'm a little confused..." Smythe pointed Rainbow's way. "Is she with these ponies?"
"That would seem to be the case," Jerrio said. He looked pointedly at Rainbow Dash. "What I want to know is—how come you didn't bring this to the Gray Feathers?"
"What's that, now?"
"Wingless ponies? Flying Valkyrie silver? This has gotta be the most significant discovery of our lifetime!"
"Not to mention the coolest," Kitsune sing-song'd.
Jerrio sighed and continued, "Were you afraid that the Gray Feathers wouldn't approve? You're First-Born. You should know more than most ponies that they're not like that."
"Actually... uhm..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted nervously. "I'm not exactly from around here either."
"Awwwww... don't think you can fool us anymore, girl!" Rayvine floated around Rainbow Dash, doing backwards "swim-strokes" through the air while grinning. "You're slick, swift..."
"You've got a gorgeous mane," Jagold said from a distance, but instantly hid back behind the tree when half the ponies glanced her way.
"You're Durandanan through and through!" Rayvinne giggled. "Probably East D. Central is too stiff for you."
"Heh... heheh..." Rainbow slicked her mane back and smirked. "I dunno how to break it to ya... but I'm just as native to this place as my featherless buddies here. Not that I don't mind all the kickflank flattery and—" She paused, glancing out the side of her vision.
Bellesmith was smiling softly at her from afar.
Rainbow blinked. Her cheeks blushed a little. "What?"
"Either way, their friends up on the flying silver are a bit worried about them," Smythe said to Jerrio. He smirked with perking ears. "And Sivrem would absolutely love to meet the rest. Then we can take them to see the Gray Feathers together!"
"Uhm..." Eagle Eye fidgeted, then raised a hoof. "Now hold on one second..."
"Yeah, one cloud burst at a time," Rainbow said, hovering a little higher. "Who's this 'Sivrem' dude?"
Jerrio was about to reply, when suddenly a loud metallic gong echoed against the earthen walls of the crater. The very branches of the trees shook, and several birds flew out from their leafy hiding. Instantly, he coiled his wings at his side and faced east. "First Light. The towers rise."
"The Towers Rise," every pegasus said in perfect unison. They whistled and chirped briefly between each other, then squatted low to the floor as one. Each of them faced in one direction, their ears folded and their faces glazed with solemnity. After whispering a few quiet words, they closed their eyes and stretched their wings outward—as if embracing the sunrise.
"Uhhhh..." Belle murmured, trotting nervously through the statuesque huddles of bowing ponies. "What's going on?"
"I... I-I dunno..."
"Shhhh!" Eagle Eye insisted.
The two mares looked at her.
He gulped and whispered, "Isn't it obvious they're praying to something?"
"Yeah... but what?"
"Hrmmm..." Roarke tilted her head up. Something glinted off her lenses, and she murmured, "I think we're about to find out..."
"You will certainly love Central!" Sivrem said with a smirk. "It's a magnificent city, run by the Gray Feathers and built by the Gray Feathers before them and the Gray Feathers before them."
"Yes, and plenty of fruit and leatherback milk to go around!" another pegasus exclaimed.
"Wait..." Zaid tilted his head aside from where he stood on the Jury's top deck beside Props. "You mean to say you milk those giant floating devil ray thingies?"
"Yup!" A winged mare said with a smirk. "They provide us with nourishment and we provide them with protection from Durandana's elements! Symbiosis with nature is the Valkyrie's way, after all..."
"Plus," a stallion nodded and said, "The milk is delicious." Several other pegasi chuckled and whistled in approval.
"I see..." Zaid rubbed his chin. "So... ahem... it stands to reason th-that—"
Before he could finish his sentence, an enormous gong echoed across the Crater.
"Oh come on!" Zaid spun, frowning. Props giggled as he spat, "What now?!"
Sivrem produced an eagle's cry, lifting himself up high with a serious expression. "The Tower Rises."
"The Tower Rises" Every pegasus lifted up, their faces as serious as the First-Born.
Every pegasus flew over the edge, soaring down towards the jungle canopy below.
"Where are they all going?!" Kera's voice cracked.
"Hrmmmf... good riddance, Floydien says."
"Handsome, please," Props said while trotting down the now-empty deck. "Something must have spooked them! They're not used to seeing the likes of Nancy, after all."
"No, I-I think it's something else," Pilate muttered. "Did you hear the seriousness in their voices? It was a completely different tone."
"Speaking of tones..." Josho rubbed his chins, blinking. "What was that loud noise just now?"
"A dragon farting?" Kera squeaked.
"Don't even g-go there," Ebon said with a shiver.
"Uhhhhh..." Floydien twitched, blinking high towards the eastern mists. "Don't every boomer glimmer inside out, now..."
"Why? What is it?" Props turned to look, then threw herself into Zaid's forelimbs with a shriek. "Aaaackie!"
"Whoah..." Kera cooed.
Out of the jungled basin to the east, an enormous wooden structure spiraled its way skyward. It rose at first like a drill, growing thinner and thinner as several helixes of wooden architecture locked in place. At last—when the tower was at its thinnest—it ended in a bulbous egg-shaped hollow, with large gaping holes carved into its east and west sides. Once it had reached its maximum height, the lantern-like structure swiveled ever so slightly, rotating its open sides in swaying motions.
After staring so long, the Jurists could make out a pulsing beacon emanating from some distant position east of the tower. At last, the golden beam made its way into the hollow at the top of the structure. The light made contact with something deep in the center, and suddenly the light intensified, leaving a fiery bright laser of gold light shooting due west, slicing the air above the heads of every crewpony on board the Jury.
"I'm at a loss," Pilate murmured, fidgeting. "What is everypony murmuring about?"
"Some sort of focused light is being funneled through the top of a stupidly tall wooden tower," Josho said, still blinking with wide eyes. "The source of it appears to be due east."
"Due east?" Pilate's ears twitched in thought. "Like... the Sun?"
Floydien nodded. "The walls of this mist hole are high enough to catch the glimmer shine at this time of day," the elk said.
"Well put, handsome..." Props climbed out of Zaid's grip, gulping. "But why? What for?"
"Because it looks cool?" Kera remarked.
"Pffft! We all know that, adoracuddles!"
Suddenly, the pegasi flew back up, hovering around the jury. Their lips moved as they finished a collective mantra under their breaths.
"...to secure and to protect the Gold Lights forever," Sivrem said, his grin slowly returning across the relaxed muzzle. "So promise the—"
"—foals of the Valkyrie forever," Jerrio and Kitsune murmured the loudest while the pegasi all around them gradually stood back up. "From First-Born to Last."
The rest of the winged ponies ended the mantra with several whoops, chirps, and cheers.
Belle and Eagle Eye were gawking at the peak of the brightly-lit tower high above them.
"At least now we know that they treasure something," Roarke said.
"Huh?" Rainbow glanced aside.
Roarke gazed at her. "A society that values something stands to lose that something." Her brow furrowed. "It's a key weakness we can exploit the moment they feel inspired to turn on us."
"Roarke!" Rainbow winced, glanced over her shoulder at the cheering pegasi, then leaned in to whisper. "Will you keep your friggin' paranoid bounty hunter delusions to yourself for one bucking day?! These ponies are not going to turn on us!"
"It helps to be prepared, Rainbow," Roarke droned. "After all, the predominating pattern of contact made with cultures during our flyby's have consisted of a fair shair of explosions."
"Yeah, well, these guys aren't gonna explode us!"
"And just how do you know that?"
"They're pegasi for crying out loud! They're not going to tear us limb from limb! Life's too awesome to spend it with empty skies!"
"I think you're making gross assumptions."
"And I think you're a poo poo buckethead!"
"Hey!" Rayvinne craned her neck, grinning. "What are you two lovers bickering about over there?"
Roarke and Rainbow immediately spun, shuffling a foot-and-a-half apart. "That gold! It sure is... golden! Yup! Totally!"
Bellesmith pointed up at the bright beam of light slicing through the misty air. "Is that the gold lights that you speak of?"
"Mmmmm..." Jerrio shook his head, smiling. "That is First Light. In four hours, there will be Mid Light. Then, eight hours from now, there will be Last Light."
"That's qu-quite the schedule you Durandanans have made for yourselves," Eagle Eye said. "Very elaborate."
"It is not a construction of ours," Kitsune explained. "The Gray Feathers before us built the towers, yes, but it is all to honor the Lights From Above."
"Lights From Above?" Rainbow asked.
Jagold giggled. "The Sun, ya silly gull!"
"Nothing other than the Righteous Lights that the Valkyrie and her foals owe their lives to," Jerrio said. "The Gold Lights try to emulate the Lights From Above, but the Gold Lights are fragile and require the constant protection of the Valkyrie's children."
"Oh really..." Belle turned and gave Rainbow a silent look. "How interesting..."
Rainbow gulped. She shook her saddlebag, causing the hilt of the Sword of Solstice to sink in deeper. "So... uhm..." Rainbow Dash squinted. "There's more than one tower?"
"Oh, totally!" Rayvinne and Jagold flew up high, grinning in one accord. "Would you like to go see them now?"
"Don't forget about Sivrem," Smythe said.
"Hey, enough standing around here!" Rainbow Dash said. "How about we kill two birds with one st—" She instantly winced. "Er, I mean, let's meet Sivrem and check out the towers along with my friends all in one go? H-huh?"
Eagle Eye face-hoofed while several pegasi laughed and chuckled. Belle smiled, her giggles joining the fray.
"Let's gust!" Jerrio said, taking off with Smythe and Kitsune in tow.
"There's no way we can catch up with them," Belle said.
"I doubt they'd let us even if we tried." Rainbow flapped her wings. "I'll go on ahead and follow them to the Jury." She turned and glanced down. "Roarke? Whizz it up?"
Roarke groaned, her ears folded. Motioning to Eagle and Belle, she turned around and trudged back towards where the Lounge sphere was parked. "Whizzing away, Rainbow..."
"How fascinating..." Sivrem nodded, then leaned forward, squinting at the golden pendant around Rainbow's neck. "And the purpose of this piece of jewelry...?
"Oh boy..." Rainbow rolled her eyes, smirking. She and Sivrem and several other pegasi flew meters ahead of the Noble Jury as they slowly glided east, following the steady beam of golden light piercing the misty heavens above. "I could write a book on what the Element of Loyalty means and does."
"Then why don't you?"
"Pffft. Too busy flying east to do novels, dude."
"But how is that possible?" Sivrem cocked his head aside in mid-flight. "You'd eventually run into the end of the greens."
"Eheh..." Rainbow tossed her mane and smirked. "I may have been a bit coy at first, but—for real, buddy—I'm not from around here. I flew in from someplace beyond the crater."
"From beyond Durandana?" Sivrem's muzzle scrunched. "I may be willing to believe that about your outsider friends. But you?" He pointed. "You have the Valkyrie's colors written all over you. You even have the mane of a First Born!"
"Yeah... about that..." Rainbow cleared her throat. "I didn't do any dying or coloring or nothin'." She fluffed her mane with a weak smile. "This is about as real as it gets, dude."
"Hah!" Sivrem smirked. "You certainly have the Durandanan sense of humor."
Kitsune flew backwards in front of the two. "Heheheh! As if somepony could be born with something that gorgeous."
"Call it what you want! But it's the Real McColt!" Rainbow blinked. "I promise!"
"One thing I wanna know..." Jagold flew up, hovering alongside Kitsune. "Just how do you condition it."
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Same as any pegasus! Rainwater, sunlight, and lots and lots of wind."
"Heehee... cute..." Jagold stuck her tongue out. "But you're not convincing anypony."
"Alright, think of it this way..." Rainbow pointed back at the Noble Jury. "Before today, you never saw or even imagined a big hunk of... errrr... 'Valkyrie silver' flying on its own, huh?"
"Well..."
"And what about ponies without wings or feathers, huh?" Rainbow grinned devilishly. "Or lavender stallions with horns that can make stuff float?"
"She has a point there," Smythe said, flying up alongside the rest of the group. He smiled pleasantly. "Strange things have happened before. Remember the time when the Lights From Above refused to light the beacons?"
"I don't see how that's related," Sivrem said, fidgeting in mid-air.
"The point is, nopony could understand what happened that day," Smythe remarked. "But then the Gray Feathers explained that records show it had transpired before."
"But how can the Gray Feathers explain this?" Sivrem remarked.
"Pffft. What's to explain?" Rayvinne flew in and nuzzled Rainbow in mid-flight. "Heehee! She's the most awesome thing to have gusted our way in years!"
"Eh heheheh..." Rainbow gulped, her cheeks slightly flushed. "Seriously, though, my buddies and I were just passing on through. We're on our way to Val Roa."
Rainbow stared at her blankly. "You seriously haven't heard anything about Val Roa?"
The pegasi flying closest to her stared in dumb silence.
"Or what about Alafreo?"
More awkward silence amidst the winds.
Rainbow gulped. "Erm... oceans?"
"Oceans..." Kitsune tapped her muzzle. "Are those anything like forests?"
"Yes." Jagold nodded with a happy grin. "Because we know all about forests!"
"Hooooooo boy..." Rainbow stared ahead with drooping ears. "This is gonna be a tough one..."
"Perhaps you can humor us, Rainbow Dash." Jerrio flew down, staring at her with a curious smirk. "Just what kind of a world exists beyond the greens?"
"You mean none of you have seriously tried flying past it to find out?" Rainbow grimaced. "Don't tell me it's 'forbidden' or some crap."
"Heh... hardly," Jerrio said. "The winds are simply too chaotic for any pony to fly past them."
Rainbow blinked. "For real?" She turned and squinted past her shoulders at the barely discernible edges of the Sky Stabs. "Huh... must be from all of the rising thermals and stuff."
"Plus, there's a lot of nasty cold stuff that slams into your face everytime you try it!" Rayvinne exclaimed.
"What?" Rainbow turned towards her. "You mean like snow?"
Rayvinne's eyes twitched. "Snow...?"
"Several ponies try and fly past the greens," Jerrio said. "None have succeeded."
"Oh?"
"Every First Born tries it," Rayvinne said. "It's something of a tradition. Heehee... not to mention a pretty wicked stunt." She turned towards Kitsune. "Isn't that right, K?"
Kitsune rolled her eyes. "I certainly didn't enjoy the flu I battled with for a month afterwards."
Rainbow winced. "Yowch... talk about a rite of passage."
"Heh, sometimes we get bored in the basin."
"Jee..." Rainbow pivoted her head to gawk at the jungles and ravines below. "I can't imagine how..."
"Sivrem almost made it through!" Smythe exclaimed.
"I did not," Sivrem grumbled, his bone necklace rattling.
"You totally did!" Smythe chuckled. "You were up there for half-a-day, zig-zagging through the currents—longer than any First Born on record!"
"The Gray Feathers have been lazy with their bookkeeping as of late."
"Hah hah hah... come onnnnnn, Sivrem! Enough with the eggshells..."
"There was a time when I felt it was my duty to pierce the winds beyond the greens," Sivrem said. "That was years ago, and I've since taken on my duty as a First-Born."
"You seem to be doing a pretty swell job of it," Rainbow said, glancing back at the Jury. "My buddies tell me that you saved our ship from being smacked to bits by flying fish monsters."
"The leatherbacks are a treasure of Durandana," Jerrio said, brow furrowed. "We provide for them, and they provide for us."
"In fact, this entire basin is a blessed treasure," Sivrem said, nodding. "Once I grew old enough to recognize that, I put away my more adventurous ideas and committed my life to honoring the Valkyrie's legacy."
"Which is fitting," Jerrio said with a nod. "Seeing as you'll be a Gray Feather before me."
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked.
"You've only got two years left, Sivrem!" Rayvinne said. "That beats Jerrio by nearly four! Heehee!"
Jerrio sighed. "Must you rub it in?"
"So, you mean you guys become Gray Feathers someday?" Rainbow asked.
Kitsune smiled. "Only the First-Borns, such as Sivrem, Jerrio, and... erm... myself..."
Rainbow squinted. "How come you don't exactly sound too excited about that?"
"Yes, well..." Kitsune rolled her eyes and smirked. "Gone will be the days of flying, homing, herding, and making love."
"I'm down with at least two of those," Rainbow said, then gulped. "Still, that kinda stinks. Sorry to hear it."
Everypony laughed loudly around the mare.
"Are you kidding?" Kitsune smiled. "Being a Gray Feather means having the honor of maintaining the scrolls." She stared up at the beam of light looming overhead. "All of my life, I've admired the legacy of the Valkyrie. It'll be an honor to serve her in a higher regard."
"Well, guess that's a good thing then." Rainbow bit her lip, then stared at the passing vegetation below. "This 'Valkyrie' character is pretty big, huh?"
"You really... really don't know who she is, do you?" Jerrio remarked.
Rainbow opened her mouth, hesitated, and eventually said. "No." She adjusted the weight of her saddlebag. "But I'd be totally willing to learn."
"The Gray Feathers would love to tell you all about it."
Rainbow chuckled. "Can't you guys tell me?"
"Sure," Jagold said with a nod, then giggled. "But not as well as the Gray Feathers can!"
"Only know that she was the most awesome pony to have ever lived," Sivrem said in a proud tone. "And she and her fellow warriors gave their lives to protect the Gold Lights and all the realms beyond."
"You don't say..." Rainbow took a deep breath and stared ahead of their flight. "Sounds like a kick-flank tale for sure..."
"But one thing at a time." Rayvinne smirked. "I swear, you are going to gust inside out once you see West D!"
Bellesmith stared off the bow of the Noble Jury, and she was smiling. As the wind kicked at her short chestnut mane, she glanced at the various pegasi escorting the skystone ship, then trotted about and made her way into the cockpit. There, Pilate, Eagle Eye, and Roarke stood behind Floydien. Beyond the windshield, lusch jungles and misty treetops loomed. Far ahead, the beacon of light pulsed with platinum brilliance.
"It truly is a paradise," Bellesmith said, leaning in to nuzzle her mate. "I truly wish you could see it for yourself, beloved."
"Heh..." Pilate smirked. "From what I've heard and smelled, it's already shaping up to be quite lovely." He turned his head towards her. "And who's to say? With the work you're doing on O.A.S.I.S., maybe I can see some of it soon."
"Just a bunch of jungles and mist," Roarke grunted, forelimbs crossed. Her lenses retracted beneath a furrowed brow. "Nothing much worth seeing."
"What's the matter, Roarke?" Eagle Eye glanced back, smiling. "You shudder at the sight of any landscape that hasn't been blasted to bits by manafire?"
"If that is some thinly veiled reference to my ambivalence towards Foxtaur, you are misguided, Eagle Eye."
The stallion giggled.
Roarke's ears twitched. "What is so humorous? I was being sincere."
"I know!" He wiped his eye and smirked. "And you didn't call me 'breeder.'"
Roarke simply fidgeted where she stood.
"If metal munching boomer has something to spit than she should spit it," Floydien blurted.
The other ponies looked at Roarke.
She groaned and said, "I'm simply wary of how swiftly Rainbow Dash has made herself available to the accomodations of these backward strangers."
"I wouldn't exactly call them 'backwards,' Roarke," Bellesmith said. "Misinformed, perhaps, but that's to be expected. They've lived as an isolated society for Spark-knows how long. That being said, they seem to be doing remarkably for themselves."
"Am I the only one who's witnessed them pawing all over random members of the Jury?" Roarke remarked.
"Erm..." Eagle Eye bit his lip. "They did seem rather fond of Props." He gulped. "And Ebon," he added hoarsely.
"I think it's too early for us to make a passing judgment," Pilate said. "Besides, from what I hear, the mares of Searo weren't exactly shy about personal space either."
"That's a gross exaggeration," Roarke droned.
"Yeah." Eagle muttered aside. "Usually you just killed everypony before you could so much as nuzzle them."
Roarke ignored that, instead choosing to mutter, "I just don't like this."
"What about this, exactly?" Belle asked.
"Everything about it." Roarke's lenses whirred as she stared fixedly out the windshield. "Rainbow is letting her guard down way too easily."
"What?" Belle smiled. "You think Rainbow has to headbutt and dropkick every culture she runs into in her travels?"
"It's helped her a great deal."
Belle chuckled. "Oh Roarke... if only you knew Rainbow as much as I did."
The metal mare twitched slightly, but was silent.
Belle went on, "The bulk of her collective memories still swim in my head. In Windthrow, Emeraldine, Silvadel—almost every kingdom or township she stumbled upon, she was always trading smiles and exchanging fist-bumps first. Only because of dire circumstances did she ever pick up the habit of having to buck first and ask questions later."
"You've almost exclusively witnessed her during her travels in Ledomare and Xona," Pilate said. "It's easy to get the wrong impression. If it weren't for Bellesmith's sequencing or our collectively shared exposure to our dear friend—we'd make that same assumption about her too."
"That's not the crux of the issue," Roarke said.
"Then what is?" Eagle asked.
"Rainbow has established herself as being responsible for not only this ship—but the fulfillment of her journey," Roarke explained. "That being said, I think it's rather obvious to everypony that her thoughts still dwell on the home she left months and months ago."
"And now that she's meeting pegasi who aren't zombified abominations for once, you think she's somehow..." Belle raised an eyebrow. "...waxing nostalgic?"
"To her detriment, yes."
"Hah hah hah!" Eagle Eye slapped his knee and grinned at Roarke. "You just can't stand to see Rainbow Dash happy, do you?"
"Excuse me...?"
"It must not compute with Roarke Most Rare!"
"There is nothing wrong with her being happy," Roarke said. With another sigh, she glared out the windshield. "Being happy and dumb is another thing."
"Roarke, she's with flying ponies," Belle said with a sweet grin. "Flying ponies who don't want kill her... or any of us for that matter!"
"Mrmmmf..." Roarke's nostrils flared. "That remains to be seen."
"Metal boomer's spit is a glimmer too sour," Floydien mused.
"Hmmm?" Roarke's ears twitched.
"How about that..." Pilate smirked. "It's a unique statement when Mr. Floydien calls out another pony on her paranoia."
"I don't know about you, but I'd rather suffer a warrior's death in a place that's not a giant toilet overgrown with weeds," Roarke muttered, then shimmied down the crawlspace. "If you'll be needing me—which I assume you won't—I'll be in the hangar, doing maintenance on Whiz—grrghhhhhhgraaaugh... on the Lounge transport."
The cockpit lingered in silence after the departure of the metal mare.
"What do you suppose has her so anxious?" Pilate remarked.
"Perhaps these mist mists threaten to rust the boomer's braces," Floydien said.
"No, I think it's something else," Belle said.
"Like what?" Eagle asked.
Belle blinked... then blinked again. She bit her lip, wincing slightly. "I'm... almost afraid to guess."
Just then, Zaid and Props shimmed up, barely squeezing themselves into the cramped cockpit.
"Guys!" Zaid exclaimed, then glance at Eagle. "...and dolls!"
"Hey!" Eagle pouted.
"You'll never guess what's up ahead!" Zaid beamed. He pointed to the base of the giant wooden tower. "Kera saw it first through the observation room windows!"
"What is it?" Belle asked, craning her neck.
"Only the zaniest and sexiest of treehouses ever!" Props said, giggling.
"Hrmmff..." Floydien muttered as he slowed the forward motion of the Noble Jury, gazing at the array of structures below. "Now that's a lot of twigspace. Yes yes yes..."
Rainbow Dash's eyes sparkled. Before her, the air was buzzing with dozens if not hundreds of pegasi, several of them flying in packs, several more in lone, spiraling patterns. Not a single one of them flew in a manner that wasn't remotely graceful. Every curve of the wing and flick of the tail was done in nimble showmanship and joyful flair. Many of the pegasi seemed too busy enjoying the thrill of the moment to even take notice of the strange, sky-colored pegasus being flown in by Sivrem's entourage, or the hulking skystone vessel puttering after them for that matter.
Several whoops and eagle shrieks sounded off below the mare. Rainbow looked down, and she instantly dazzled at numerous wooden domes built into the jungle canopy. Wooden houses curled and twisted like beautiful nautilus shells, with windows and smokestacks bespeckling every curve. There were no ladders or bridges or platforms or anything else to provide hoofed access between the structures. A plentiful smattering of balconies and ledges dotted the buildings, and pegasi proceeded to leap off of these and carry their business to the far reaches of the forest.
Towards the lower end of the wooden tower, along the part of the shaft where the vertical sections began extending, several round platforms had been constructed. Crude wooden shacks and buildings populated these platforms, allowing for the semblance of a central "courtyard" that hugged the circumference of the structure. Here, the bulk of the pegasi who weren't flying were located, along with several older equines whose wings weren't quite as strong as the athletic Durandanans who had met Rainbow Dash and her friends an hour ago.
Rainbow Dash turned and waved a signal at the Noble Jury. Floydien guided the ship to a stop, hovering several dozens of meters away from the Tower. It was then that most of the locals had finally taken notice of the strange ship in their midst. Dozens of pegasi spun playful circles around the ship, gliding by the portholes and cockpit windows as they stared in amazement. Several chirps and shrill cries flew between them.
In the meantime, Sivrem and his flock descended to the uppermost platform circling the tower. Rainbow Dash swiftly followed suit, landing on the edge and marveling at the thick group of equines landing down and crowding around her. At this location, the golden beacon of the tower above cast a dim platinum shine that brought a shiny gloss to every pegasus' coat. At random points, Rainbow spotted dyed multi-colored manes. However, it was getting harder and harder to see as more and more pegasi shuffled up.
"Sivrem!" A mare said, trotting up with a group of winged equines, the bulk of them wearing charms, earrings, and earrings made out of bird bones. "You've returned early!"
"Mmmmm... that I have." Sivrem leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss, their wings stretching forward until their feathers touched. Then, without hesitation, he smiled and did the same to the stallion next to her. After a shared chuckle, the three nuzzled as one, then took a step apart. "You'll never guess who and what I found at First Light." He turned and gestured towards the pegasus. "Fellow ponies, I bring you Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow blinked. She cleared her throat and coiled her wings tightly at the side before waving at the mass of gawking pegasi. "Hi there, sky guys. How's it hoofin'?"
"She says she's from beyond the greens," Sivrem said, his eyes bright. His brow furrowed as he added in a raspy tone, "And she's brought friends with her! Ponies... without feathers!"
The entire crowd gasped.
"No way!"
"By Valkyrie's shout!"
"No ponies live beyond the greens, First Born! You know that!"
"I only know what I can see!" Sivrem said. "Feast your own eyes, if you can't be feathered to believe, gulls!" He turned and pointed at the Noble Jury. "Valkyrie silver! It flies by its own Gold Sights!"
"Whoah..."
"Could it really be beyond the mists?"
Jerrio cleared his throat. "Please, Sivrem. What Rainbow and her companions have is quite amazing, but there's no good to come out of attributing the Gold Lights to it."
"Jerrio, don't tell us you haven't see what we've seen!" Rayvinne exclaimed. She turned and grinned ecstatically at the crowd. "Some of Rainbow's friends have horns that glow! Like the Gold Lights! And they can make fruit and other ponies float with their mind!"
Murmurs and gasps echoed amongst the group.
"And they have a large pony!" Jagold said, trembling slight. "With br-branches coming out of his head! And the branches shoot lightning!"
More gasps, even as Smythe was stammering, "And a pony with shiny eyes who expresses her anger with Valkyrie silver!"
"Heheh... come onnnnn..." Rainbow chuckled, waving a hoof. "Roarke isn't that bad—"
"Sivrem, how do you know you and your feathered flock of gulls aren't making this all up?" One from the crowd smirked. "Eggshells, I say!"
"Yeah!" Another pointed at Rainbow. "She's probably just some pretender from East D! Look at her mane! No First Born pony has ever pulled off a mane that amazing!"
"That's because I'm willing to bet none of you ponies were born with this flickering piece of awesomeness!" Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. "Or given a wicked sick pendant to spread harmony with..." She rubbed her hoof against her necklace, summoning a ruby glow that instantly stole the breath out of the crowd. "Or..." She kicked off the wooden platform and flapped her wings. "...mastered the finest art of weather flying that only the schools in Cloudsdale could hope to come close to!"
Then, holding her breath, Rainbow Dash zipped up to the neck of the tower, pivoted, and spun around the thing ten times in the span of five seconds. Through sheer speed alone, she appeared as a solid streak of colors in the air. When she came to a stop, a miniature clap of thunder echoed around her, flouncing her mane around a devilish grin.
The pegasi immediately cheered and whooped with avian shrieks. Several of them flew up and hovered around Rainbow, touching her mane, her tail, and staring up close at her pendant.
"Valkyrie's shout!"
"She's like the living sky!"
"I've never seen a First-Born fly that fast! Not even you, Sivrem!"
"Alright, alright..." Sivrem waved his hoof, chuckling. "So she has skills... skills she may have learned from beyond the greens." He smirked. "But let's not smother our new friend. Let's also be courteous to her, as our elders would want. After all... for all of her marvels... she and her friends appear to be strangely ignorant of the Valkyrie."
Woosh! Jagold flew up and beamed in Rainbow's face. "I know just what you're thinking! And don't worry!" She threw a hoof around Rainbow's shoulder and nuzzled her tightly. "Heeheehee! We'll teach you all about the Valkyrie! Ohhhhhhh... what tale to share first? The one where she defeats the wind ghosts? The one where she stabs and bleeds the sky?"
"Oh!" Smythe spoke up. "How about the one where she defeated the goat demon?"
"Defeating a goat demon..." Rainbow gulped, feeling the weight of the pendant around her throat. "Sounds... pr-pretty awesome..."
"Jagold..." Kitsune spoke through a wry smirk. "Sivrem said no smothering."
"Eeep!" Jagold parted ways with Rainbow, hugging herself and blushing. "My b-bad, First Born."
"Heheh... no problem..."
"Sivrem, I think we should go about bringing Rainbow Dash to Central," Jerrio said. "The Gray Feathers would love to see her, and perhaps they'd be the best ones to explain to her the ways of the Valkyrie—"
"Jerrio, you silly gull!" Sivrem slapped the stallion's back and chuckled merrily. "Why the hurry? It's only First Light of a new day! And if Rainbow and her friends are truly outsiders, then it's our place to give them the finest feathered welcome Durandana can afford!" Sivrem turned and shrieked towards the skies. Everypony hovering tightly around the Noble Jury turned down to glance at him. "Brothers! Sisters! Fetch milk from the leatherback stables and fruit and meat from the storehouses! We shall have a feast like there hasn't been held since the days the Valkyrie sliced her feathers across the Dawnlight!"
Everypony cheered, immediately flying every which way.
"Eat up, little one!" Rayvinne said, plopping a wooden bowl of dried insects onto the table before Kera. "They were twitching as of ten minutes ago!"
Kera gasped, her jaw hanging wide. She tilted her tattooed face up, eyes sparkling. "You mean... you guys actually catch and serve dragonflies here?"
"Mmmhmmm!" Rayvinne grinned. "If the local fowl can eat them, then why can't ponies?"
"This is officially the best... crater... ever!" Kera practically shoved her muzzle into the bowl and began scarfing away.
"Erm... n-not too fast, darling," Bellesmith said, patting Kera's shoulder. "You don't want to get a... erm... thorax stuck in your throat."
Rayvinne giggled. She fluttered over and sat at the table across from Belle and Pilate. The meal was being served inside a long wooden hall built atop one of the center platforms. The curved wooden body of the tower ate into the interior's frame. Dangling lanterns full of lightning bugs illuminated the rustic interior from above while the Noble Jurists and several Durandanans sat, ate, and chatted merrily.
"You're quite protective of the filly," Rayvinne remarked. "Are you an instructor?"
"Hmmm?" Belle looked up from where she was biting onto an apple. She gulped the bits down and said, "You mean as in a teacher?"
"Funny you should ask," Pilate spoke up with a proud smirk. "She used to teach extensively as a professor back in Mountainfall."
"Is that located in... Lead's Mare?"
"Heh... Ledomare," Belle corrected. "And my beloved gives me too much credit. I was mostly performing science experiments with the goal of expanding Ledomaritan physics within the region. I only occasionally taught other ponies on the side."
"But never foals?" Rayvinne remarked.
"At the time, I wouldn't have imagined it. But these days, I'd say I'm rather fond of the idea." She smiled at Kera. "Kera, here, we found in a city called Blue Nova. She was estranged from her original family, so we took her under our own wing... mmm... as it w-were. We've been inseparable ever since."
"I imagine a long voyage together creates a strong bond," Rayvinne said.
"Oh, absolutely," Belle said with a nod. She chuckled lightly. "These days, I swear, more and more ponies make the assumption that we're mother and child. I'm surprised you didn't do the same."
Rayvinne cocked her head to the side. "Mother...?" She blinked, then giggled. "We all only have one mother."
Pilate's ears twitched. "Do you mean that figuratively, or...?"
"We owe our lives and our legacies to the Valkyrie," Rayvinne said. She gestured with one hoof while grasping a wooden mug full of milk with another. "She gave us both life and purpose. Durandana—the staging ground of her righteous will—has been ours to protect, populate, and enjoy for as long as our feathers can carry us."
"Just how many families live here, approximately?" Pilate asked.
"Mmmff..." Rayvinne finished her sip of milk, swallowed, and said, "One, of course."
"One family?" Pilate asked.
"Yes. Foaled from one mother—the Valkyrie—as I've stated before."
"But then... then..." Belle's eyes narrowed. "You don't have a father and... a-and a mare whom you call you parents?"
"Hehehe..." Rayvinne's feather's twitched as she smiled. "There was a mare to gave birth to me, of course. What? Did you think that all Durandanans believed they sprouted out of the tree branches?" She slapped the tabletop and laughed.
Pilate and Belle laughed weakly, squirming in their seats.
"Ahem..." Rayvinne tapped her chin. "Hmmmm... her name is Ferlanna, I believe, and she lives somewhere in Central D. I was her fifth-born... or sixth. Eh, whatever the case, I wasn't the First-Born, but it's just as well." She smirked. "I'm not giving up my flight and fun for scrolls anytime soon!"
"And..." Pilate leaned forward, his metal brow furrowed. "...your father?"
"Heh... how am I to know?" Rayvinne shrugged. "Could have been any one stallion... or any three, if some of the stories of Lower Central can be believed." She leaned over and nudged another pegasus sitting next to her. "Am I right? Hee hee hee!"
"Hah hah hah hah!"
"Oh... uhm..." Belle gulped, trying her best not to grimace. "That's... uhm..."
"Quite fascinating!" Pilate managed.
"Braaaaaaaaaak!" Kera belched, then grinned up at her foster parents with a gossamer wing or two sticking out of her muzzle. "Isn't this place super?"
Pilate reached over blindly and patted her mane. "It's certainly taking my breath away..."
Several seats away, another cluster of Jurists sat. Ebon Mane was busy examining the bowls resting in his hooves.
"The size of these melons is amazing!" Ebon exclaimed.
"Heehee... Don't flatter them so hard, Ebony!" Props said between bites of cabbage.
"And they're so ripe too!" Ebon gawked at the others. "You think that the remoteness of this location allows for larger fruit and produce? I mean, it's not like the crater has too much ecological competition going on!"
"I don't really give a crap," Josho said, his chin already battered in crumbs and juices. "Mrmmmmf... if it goes down my throat and can come out the other end without killing me, then I'm good."
"Oh, if only that was true of everything that was shoveled your way, old stallion," Zaid said.
Props giggled. "Good one! High hoof!"
"Give it to me, blondie!" Zaid and Props slapped their hooves while Josho groaned. "Now..." Zaid glanced around, fidgeting. "If I could just find some ketchup, for the love of Goddess..."
"Seriously..." Ebon cooed. "A single basket of these things could feed the Jury for a month!" He glanced aside with eyes sparkling. "You think they'll let us take some with us?"
"Heh... if they see how much it makes your day, Ebon, then I'm absolutely sure of it," Eagle said with a warm smile.
"Erm... s-sorry..." Ebon blushed, dropping the fruit back down into a larger bowl in the middle of the table. "I guess I get too excited when it comes to foodstuffs."
"Hey, nothing to be sorry for," Eagle said between bites of roasted poultry. "Food and cooking food is your life blood."
"Mmmm..." Ebon smiled, his cheeks slightly red. "It's worked out for me so far."
Eagle glanced down at Ebon's side of the table. The stallion's plate was completely empty. Eagle was about to say something, but he stopped himself. He glanced nervously at the other Jurists around the table, but they were all too busy eating.
Just then, Smythe flew in and sat down across from Eagle and the rest. "Sorry I'm late," he said. He leaned over towards the stallion beside his seat. Both kissed on the lips, briefly brushing feathers before nuzzling each other and sitting straight before their plates. "I had to check on the stables. One of the young calves had gotten out and knocked over the storage containers."
"Heh... ever Sivrem's errand colt, eh, Smythe?"
"Yes, well..." Smythe smirked wryly. "He pays well..."
"Hah hah! I bet he does!"
"Heh heh heh!" The pegasi all nudged and patted each other before digging into their meals.
Eagle stared at the stallions sitting across from him.
"Eagle...?"
The ex-mercenary barely blinked.
"Eagle?" Ebon leaned in, looking worried. "Is everything alright?"
"Hmmm?" Ebon glanced at him. "Oh, yes... I was just..." Eagle sighed, his ears folding. "I was just thinking..."
"About what?"
"When I first joined Crimson's company, I had hoped to make my father proud of me," Eagle said. "But I eventually had to wake up to the truth. He would never accept me for who I was..." He gulped. "And for who I chose to love."
Ebon nodded quietly. "I remember you telling me..."
"So, when Rainbow Dash and her friends flew into my life, the Noble Jury became a means of escape." Eagle exhaled out his nostrils. "And the chance for a new life. An opportunity to find a place where... well..." He gazed down at his plate, picking at his food. "A place where I could live as I was meant to and not feel like I was despised for it."
"Oh..." Ebon glanced at the amorous pegasi sitting across from them. Chewing on his lip, he glanced aside. "Well... m-maybe this is it, Eagle. For all we know, maybe this is the sort of place you could call home."
Eagle chuckled dryly... then chuckled some more.
Ebon glanced at him, ears twitching. "What's so funny?"
"'Funny' isn't the word for it. 'Comforting,' perhaps."
Ebon simply stared.
Eagle smiled warmly at him. "I haven't felt that need to 'find a home' in—like—forever. I think it's because, for the last few months, I've felt truly happy... as if I finally had what I was looking for."
"Heh..." Ebon grinned. "Good thing you stumbled upon the Jury, huh?"
Eagle reached over and placed his hoof atop Ebon's. "Who said anything about the Jury?"
Ebon blinked. He then smiled, his eyes misty.
Eagle smiled back. The two stallions leaned their muzzles together—
"Ketchup!" Zaid's forelimb bumped wildly past them, snatching a bowl from the table. "Finally! Thank you!"
Ebon and Eagle wobbled on their bench, struggling not to fall to the wooden floor. Both stallions sighed, then chuckled between themselves.
Several seats away, Rainbow Dash watched as a bowl was slid right in front of her.
"There you have it!" Kitsune said before sitting down beside Sivrem and Jerrio. All three First-Borns smiled across the table at Rainbow. "Flying squirrel meat! Spiced with pepper and honey roasted." She winked. "Just like we promised..."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow's wings drooped as she leaned... leaned... leaned away from the meaty morsels. "Whew..." She glanced down the table. "Praise Luna that Floydien decided to stay on board the ship along with Roarke."
"Is something the matter?" Sivrem asked, eyebrow raised.
"It's my fault for not giving you guys that big of a hint earlier, but..." Rainbow gulped and slid the bowl towards them with a nervous smile. "I'm what you would call... uhhh... an anti-meatatarian."
Jerrio's brow furrowed. "You don't eat the lesser creatures of the sky?"
"Where I come from, pegasi consider all creatures to be equal," Rainbow said with a grin. "We are sentinels of the land, sea, and air. It's our job to look after nature. So... to eat the flesh of animals is a total no-no, since it contradicts all of that."
"How fascinating," Sivrem said, smiling.
"Eh..." Kitsune shrugged. "Suit yourself." She then thrust her muzzle into the bowl and scarfed down a heavy helping of rodent meat.
Rainbow tried not to throw up. She shaded her right eye with a hoof and gazed away from Kitsune. "I-I think I'll just stick to the greens," she said with a cracking voice.
"All of your friends participate in eating meat," Sivrem said, pointing down the long table. "And yet, you do not?"
"Please, Sivrem," Jerrio droned, preparing his own plate. "She's made her point. Don't feather her about it."
"Nah, it's okay," Rainbow said, clearing her throat. "As I flew east across the world, it became obvious to me that several cultures like to do things their own way. I'm just one pony from a land with its own rules, so why bug other ponies about stuff that doesn't click with me?"
"Hmmm... if the world outside of Durandana is truly as vast as you make it seem, then it helps to have such openness of mind," Sivrem said. "You undoubtedly have the soul of a traveler."
"Yeah, well... y'know..." Rainbow lazily plucked a head of broccoli from her plate and balanced it on her nose. "I get around."
"And what a fortuitous circumstance it was that brought you here," Sivrem said with a smirk. "No doubt the Valkyrie willed it."
Jerrio's eyes darted towards him.
Rainbow thrust her muzzle up, flipped the piece of broccoli into the air, and scarfed it on the way down. "Mrmmmmf..." She gulped. "No offense, but—like—isn't the Valkyrie dead?"
"Ah, perhaps, but her spirit endures. Her purpose and her command is embodied in all of us!" Sivrem reached over and caressed Kitsune's mane. "As well as her passion and joy."
"Nnngh..." Kitsune batted his hoof away. "How many times do I gotta tell you?" She gulped squirrel meat down and smirked devilishly. "Not during a feast. You'll only belch in my face!"
"I do not—ulp—belch!"
Kitsune and a few nearby pegasi laughed.
Rainbow chuckled. "I would... uh... like to know more about the Valkyrie." She leaned forward, ruby eyes squinting. "As well as the Gold Lights."
"And I'd be happy to tell you—" Sivrem began.
"I think..." Jerrio leaned in. "...that would be something best related by the Gray Feathers in person."
"You forget, Jerrio," Sivrem said, squinting mischievously at him. "I am soon to be a Gray Feather myself."
"And until that time comes, you're the best flier and leatherback herder in all of Durandana," Jerrio said in a stale voice. "Best to leave the telling of the scrolls to our elders."
Sivrem sighed. "Ah... very well. I suppose you'll next tell me that the Gray Feathers of Central would be best for this."
"You know me too well, Sivrem," Jerrio said with a smirk.
"Not as well as Jagold," Kitsune muttered, summoning a long-distance "Eeep!" from a blonde shape further down the table.
Jerrio rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, somepony's gotta keep an eye on tradition."
"Will I be seeing the Gray Feathers this evening?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm afraid not. They have Last Light to attend to," Sivrem said. "Besides, why the hurry?" He pointed with a hoof. "Tonight, you rest under the mist and stars of Durandana. Tomorrow—before First Light—you can join me and my flock. After taking care of the leatherbacks, we'll fly to Central tomorrow. The Gray Feathers of the Middle Tower will be sure to tell you everything you seek."
"Heh... that sounds pretty darn cool, actually." Rainbow's wings fluttered. "A day spent with the fastest pegasi this side of the world." She gulped. "The only pegasi this side of the world..."
"I prefer the first," Kitsune said.
"Yes, well, I prefer the second," Jerrio muttered.
"And I prefer them all!" Sivrem stood up. "And everything!" He raised a glass high. "A toast! To ponies inside and outside the realm of the Valkyrie! May a swift wind carry us to love and the grave beyond!"
"And just what's going to happen once you get to this... Central Tower?" Ebon asked. "I mean, aside from the Grand Tour—you think they're gonna try and preach their feathery religion to you or something?"
"It's not a religion, really," Rainbow said as she paced across the Noble Jury's mess hall. Through the portholes, starlight glittered across the misty sky of Durandana. Torchlight dotted the trees from the many wooden houses and platforms where the pegasi were retiring for the night. "It's simply their way of life... their life-blood..."
Ebon smirked. "I stand by what I said."
"Look, we gotta be careful with these guys," Rainbow said, spinning about. "For their sake, I mean. Sure, they're all rough and tough pegasi, but they've been living by themselves for so friggin' long that I'm a little bit freaked out about what the knowledge of the outside world could do to them."
"That's very thoughtful of you, Rainbow," Pilate said. "Not to mention an example of intelligent foresight. But I think you could stand to give the psyche of these Durandanans more credit."
"Especially since it's rather clear just what they believe in," Bellesmith said.
Rainbow glanced at her. "What do you mean by that?"
Belle shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? All this speak of the 'Valkyrie' and this apparent worship of Sunlight..."
"I get it, Belle," Rainbow said, nodding. "They're totally descendants of Commander Hurricane's pegasi from ancient Equestria."
"Seriously, though..." Josho glanced up, brow furrowed. "That's a bit of a friggin' stretch. Do we really know that?"
"The connections are simply too numerous," Pilate said.
"And it's not like they're direct descendants of the pegasi who supposedly broke up Urohringr," Eagle Eye said. "I mean... unless they're secretly ravenous zombies."
"Maybe in bed they are," Zaid said.
"Zaid..." Belle sighed.
"What?" Zaid shrugged. "Don't tell me that you of all ponies aren't the least bit shaken in your can-can about that!"
Belle's ears folded. "I do admit... I was stricken back by their lax views on affection, family, and... br-breeding." She cleared her throat. "But like Rainbow Dash said. This is simply their way of life. From what we can all tell, it's working out for them just fine." She glanced up at the others. "Who are we to judge another culture based solely on our differences?"
"But we don't know their whole 'culture' yet," Josho remarked. "Not at least until Rainbow Dash makes her trip to Central."
"So you're all for her going, old stallion?" Eagle asked.
"Hell, they seem to love her to death!" Josho exlaimed. "Let her go to the middle tower and learn what she can from these... 'gray feathers.' I'm sure Rainbow wouldn't mind stretching her wings a little... especially with those of her own kin."
"They're not exactly 'my own kin,'" Rainbow said.
"But you agree that they're probably descendants of Commander Hurricane!" Props said, blinking brightly. "How kinnier can you get than that?"
"Don't deny it, Rainbow," Eagle said with a smile. "Today's the happiest any of us have seen you in a long time. Even on our good days."
"Did you get a chance to talk to Celestia about what you've found?" Pilate asked.
Rainbow sighed, glancing towards the corner where the Sword of Solstice rested along with her saddlebag. "No... There wasn't a moment all day when I was left alone. These ponies are clinging to me like manure on velcro."
"G-good manure, r-right?" Ebon smiled crookedly.
"To be honest, I'm a little scared of telling Celestia of who and what I've found," Rainbow said. "The idea of distant relatives of Equestria living thousands upon thousands of miles away?" She grimaced. "And in such isolation and... and ignorance too?"
"But they're doing remarkably well for themselves, Rainbow," Belle said. "And—aside from meat eating and an apparent lack of family structure—they appear to be embodying the concepts of Harmony. I mean, just look at the paradise they've maintained in this crater after all these years!"
"How'd they even get here anyways?" Props asked. "Did Hurricane just swoop by this crater and drop them off?"
"Doesn't seem like a general to do," Josho said. "Also, wasn't Hurricane sworn to guard over the dark heart of Stratopolis with all of the devices at her disposal?"
"You..." Eagle trembled slightly. "You d-don't think that the Durandanans went AWOL, do you?"
"No..." Rainbow shook her head. "I don't believe that."
"Don't believe it or don't want to?" Josho asked.
Rainbow squinted at him. "Wouldn't it be really silly for them to exalt this 'Valkyrie' persona while admitting that they screwed her over eons ago?"
"It could possibly explain the adamance of their fealty," Pilate said. "Guilt only gets stronger through the years. Maybe they deem this crater as their 'prison.'"
"Doubtful, beloved," Bellesmith spoke up. "After all, what about the 'Gold Lights' that they're emphatic about guarding?"
"I've got an even scratchier question!" Props said with a bounce. "If they didn't ditch their posts and they weren't dropped off here on purpose—"
"Like if they simply broke off from the rest of Stratopolis?" Zaid remarked.
"—yeah!" Props nodded. "How could they have landed here? It's not like Stratopolis was capable of splitting up..." Her eyes darted amongst the other Jurists. "Is it...?"
"Maybe a piece broke off?" Eagle said. "And then crash landed here?"
"Yeah!" Ebon nodded. "It could explain the crater, right?"
"Pffft. If all of Stratopolis crash-landed here, then sure," Rainbow said. "I dunno if you ponies have noticed, but it's a pretty dang big crater."
"I don't think the local geography can be penned on a piece of Stratopolis," Pilate thought out loud, rubbing his chin. "The nature of the impact is so great that I doubt any pegasi 'riding' the falling object would have survived the blast—or anything else in this landscape for that matter. And yet, here and today, the place is lush with vegetation and animals. If a piece of Stratopolis caused this impact, where did all the wildlife come from? It surely wasn't on board the Sentinel, and it's not like the pegasi—who couldn't have survived the impact—planted the seeds all on their lonesome."
"What are you thinking, Pilate?" Belle asked.
"Quite simply that whatever caused this impact was incalculably long ago," the zebra said. "In an age so far gone that it allowed this unique ecosystem to develop here in the interim. I think the Durandanas are all outsiders—in that they stumbled upon this place just like we did, and due to the nature of the elements surrounding the crater, they've been stuck here, bound to a social system that they themselves had to construct in order to survive."
"So, how and why did a bunch of Commander Hurricane's ponies end up in this crater of all places?" Rainbow asked.
"Perhaps that's something you yourself can discover for all of our weary minds," Pilate said with a smile. "After you've paid a visit to Central and—perhaps—witnessed these 'Gold Lights' for yourself."
"And you can tell them all about their distant shiny Princess!" Props exclaimed.
Everypony was silent.
Props fidgeted. "What?"
"I... I don't know, Props..." Rainbow winced. "I think I better learn about all they've got to tell me before... uhm..." She gulped. "Before I tell them anything."
"But they need to know, right?" Props leaned forward. "They need to know about their queens of alicorn hotness!"
"I... really don't know if they need to know... at least not yet," Rainbow said. "I wanna talk to Celestia about it. Maybe I can slip a few words in the morning before First Light and when Sivrem arrives."
"I'm sure speaking to her can only help, Rainbow," Belle said. "We understand your concern. We don't want anything to shake up the world that the Durandanans have established here."
"Believe me, I wanna tell them everything about Equestria. But..." Rainbow fidgeted. "What good is it gonna do, y'know? I mean... they're so happy here. They're perfect... perfect pegasi." A weary smile, but then it faded. "What good is it gonna do to let them know that they're really just long-lost birds estranged from a kingdom so far away it would take them forever to fly to by wing alone?"
"Certainly a valid question," Pilate said. "Not to mention a tough one. I suggest you sleep on it."
"Might I remind everypony that we're not exactly here to enjoy a vacation," Josho grunted. "Isn't Chrysalis off in Val Roa somewhere, making life a living hell for innocent ponies?"
"Without the aid of her brood," Ebon said. "Remember?"
Eagle Eye squirmed uncomfortably, silently.
"Even still, we've got bigger fish to fry." Josho turned to gaze at Rainbow. "No offense, but we can't spend forever on the minnows."
"I know. I know." Rainbow sighed. "But I can't just ignore these ponies, especially if it's true that they're Equestrians at heart." She paused, blinking. "Say..." She looked up. "Anypony seen Roarke?"
Roarke slapped a panel shut in the side of the lounge sphere. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she crawled out from underneath the hovering thing and stood along the side of the hangar. Picking up a metal remote, she switched it on, summoning a low humming sound from the craft.
The mare twisted a dial ever so slightly.
The black sphere raised towards the ceiling on its own.
Roarke stopped twisting, then turned the dial the other way.
The sphere lowered until it was nearly touching the floor of the compartment.
Roarke flipped a switch and pressed a lever forward and back.
The sphere drifted back and forth in opposite directions, responding to the metal mare's remote control.
A door squeaked open and Rainbow Dash trotted through. "Having fun with Whizzball?"
Roarke shook a bit, then exhaled heavily. She slapped the remote and the humming died from inside the craft. "You do realize that I have taken extraordinary care to rid myself of most of my violent tendencies." She dropped the remote onto a metal crate and trotted past Rainbow. "You and your friends certainly aren't helping when it comes to the transport that I'm so selflessly providing."
"Girl, it's just a name."
"And would you object if somepony called your prime matriarch 'Princess Sky Testicle?'"
"I don't see how it's the same," Rainbow said. "Lizards didn't build Celestia, and it's not like you can crawl inside her chest and fly the alicorn across a frozen ocean."
"Then I'm glad that I shall never meet your kingdom's beloved ruler," Roarke droned as she trotted across the hangar to a workbench. "She sounds incredibly unexciting."
"Roarke, did an oak tree craw up your flank overnight?" Rainbow asked. "I mean, a bigger oak tree than usual?"
"If this is about my not being present at the feast that the Durandanans threw earlier, then you need not worry. Much like Floydien, I am not the most adept at social functions."
"Yeah... but the thing is—you've been trying lately. Trying superhard."
"Then perhaps I needed a rest," Roarke said.
"You don't like these pegasi, do you?"
"I did not say that."
"Well, I can kinda read it in your actions."
Roarke sighed, then glanced at Rainbow. "I do not hate them."
"That's not helping."
"Odd. I figured that in my case it said a lot."
"Look, Roarke, I know these guys may appear freaky on the surface..."
"That certainly goes without saying."
"And, like Josho, you probably figure that we should be high-tailing it to Val Roa instead of sticking around here..."
"Once again, you are adept at stating the obvious."
"Look!" Rainbow frowned. "We're staying here." She then gazed softly at the mare. "Just for a little while, okay? I have every reason to believe that these ponies—like—are long distant cousins of ancient Equestrians."
"Kissing cousins, from what I've seen."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
Rainbow blinked. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Look, I can't just ditch these ponies now that I know that they're here... now that I've seen what appears to be so many obvious connections. Tomorrow, I'm flying with Sivrem's company to the Central Tower. I hope to learn all I can from the Gray Feathers about this 'Valkyrie' and 'Gold Lights' business."
"And if you find out everything that you've hypothesized..." Roarke turned finally to stare at Rainbow Dash. "What then? Do you plan to adopt the entire civlization?"
"Er..."
"They can't all fit on the Jury, Rainbow."
"H-huh?"
"And even if you had the notion to escort them all around the plane so that they'd end up arriving in western Equestria years from now, they couldn't be expected to survive the trip across the Grand Choke. By Searo's womb—you can't even be expected to survive such a trip."
"I... that..." Rainbow shook her confused head. "I-I don't have such a notion!" Her voice cracked. "What the heck's gotten into your head as of late?!"
"A very good question we should all be asking ourselves." Roarke fiddled with a few metal instruments. "Isn't our business in Val Roa the one matter of prime importance?"
"It's pretty high on my list, yeah..."
"But not the top anymore?"
"Roarke, I want to believe really hard that I'm on this journey for a reason. A harmonic reason. It seems like no small coincidence that we've stumbled upon this crater full of pegasi who worship sunlight, and here I've got a sword that can let me talk to the patron Alicorn of the Sun. Commander Hurricane traveled far from Equestria, and—aside from saving the world from the threat of Stratopolis' black heart—it looks like she may have made even more of an impact. If I can do something to bridge the gap between the past and the present, then that's not a chance that I would wish to ignore."
"And does this involve me any?"
"What?" Rainbow blinked. "No. I mean... wh-why should it?"
"Hmmmm..." Roarke continued examining her tools. "Then why are you even rambling to me about it?"
"I... I..." Rainbow shook her head, then groaned. "I don't get you sometimes." She turned tail, stomped out, and closed the door loudly behind.
Roarke said nothing. Only after a minute or two had passed did she bother to glance towards the doorframe with dull lenses. She sighed out her nostrils and continued tinkering on her tools.
The next morning, Rainbow Dash reclined on the hull of the Noble Jury. Stifling a yawn, she smiled wearily at the sliver of dawnlight peaking over the eastern mists.
"So, it might take a day... it might take several... but I aim to get to the bottom of this, Your Highness. But, if you ask me, I think the truth is pretty obvious. These are the descendants of Commander Hurricane's company. How they broke off from the rest of the expedition and somehow managed to arrive here? Well, that's what I aim to find out."
"This is amazing, Rainbow Dash," Celestia's voice said. "This is absolutely amazing! For the first time since the tragedy caused by Discord, I find myself at a loss of words."
"I'm pretty freaked out myself, Princess." Rainbow smirked. "But in a good way."
"From the sound of things, you've been acting as an exemplary ambassador so far."
"I can't help it. I'm really digging this place. I mean... heh... I'm not all that big on how they spit foals out and share huge beds—if ya know what I mean—but everything else about them is super awesome. It's like... like..." She sighed through a warm grin into the morning light. "It's like being in Cloudsdale again."
"I can sense it in your voice, Rainbow Dash."
"Hmm? Sense what?"
"Happiness. And warmth."
Rainbow blinked. "Aren't I normally, though? I mean... like... I-I've got friends, y'know! The Noble Jury's got my back! They have for a while now!"
Princess Celestia was silent for a while. Then, at last, her voice wafted from the golden blade. "This is different, Rainbow Dash. I imagine you sense it too."
Rainbow bit her lip.
"Ponies—especially mortal ones—possess a unique resonance to their voice that changes throughout the various stages of their aging lives. I've always valued your tenacity, courage, and unfailing loyalty. But it goes without saying that a certain youthful vitality dwindled away once our dear friends had so tragically perished, and in front of you, no less."
"Hrmmm... yeah..."
"But hearing you now, and the exuberance with which you speak of these... remarkable Durandanans—it reminds me of the young pegasus whom I once had the honor to crown at the Best Young Fliers Competition."
Rainbow's ears folded. She glanced down at the jungle canopy and quiet wooden houses built within the branches.
"How are your friends handling this encounter?"
"Hmm? Oh! They're... uh... they're really digging it too. For the most part, that is."
"Oh?"
"Well, it goes without saying: I think everypony on board the Jury is happy to be in a village where nopony is trying to kill us. Heh. But, that being said, a few are... a bit squirmy."
"In what manner?"
"It's hard to say, Your Highness. I only hope that the crew doesn't think that I'm—y'know—being selfish."
"Selfish?"
"I wanna connect with these pegasi. And I bet you want to as well. So, as far as I'm concerned, I'm sticking around for their sake." Rainbow gulped. "But it could just as easily be the other way around."
"If visiting these ponies is a blessing unto you, then I do not see why you must feel guilty, Rainbow Dash. If you want my advice—then I say embrace this occasion. Your heart can certainly use the merriment."
"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded. Her lips slowly curved. "Yeah, okay."
Winged figures appeared along he horizon.
"Whoops." Rainbow kicked off the hull and hovered above the Jury. "Looks like things are about to kick off."
"I do hope you got enough sleep overnight. It is rather early."
"Heh. Some things are just impossible, Your Highness." Rainbow fidgeted in mid-air. "Uhm... I-I'm going to leave the sword with the Jury."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I mean... if you wanna talk to any of best buds, then be my guest. But for right now... well..." Rainbow sighed. "Let's just say that the next time I speak with you may be a moment when we'll have to make a pretty bold decision. I'm not about to rush anything, ya feel me?"
"I understand you perfectly, Rainbow. Just remember: do not underestimate yourself. You have grown into a fine and courageous adventurer. I've no doubt that you have what it takes to be Equestria's finest ambassador of harmony."
Rainbow smirked, her eyes on Sivrem's company as they flew closer. "Now if that don't friggin' beat all..." And she sheathed the Sword of Solstice.
Props yawned, stumbling up the steps of the Noble Jury's rear stairwell. She paused to rub her puffy blue eyes with a forelimb, then ascended the rest of the way. Before exiting onto the top deck, her knee bumped into a saddlebag. Props heard a rattling noise. Glancing down, she saw the Sword of Solstice.
Fidgeting, she squinted out onto the top deck. Sunlight glinted off the metal surfaces of the ship. Amidst the bright sheen, the dark shadow of a tall stallion stood out.
"I'm guessing Dashie went for her trip, huh?" Props murmured, stumbling tiredly outside. The mists of morning tickled her ears and eyelashes. "Hmmmff... so quiet. So much for early birds, eh? Heehee..."
Silence.
She blinked curiously. "Zaidy Waidy? Why so silent? Did you finally gag on your tongue?"
"Shhhh..." Zaid held a hoof up without looking at her. "Did you hear that?"
She stood stock-still, mute.
The stallion took a long, meditative breath. "That's the sound of ponies not-killing-us." He turned to grin at her. "It's a pretty swell sound, ain't it?"
Props smiled back.
In the early dawn, dark shadows from the eastern Sky Stabs swept their way across the jungle foliage. All was mist and greenery as far as the eye could see.
Then, out of the dead silence, several dark bodies surged, diving low over the treetops. With leathery wings spread, the leatherbacks made a living train towards some unseen destination towards the north end of the crater.
They were not alone In spiraling formations, over two dozen pegasi glided alongside the mammoth beasts. They zig-zagged in and out of the creatures' path, tightening around their descent and gradually guiding them in a curved, northeasterly path.
The pegasi whooped and whistled at each other, urging ponies to fill in empty spots and keep the pressure on the flocking creatures. Every now and then, a leatherback would break away from the rest of the herd, only for two to four pegasi to expectly swoop down and force them back into the line.
Sivrem smiled proudly at the task. He glanced to his right, signaling to Jagold and Smythe. The pegasi saluted back, dove to the head of the pack, and steered the largest of the leatherbacks towards a distant ravine. Glancing to his left, Sivrem smirked at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash grinned, her lungs inhaling and exhaling with excitement. The mare's eyes darted all over the scene, attempting to take everything in about the speed operation. Her ears flicked as she heard falconesqe shriekings. She turned to see a pair of ponies diving down low and throwing their shoulders into the leathery wings of creatures, urging them back into the line.
"If you're worried about them, don't be!" Sivrem shouted over the whipping winds. Both pegasi took a sharp curve, following the herd through misty winds. "They can take a beating! Especially the bulls!" He chuckled to himself. "In fact, they get awfully bored without us giving them a good shove or two!"
"Must be tough when all you can do is fly around and provide milk."
"The average leatherback lives for about seven years!" Sivrem said. "The way I see it, we give them plenty of exercise and excitement for the space of their lives!"
"I'll say. Does it do anything for the milk?"
"Gets sweeter with each generation!" Sivrem said, smiling. "There's nothing in the Gray Feathers' scrolls about these creatures. I guess some things the Valkyrie couldn't anticipate..."
"Right..."
"But we apply her courage and tenacity in everything that we do!" Sivrem paused to gestured at a few fellow fliers, who dove low to maintain the herd's formation as they approached the final stretch before a deep ravine. "I've no doubt that she'd be proud of the symbiosis we've maintained here!"
"Where I come from, pegasi are all about living with nature." Rainbow smirked. "Seems like you've got things pretty well-handled here."
"Yes, well, the only challenge is getting it all done before First Light," Sivrem said. "I like to start the day out awesomely!"
"Heeheehee!" Rainbow grinned wide. "Who doesn't?"
Jagold chirped from below. Both ponies glanced down.
The blonde mare exclaimed, "The lead bull's feisty today, First-Born! We can't stop him from heading to the treetops!"
"Right..." Sivrem cracked the joints in his neck. "Looks like a job for my feathers."
"Pfffft..." Rainbow smirked. "Can't be that hard."
"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try it yourself, Outsider," Sivrem said.
"Hah! That would be a laugh—" Rainbow's words cut off.
Sivrem was smirking at her.
She blinked, then grinned from ear to ear. With one salute, she backflipped, plummeted, then flapped her wings hard. With a clap of thunder, she rocketed ahead of the group, almost throwing several ponies off balance.
"Whoah!" Smythe gawked, his eyes wide. "What a gust!"
"She'll run him into the greens!" Jagold's voice cracked.
"Shhhh..." Sivrem flew between the two ponies, squinting ahead. "No she won't..."
Rainbow Dash accelerated, approaching the rear of the headmost leatherback. The enormous specimen was descending rapidly towards the treetops below. As the air distorted between him and the approaching pegasus, the creature let loose a bass moan and thrashed its dangling tail.
Rainbow held her breath, dodging frantically up and down to avoid the appendage. After the last tail swipe, she corkscrewed around it, accelerated, and flew upside-down until she was belly-to-belly with the large cartiligenous specimen. Wings spread, she pressed her fuzzy chest to the creature's, then shoved her body upwards with several heavy wing flaps.
"Nnnnngh... grnnnngh..." Rainbow seethed and sweated. Despite her eager efforts, the two of them kept descending. "Come on, you freaky space cow... fly up!" Teeth grinding, she glanced left and right at the thing's rippling wings. Then, with a bright gasp, Rainbow stumbled upon a wicked idea. Clinging to the beast with one forelimb, she held on and bent her wings around, tickling its belly with the tips of her feathers.
The creature shook all over, emitting a sporadic bass undulation. Its wings went slack, giving Rainbow the opportunity that she needed. With several feathery flaps, she pushed the two of them skyward, successfully lifting the bull back into the air, and aiming it towards the ravine ahead.
"Hah!" Smythe exclaimed. "I don't believe it!"
Jagold giggled. "Now why didn't I think of that before?"
Sivrem smirked. "Because she's one of a kind, that's why..."
Rainbow flipped out from the line of creatures and glided northeasterly. She glanced back, smirked, and saluted.
Sivrem saluted back. He shrieked into the air, and the group whistled back, gliding closer together as they urged the creatures down into the gaping canyon below.
"A walk?" Pilate asked.
"Yeah," Ebon said with a nod. He glanced aside at Eagle Eye on the Noble Jury's top deck, then back at the couple. "We figured there's no harm in it. Might as well do something relaxing while Rainbow Dash is away."
"Well, so long as the Durandanans don't mind," Bellesmith said with a shrug. She glanced at the treehouses beyond the ship's edge. Pegasi darted swiftly from branch to branch, going about their daily business. "They don't exactly seem too territorial."
Eagle Eye fought the urge to giggle. "We'll be sure not to spread wing and fly into their airspace."
"You know what I mean," Belle said, rolling her eyes. "We'd join you, but I promised Pilate that I'd put the finishing touches on O.A.S.I.S."
"Just as well, beloved." Pilate leaned in to nuzzle her. "I can't very well appreciate the sights if... well... I can't appreciate the sights."
"Trust me, Pilate. It will be well worth it."
"Well, I wish you luck with that," Eagle Eye said with a wave. He and Ebon wandered towards the hangar. "It'd be a shame not to take advantage of the serenity while we have it."
"Point well made, EE."
As the two stallions made their way to the hangar, Roarke trotted out of the stairwell, tailed closely by Kera.
"Awwwwwwwwwww..." Kera pouted. "Please, Roarke? I never get to see you use your awesome tech!"
"And there's a reason for that," Roarke droned, making a bee-line for the couple on deck. "Pilate. Bellesmith." She came to a stop, her lenses retracting. "I have come to inform you that I intend to take the Lounge Sphere for a flight. My destination is the southern wall of the crater, where I intend to test my latest weapon upgrades in secret." She cocked her head aside. "Fear not. I asked a pair of First-Born Durandanans yesterday afternoon as well as at dawn today, and they both gave me their blessing."
Pilate tilted his ears towards Belle and the mare stared at the zebra.
Roarke's brow furrowed. "Is... something amiss?"
"Er... n-no! Not at all, Roarke!" Belle said with a nervous smile.
"That's very good of you to be so considerate," Pilate said. "Not just to us, but to the Durandanans... erm..."
Roarke stared at them.
Belle cleared her throat. "We're just... not used to you consulting us first."
"Indeed. Normally you just go and do your own thing without asking."
"Well, I am not doing that now," Roarke grunted.
"Right! We c-can see that!" Belle smiled nervously and waved her hoof. "Go on! You... er... have our blessing!"
"Much appreciated." Roarke nodded her head. "I anticipate being back by sundown." She turned tail and trotted back towards the stairwell.
"Hmmmph..." Kera squatted on her haunches, folding her forelimbs. "She won't let me come with her."
"Well, she's going to be testing dangerous technology, Kera," Pilate said.
"Yeah, but Roarke's a super-super professional!" Kera said. "And it's not like I haven't been front row to dangerous stuff before and come out safe!"
"It's not that, Kera..." Belle sighed, smiling helplessly. "She's just... well... she's Roarke. If this was Rainbow Dash or Josho, then you'd know it'd be fine. But you just gotta let the mare be herself..."
At this point, Roarke had frozen at the stairwell, fidgeting. She took a deep breath, her ears folding. At last, she blurted, "You're going to need to pack a lunch."
Kera glanced over, emerald eyes blinking. "Huh?"
Roarke swiveled about, deadpan. "We will be gone for the better extent of the day. You will inevitably become hungry."
Kera's eyes twitched. Her jaw dropped. "You mean... you m-mean you'll let me go with you?!"
Roarke grumbled, "I do not cater to redundant statements. Make a decision—swiftly—before I change my mind."
"Oooh! Oooh!" Kera hopped up, grinning at the Ledomaritan couple. "Belle! Pilate! Can I? Can I? It'll be so sweet!"
"Uhhhhh..." Pilate fidgeted.
"I assure you..." Roarke shuffled towards the two, her lenses locked on them. "She will be absolutely safe. That is my sworn promise." Her jaw clenched. "Even safer than she would be on board the Noble Jury."
Pilate tilted his head Belle's way.
Belle exhaled slowly through a calm smile. "And I have no doubt of that, Roarke." She leaned down and nuzzled Kera. "Go on ahead, darling."
"Woohooo!" Kera scampered past Roarke and glided down the stairwell. "I'll make us both sandwiches! Dragonfly sandwiches!"
"And whatever Roarke tells you to do—follow her every word!" Belle sighed, then smiled in Roarke's direction. "This means a lot to her, Roarke. I don't know how to thank you."
"Just keep doing what you're doing." Roarke turned and trotted towards the stairwell.
"So, I've been thinking..." Ebon stammered, hopping down from a ledge of earth and landing on an overturned tree trunk. "Maybe when the pegasi landed in this part of the world, whatever brought them here somehow caused the crater, destroying a whole bunch of the vegetation and animals and stuff." He continued descending down the craggy landscape, following Eagle Eye at a distance through the woods. "So, they felt bad about it. And—according to Rainbow, at least, pegasi are really keen on maintaining balance in nature. So they probably took it upon themselves to stay in this crater and re-plant all of the damaged trees and nurture the animal species back to health." He grunted as he landed on grassy earth and trotted up behind Eagle Eye. "I mean, I know it's a bit of a stretch to believe that all of this lush jungle is the product of winged ponies doing horticulture, but given enough centuries or—heck—millennia—"
"Shhhhhh!" Eagle insisted.
Ebon jerked to a stop, blinking. "What... what is it?"
Eagle pointed forward. "Just look."
Ebon plopped down beside Eagle, squinting curiously. Soon, his breath left him.
Before them stretched a shallow pond beneath a tiny trickling waterfall. Above was a cliff overhanging with vines and loose tree roots. As the two stallions sat and stared, a flight of butterflies fluttered across the scene, their brilliant wings reflected by the immaculate surface of the pond.
"I... I-I've never seen them so large!" Ebon stammered.
Eagle smiled. "I don't think they have anything that preys on them. So they can get as big as they want in this crater."
"Huh?"
"Crimson used to explain it to me. With less predators, you have bigger herbivores and pollinators. It's probably the same reason those so-called 'leatherbacks' are so huge and—"
Ebon giggled.
Eagle blinked curiously at him.
"You don't have to explain it," Ebon said, straightening his mane. "It's beautiful enough as it is to look at." He exhaled. "Thanks..."
"Uh..." Eagle smiled awkwardly. "You're welcome?" He shrugged. "Not like I put the butterflies here."
"Heeheehee..."
Eagle raised an eyebrow. "Now what?"
"Oh, you know how to put butterflies somewhere, alright."
Eagle chuckled. "You sure are goofy when you're far from your kitchen."
"Yeah. But I like goofy."
"No complaints here."
Silence.
Eagle felt a gentle weight against his shoulder. He said nothing, stealthily bringing a forelimb up and wrapping it around Ebon's side as the stallion leaned into him. A few breaths later, and Eagle leaned his cheek against the top of Ebon's mane as both gazed serenely into the placid scene.
Rainbow Dash gazed down into the ravine from where she hovered. She watched as leatherbacks flew from one end to the other, bellowing and groaning to one another. Their booming voices echoed loudly across the steep walls of the enormous canyon, making the branches of the flanking trees flounce.
Rainbow smirked. As the leatherbacks she was watching retreated into deep tunnels and caverns, she spun towards the group of Durandanans.
"Wow. Who'd a thunk it? This place totally reminds me of Ghastly Gorge back at—" She stopped in mid-sentence, blinking wide.
Everypony was bowing down low, facing southeast with wings outstretched. They both murmured as one: "The Towers Rise."
Rainbow blinked. She heard the loud clanking of wood and metal issuing over the treetops. Glancing up, she saw a different tower than the day previous. This one was thicker, bulkier, and had a stone frame at its summit. Just like the tower she had seen before, its topmost piece was hollowed out with windows facing east and west.
Nevertheless, as it lifted, Rainbow Dash swiftly dropped to the floor. She glanced mutely at her companions, ultimately copying their body postures with a stretching-forth of her wings.
Not long after, a beam of golden light flew into the tower, then arched overhead. Rainbow looked up from her position to see the laser piercing the mists and shooting its way due west where—she figured—it would inevitably pierce the hollow of the tower she and the Jurists had seen the previous day.
Just then, Sivrem and the rest of the ponies around Rainbow Dash chanted in a low voice: "We swear to secure and to protect the Gold Lights forever. So promise the foals of the Valkyrie forever. From First-Born to Last."
"Erm..." Rainbow gulped. "'From First-Born to Last.'" She smiled nervously.
Everyone stood up, catching their collective breaths.
Sivrem turned around in time to see Rainbow Dash standing up along with them. He raised an eyebrow. "So, you feel as though you're one of us now? To quote the sacred oath?"
"Er... s-sorry..." Rainbow bit her lip. "Guess I-I just felt like fitting in..."
"Nothing to be sorry about," Jerrio said as he suddenly touched down alongside Kitsune, Rayvinne, and a smattering of other pegasi. "Everypony dwells in the shadow of the Valkyrie's wings. We're pleased that you would honor us."
"Jerrio, you handsome scamp." Sivrem smirked. "Were you flying as the towers rose?"
"Please." Jerrio rolled his eyes. "Don't think as if you can catch me being direspectful." He gestured. "We were a few trees away. We heard your flock chanting too, so we gusted this way."
"You actually herded all of the leathernecks into the ravine already?" Kirstune exclaimed, trotting up to the edge of the ravine and staring down in surprise. "That's amazing..."
"Well, we had help!" Smythe exclaimed, smiling wide. "Rainbow showed some true gust!"
"She's no gull!" Jagold said, giggling.
"Mmmmm..." Rayvinne trotted right by Rainbow, brushing her side with a few of her feathers. "I could have told you that."
"Eh heh heh heh..." Rainbow blushed and took a firm step away from Rayvine. "Ahem." She slicked her mane back and said, "I just contributed what I could. Can't let you guys do all the work."
"You sure you're not one of us?" Jagold remarked, blinking. "I can't help but think that all of this 'outsider' stuff is made up."
"Yes, because Rainbow was able to make the floating Valkyrie Silver appear out of nowhere," Jerrio groaned.
"Now now, let's not get too feathered over what Rainbow and her companions have plainly explained to us," Kitsune said. "She's our guest, and if she wants to learn more about us, what better a way than to be one of us?"
Jagold giggled and did a little cheer, backflipping through the air.
"Uhhh..." Rainbow raised her hoof. "Question."
"What's up?" Smythe glanced her way.
Rainbow pointed at the enormous tower stretching southeast of them. "Why'd you face that while giving the oath today?" She pivoted west. "Yesterday, you faced that tower."
"It's simple," Kitsune said with a smile. "It's whichever tower is closest to us when they rise."
"Ah. So, that is—"
"Central D," Rayvinne said. She smirked. "Where our smartest and most dedicated Gray Feathers live."
"Also the best place to be the opposite of smart and dedicated..." Smythe nudged Jerrio's side. "Am I right?"
Jerrio sighed through a weak smile. "We are most certainly not taking Rainbow Dash to the feather lounge. She's here to fill her mind, not her other organs."
"Maybe you're not taking her, Mr. 'I-can't-wait-to-be-a-boring-and-stale-Gray-Feather.' But what about the rest of us who aren't First-Born?"
While the pegasi around the group collectively laughed, Rainbow spoke up: "Not that it... doesn't sound awesome." She cleared her throat. "I gotta take Jerrio's side on this one. I really wanna know more about what makes you guys tick."
"Like what?" Kitsune asked, staring straight at Rainbow.
Rainbow blinked. She fidgeted. "Oh. Well. Uhm..." She gestured up at the beam of light shooting out of the enormous tower. "What do you suppose is so big about the Light from Above?"
Jerrio did a double-take. He opened his mouth—
"Allow me, friend..." Sivrem said, stepping forward with a smirk. "Your passion will only make your muzzle explode."
"Nnnnngh..." Jerrio folded his forelimbs and frowned. Pegasi chuckled.
"The Sun is what gives Durandana its strength," Sivrem explained, staring firmly at Rainbow Dash as he trotted around her. "It renews life and accelerates the motion of the elements. Without it, we couldn't exist. The Valkyrie knew this... which is why she dedicated her life to serving the Sun's glory."
"Yeah... fancy that..." Rainbow nodded, fumbling with her mane as she said, "You ever think that—just maybe—there was a reason why she was so big on the Sun?"
"Why wouldn't she be?" Rayvinne asked. "She saw its glory up close in the days before the foundation of Durandana."
"Yeah, but... like..." Rainbow bit her lip, finally blurting, "What if she knew the pony who was responsible for the Sun?"
Smythe and Jagold blinked stupidly at one another.
"Would you mind repeating that?" Kitsune said with a confused expression.
"She doesn't have to," Jerrio droned. "I heard her the first time." Clearing his throat, the First-Born trotted until he could look at Rainbow dead-on. "The Light From Above is a force and nothing else. The same as the Gold Lights. The scrolls maintain this."
"Yes, but—"
"Being an outsider from Durandana, it can be understood that you wouldn't grasp this," Jerrio continued. "But that's fine. When you visit the Gray Feathers of Central, they'll most certainly be able and willing to educate you on the full history of the Valkyrie and her sworn devotion to the Sun."
"Oh... t-totally..." Rainbow sat back with folded ears. "She certainly sounds like a loyal p-pony..."
"Our Mother couldn't have been anything less," Jerrio said, smiling. "The Sun enriched her life, and the essence of that blessing has made its way through the fiber of our very being. We all owe it to her for preserving the glory until the end of her days."
"Plus, it's pretty snazzy being alive." Jagold rolled over Smythe's body and leaned in to nuzzle his neck. "Mmmmm—isn't that right, Smythe?"
"Heheheheh... your damn right."
"Enough talk!" Sivrem extended his wings. "We've got some time to kill before the hour we told the elders that we would arrive in Central!" He grinned devilishly. "Perhaps we can show Rainbow here what we Durandanans are truly made of—"
"Oh, no. Please." Rainbow nervously shook her hooves. "Really. I'm not that kind of—"
"Who thinks that they can outrace me?!" Sivrem said, hovering upwards.
"Oh... whew..." Rainbow exhaled, smiling dumbly. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."
"Hah! Please, Sivrem," Kitsune said, chuckling as she hovered up alongside him. "Don't even pretend to be unfair to an outsider. She's still got the feathers of a gull. You can clearly see that."
Rainbow looked up. Slowly, wickedly, she grinned. Woosh! In a blink, she was hovering in front of Sivrem and Kitsune, making the pegasi below gasp. "You're just afraid." She winked. "Afraid to have your tail whooped by an ordinary outsider."
"Rainbow, you're the only outsider," Kitsune said. "Nothing ordinary about it."
"Or extraordinary!" Sivrem said, smirking around at the crowd below. "I bet she couldn't outfly a mosquito!" Several ponies laughed.
"You wanna put your ego where your eggshells are?" Rainbow said.
Several ponies whooped and chirped.
Sivrem turned, gawking at the mare. "You're certainly not asking me to go easy on you..."
"Then how about I agree not to be easy on you?" Rainbow smirked. "I'll race you. But not just you—you and all the buddies you choose!"
"Hmmm..." Sivrem tapped his chin, smirking. "Sounds doable. How about from Central to West D and back?"
"Pfffft. What am I, a foal?" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I flew with you guys this morning to get the full Durandanan treatment." She folded her forelimbs, smirking. "So... show me what you've got."
Jerrio glanced up at Sivrem.
Sivrem squinted, then cracked a grin. "Very well." His voice rose as he hovered above the crowd. "I think Rainbow Dash here could use the traditional Rite of Gusting!"
The air filled with bird-like shrieks and whistles.
"You may wish to reconsider this, outsider," Sivrem said, clearing his throat. "The Raked Ravine is a treacherous pass even for the most expert ponies who live here and—"
"Pffft! Stop being such a pigeon, Sivrem!" Kitsune shot past him and skidded to a stop at the edge of the ravine. Her nostrils flared as she dragged a hooff across the stone ground and smirked into the gaping canyon. "She wants to prove herself, huh? Well, we can prove ourselves as well! I say bring it on!"
"Heehee!" Jagold giggled and flew down by the First-Born's side. "Yeah! Let's show her how real Durandanans gust!"
"Count me in," Smythe said, landing down beside the other two. "You want in on this, Rayvinne?"
"Pffft. I have better ways of killing myself." The pegasus turned and smiled coyly at Rainbow. "So, going to put your wings where your muzzle is?"
"Way ahead of you, sister." Rainbow Dash touched down, cracking her joints and stretching her feathers. "But, I have to warn you guys: being in mid-flight is the worst possible position for being blown away. You're liable to slam into something."
"What do you take us for?" Smythe scoffed. "Idiots who can't home?!"
Jerrio glanced at him. "I know that laugh quite well."
"Bet you do." Sivrem slapped the other First-Born's shoulder, then touched down beside Rainbow and the other three pegasi. "I can see that our pride is on the line. It'd be a crime for me to sit this one out."
"How did I know this was going to happen?" Jerrio said, rolling his eyes.
"Rules are simple, gull," Kitsune said, eyes glaring at Rainbow. "You don't fly above the canyon walls. First pony to make it to the northeast edge of the ravine—in one piece, mind you—wins the race."
"It's you against all of us!" Smythe chirped. "Think you can handle it?"
Rainbow stifled a yawn. "Nnnngh... nyup... sorry, what was that? I was too busy not being intimidated."
Several pegasi giggled and chuckled.
"It's... uhm..." Jagold fidgeted slightly. "It's not exactly an empty ravine. There are lots of stuff in the way at places. Maybe you'd like to know just what you'll be—"
Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "I like surprises." She smirked. "I think I can manage."
"Whew..." Rayvinne smirked at the others stretching and flexing around Rainbow. "She's just asking to be feathered, isn't she?"
"You're certainly the best judge of that, eh, Rayvinne?" Kitsune said, and the others around her laughed.
Rayvinne blushed furiously and backtrotted.
Rainbow blinked at that—but turned upon feeling the touch of Sivrem's hoof on her shoulder.
"Ready to gust?"
Rainbow opened her mouth, hesitated, and smirked. "Tell you what." She grinned wide with glistening teeth. "You guys get a head start."
All of the ponies did double-takes.
"Excuse me?" Smythe stammered.
"You heard me," Rainbow said, smiling. "You guys start first. I'll give you... mmm..." She tapped her chin. "... twenty seconds! Yeah!"
"Why twenty sec—?"
"And then I'll start flying myself."
"Wow..." Smythe shook his head, grinning stupidly. "You just want to lose, don't you?"
"Actually, buddy, I'm trying to make it even for your guys."
"Pffffft..." Kitsune rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Fine. Whatever." She smirked at Sivrem. "Let's get this over with, boss guy. I'll be the one to carry her—limp and crying—to the Gray Feathers."
"Heh..." Sivrem cracked the joints in his neck. "This should be most interesting. Jerrio—?"
"Yes yes yes..." Jerrio groaned, trotting over to the ravine's edge with a weathered smile. "Whenever you need a time-keeper, you always come to me."
"Give up the gull moans and count already."
"Rainbow, step back and give them room," Jerrio said, gesturing with his hoof. "You decided to do this, after all."
"Hey..." Rainbow shrugged and backtrotted from the cliff. "I'm not about to argue with myself."
Jerrio cleared his throat. While everypony watched, he stood facing the line of fliers, his hoof raised. "On your mark. Get set." His ears twitched, and he shouted: "Go!" His hoof fell.
Sivrem, Kitsune, Smythe, and Jagold soared deep into the canyon. The sheer force of their combined wing-flaps sent several ponies flailing backwards in the air. They plunged deep into the ravine, one or two of them flipping. The air echoed with whoops and warrioresque shrieks.
When the thunder ended, Rainbow heard Jerrio's voice through the ringing in her ears: "Four one thousand... five one thousand... six one thousand..."
"You know, you're good," Rayvinne said, forcing Rainbow to glance over. "But you can't possibly be that good."
"What do you mean, girl?"
"Sivrem's the best there is," Rayvinne said. "And Kitsune's nothing to shake a stick at either."
"Hmmm..." Rainbow smiled, her eyes thin. "You just watch carefully." Her eyes wandered to the group as a whole. "And promise not to get too freaked out."
"Freaked out?" Rayvinne blinked. "By what?"
Rainbow saluted, turning her flank to the ravine. "You'll know when you see it. Heh."
"...eighteen one thousand... nineteen one thousand... twenty!" Jerrio signaled.
"Zoop." Rainbow backflipped, plunged, and rocketed eastward through the canyon. She accelerated, her mighty wings producing a vaporous burst of air that rocketed up and out of the canyon, sending leaves and pebbles of earth flying sky high.
With a cool hiss, the Lounge sphere lowered to the forest floor. Above it, the towering clifface of the crater's southern wall loomed as a virtual wall of craggy granite. As soon as the doors to the black aircraft slid open, Kera came bounding out. She galloped giddily across the soil and grass, leaping in jubilant intervals.
"Woohooo! We get to blow stuff up! We get to blow stuff up!"
"Not so fast, Kera," Roarke uttered as she stepped out of the vehicle, dragging a metal crate full of tools and explosives along with her. "Don't go where I can't see you."
"I can't help it!" She leapt with a burst of filly magic and skidded to a stop in front of Roarke. Roarke calmly shoved a hoof forward and stopped the foal before she could slam into the crate of items. "Explosions are always so fun!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down in place. "It means loud noises and fire and stuff!"
"This is simply a test of my latest weaponry," Roarke said. "You will remain behind me at all times and do exactly as I tell you."
"And then we'll have wicked big explosions, huh?" Kera grinned wide.
"I am testing my weaponry's efficiency," the metal mare droned. "Not their explosiveness."
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww..." Kera fwumped down to the earth, propping a pouting chin atop two forelimbs. "But exploding stuff is fun!"
"But not entirely efficient." Roarke stood Kera up and trotted past her, setting up the first of many miniature turrets. "Not only have I made a promise to Bellesmith and Pilate to keep you safe, but I have committed myself to not upsetting the environment of this crater. That's why I've chosen to use this rock wall along the southern edge of Durandana for our testing."
"Huh...?"
"It's simple, child," Roarke muttered, joining metal pieces together. "The nature in this crater is extremely fragile, making for a delicate balance. The last thing anypony should do is impulsively throw herself into it with no regard for the consequences."
"Wooooo-hoooooooooooooooo!" Rainbow hollered, grinning against the beating winds as she plummeted into the treacherous canyon. She spun a few final times, then angled her wings so that they sliced viciously against the wind.
Below her—as her vision settled on an even plane—Rainbow spotted the tell-tail flicker of Smythe's green tail and mane. Not wasting any time, she hurled herself past the craggy rock walls blurring on either side of her and threaded her way even deeper into the belly of the ravine. She was within spitting distance of the stallion.
"Hey! Smythe!" She sputtered, giving his flank a light swat. "Look behind you!"
"Huh?!" The pegasus gasped and threw a look over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"Nothing! That's what!" Rainbow saluted with her tongue sticking out. "You're last, buckwiser!"
"H-Huh?!" Smythe glanced at her and nearly stalled in mid-air. He convulsed from muzzle to tail. "Valkyrie's shout! How in the heck did you do that?!"
"Watch and find out!" Rainbow took a deep breath. "Better yet, you can feel it!" With a grunt, she flapped her wings hard, propelling herself violently forward while simultaneously sending a huge gust behind.
"Whoah!" Smythe wobbled left and right, but gathered his wits. "Hah... hah hah hah! No way!" He grinned crazily at her.
Rainbow didn't linger around. As a bend came in the ravine, she fearlessly threw herself past a narrow cleft of rocks, her gaze locked on the bright flash of Jagold's gold mane ahead. Rather than coast along the shallow air currents, she flipped her body several times, planting her hooves on one rock wall and then the opposite one, kicking off so that her figure was launched jaggedly through the tight corner and into the natural straightaway beyond.
Here, the ravine walls were line with a porous array of caverns and tunnel entrances. Various leatherbacks rested inside these coves, several of the winged creatures sunbathing as the dawnlight wafted into the dusty ravine. As Rainbow rocketed furiously into view with a vibrant flash of color, several of the calves quivered and bleated.
This caught Jagold's attention. Blinking, she glanced behind her. "Eeeep!" She flinched, her whole body curling away from the incoming pegasus missile.
"Ha!" Rainbow curled around the mare, grasped her hooves with hers, and spun the two of them around in a silly mid-air dance. "Tag! You're fourth!." With a wink, Rainbow flapped her wings and flew ahead, facing backwards.
Jagold hovered in place, jaw dropped. "How... how did she—?"
"No excuse to be slower!" Smythe yelped as she soared past.
"Hey! No fair!" Jagold stammered, beating her wings frantically to regain her momentum as she chased the stallion. "She said I was fourth!"
Up ahead, the ravine narrowed again, morphing into a long thin trench with uneven walls that closed in and drew away at random intervals. Sivrem and Kitsune had this particular stretch memorized, and they flitted up and down and left and right with perfect timing to avoid grinding to a stop against the rocky surfaces.
Rainbow Dash squinted at the scenario up ahead. She smirked to herself. Without declerating, she held her breath and dipped low, threading her body through a long horizontal slit wedged into the base of the trench. Twiling upside down, she flattened her body and outstretched her wings. Rainbow faced straight up, and her eyes bore witness to a kaleidoscope of sun flashes as she narrowly traversed the lower end of the geological corridor.
While Sivrem and Kitsune were bobbing and weaving to make their way through the passage, Rainbow simply glided it out. Thus, she had more than caught up with them by the time the ravine widened once more into the final stretch.
"'Sup, dudes?" Rainbow ascended with an innocent smile.
Kitsune glanced breathlessly aside. Her bright amber eyes bulged. "Eggshells! How did you catch up so fast?"
"I flew!" Rainbow saluted. "What did you do?"
"No way..." Kitsune shook her head, gawking at Sivrem in mid-flight. "She cheated. She has to have!"
"Heh heh heh heh..." Sivrem only smirked and beat his wings harder. "Let's see her out-cheat this!" He soared ahead so hard that it knocked Kitsune off-balance.
"Sivremmmm!" she protested.
"You might wanna hang onto something," Rainbow said, then held her breath.
"Huh? What for—?" Rainbow thundered forward in a blinking, causing Kitsune to reel off course. The mare ultimately teetered to the side and grasped onto an exposed tree root hanging off the canyon walls. Dangling, Kitsune stared breathlessly at the two pegasi at the front of the race, streaking forward to the ravine's end.
"Wooohooo!" Jagold and Smythe soared past the First-Born. "Yaaaay! Fourth again! Just like she said!"
"H-hey!" Kitsune protested. With a smirk, she kicked off the canyon wall and glided after the rest.
Up ahead, Rainbow Dash and Sivrem were neck and neck. The wind tore at their eyes, turned their manes into multi-colored comet streaks. A shrill whistling noise echoed between them, and a few feathers flew loose from their outstretched wings with each passing second.
"You're good, outsider..." Sivrem stammered and panted. "But you can't beat a First Born like me..."
"That's just the thing..." Rainbow hissed through gritting teeth. "Beating you is a bonus. What I really wanna do is leave you and your friends' breathless."
"Huh?" He jerked his gaze towards her.
She looked aside, smiling tightly against the winds. "Just watch. And promise not to freak out too much."
"Hah! What are you planning now, Rainbow?"
"Figured I'd live up to my name." She winked. "Here's to the Valkyrie, pal." There was a flicker to her eyes, a mixture of blood and gold. Her pendant strobed—almost as if it was pulling her ahead. A cone of compressed air formed around her body, turning her figure into a sky-splitting projectile.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh buck..." Sivrem didn't realize he was slowing down until he spotted the canyon walls on either side of him oozing to a stand-still.
Breathless, the other three racers came up from behind.
"Sivrem! First-Born!" Smythe huffed and puffed. "I don't ge it! Why did you throw the race—?"
KAPOWWWWWWW!
All four cringed, crowding together as they were bathed in a prismatic aura of reflective colors.
"Oh..." Jagold murmured, clinging to Kitsune. "Th-that's why..."
"Leaping leatherbacks..." Smythe stammered, his eyes trailing up as he followed the perfect ring of spectral energy fountaining outward from Rainbow's ascending figure. "So much color..."
"Sivrem..." Kitsune gulped dryly. "Have you seen anything like it?"
Sivrem was dumbfounded. Slowly, a large grin on his face grew larger... and even larger. He let out a loud whoop, accompanied by Jagold and Smythe as the ponies cheered and hollered at the mesmerizing display.
Along the edges of the ravine, several pegasi gasped. Several more dashed behind trees and rocks, trembling.
Jerrio hovered in place, his neck nearly snapping as he jerked his head up to follow the colorful streak Rainbow's body was making through the sky. The mists parted overhead, giving way to a colorful glow that dwindled in the air like an aurora.
As the seconds dripped harmlessly by, the pegasi came back out of hiding and clapped their hooves against the earthen floor.
"Wooohoo!"
"Wow!"
"Did you see that?!"
"She brings Lights of her very own!"
"Not even Valkyrie Silver can make that!"
"That's so awesome!"
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!"
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!"
"That's... that's..." Rayvinne exhaled, fanning herself with a wing of golden feathers. She smirked and turned towards Jerrio. "That's some nifty stuff, eh J?"
A plume of orange flame erupted against the southern rock wall. Pebbles and clumps of dirt littered the forest floor following the culmination of Roarke's latest volley. As the smoke cleared, a jagged scar could be seen blanketing the stone face where the metal mare's miniature missile had landed.
"Hmmm..." Roarke tapped her chin in thought. Her lenses retracted as she murmured, "A little too combustible. Not enough force upon the initial impact." She adjusted the launcher from where it sat on a firmly placed tripod. "It may please you to know, little child, that I need to buffer the explosive factor in this particular case..."
Kera was too busy glancing over her shoulder. "Uhhhh..."
"Is something the matter?" Roarke asked without looking. "I presumed that last rocket was less than satisfactory to your liking as well...?"
"I coulda sworn I heard an explosion from behind us that last time," the filly murmured.
"It's simply the echo of the discharge issuing from the jungle's trees behind us," Roarke muttered. "Nothing more."
Kera raised an eyebrow, her eyes still scanning the patch of misty sky above. "You sure about that, Roarkie? I could have sworn it was slightly above us too."
"Your young imagination is playing tricks on you," Roarke droned. "And don't call me Roarkie."
"Meh." Kera shrugged, then smirked towards the scarred rock wall. "When are we gonna test your weapons on squirrels or something?"
"Nnnnngh... I swear, is everypony in this crater after the traumatization of the elk...?"
At last, the colors of the sonic rainboom dissipated over the canyon. The bulk of the pegasi in Jerrio's group were still whooping with cheers.
From a long distance, Kitsune smirked, then turned towards Sivrem and the others in her group. "Well..." She wiped her sweaty brow. "The rest of the flock certainly liked it."
"Why wouldn't they?!" Jagold grinned wide. "That was so cool!"
"I wonder if they saw that from Central," Smythe remarked.
"Heh... you kidding?" Kitsune smirked, slicking back her multi-colored bangs. "They probably felt it."
"Hmmmm..." Sivrem's squinting eyes scanned the lengths of the ravine. "Has anypony seen where Rainbow Dash landed?"
"No, why?" Smythe blinked. "I figure she'd be joining us again anytime now."
"Yeah. Heehee!" Jagold giggled. "Probably just to brag in our faces!" She turned towards the others. "Face it, guys! That outsider totally owned the whole bunch of us! I don't know whether to hide my face or applaud her!"
"Can we do both?" Smythe remarked, summoning a chuckle from Kitsune.
Sivrem's body jerked in mid-hover.
Kitsune glanced at him. "Wh-what is it, Sivrem?"
Without saying a word, he dove straight down towards a patch of stone overlooking the northern end of the Raked Ravine. Smythe and Jagold craned their necks to see what he was flying to. A gasp emanated between both of them, and they darted after the First-Born. Slightly worried, Kitsune eventually followed suit.
Rainbow Dash was curled up in a little blue ball against a cluster of rocks. Her teeth gnashed as she clutched her head between two forelimbs. Shivers ran through her body, culminating in a continous twitch to her tail hairs.
Sivrem landed first. With a blanching expression, he crouched low and spoke hoarsely, "Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!"
"Nnngh... guh..." Rainbow put on a crooked smile, wincing. "H-hey there, big guy." She gulped. "This isn't as bad as it looks... tr-trust me..."
"Rainbow!" Jagold landed beside her, instantly clutching the pegasus' shoulders and nuzzling her head. "Oh, by Valkyrie's Shout! You destroyed yourself!"
"Please I-I'll be fine... just..."
"I-I don't think you should be touching her," Smythe stammered.
"What's going on?!" Kitsune breathlessly uttered as she landed.
Jagold looked up, misty-eyed. "Somepony go get help! Jerrio, the Gray Feathers, anyone from Central—"
"I'm fine... really..." Rainbow weakly raised a numb hoof. Kitsune grasped it as she and Rainbow made eye contact. "It... it'll pass." She gulped. "Trust me. Just... d-don't freak out anymore, okay?"
"Was it the stunt you just pulled?" Sivrem asked, his eyes narrowing. "Did that take the life out of you?"
"Nah..." Rainbow's winced but nevertheless smiled. "I-I can pull off th-the sonic rainboom in my sleep..."
"Sonic Rainboom?" Smythe made a face.
"A trick that very f-few ponies where I come from know how to do," Rainbow stammered. "And by few, I mean 'none but me.'" She took a shuddering breath. "No, this?" She gulped. "This is something else. It's... it's n-normal. Trust me."
Jagold sniffled and nuzzled the mare closer. "Is there anything we can do?"
"No. I mean..." Rainbow shuddered. "Just... j-just gotta let it pass..." She smiled assuredly. "It doesn't last long. I'll be okay. I promise."
Sivrem simply stared at her in thought.
"Well, you could have fooled us, Rainbow," Smythe said with a smile. "The way you completely owned the four of us back there? You may as well be the healthiest mare in the world."
"I'd like to think so," Rainbow said, her shivers starting to fade. "Y'know, I may have ridden in on a floating barge of Valkyrie Silver, but I'm no spring chicken."
"Huh?"
"Bird pun. Figured you guys would get it." Rainbow shook, struggled, and eventually sat up. "I'm... used to flying anywhere and everywhere I go..." She nodded the last few waves of dizziness out of her skull. "I'm talking hundreds if not thousands of miles. So... y'know... I can pull off a trick or two that most of you likely haven't seen." She smiled, taking a deep breath. "All there is to it. I h-hope you don't mind me showing off."
"And yet a pony capable of so much majesty is still susceptible to the frailties of life," Sivrem said.
"Er..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted. "I guess?"
"You're feeling better now?" Kitsune asked, reaching a hoof forward.
Rainbow took it and stood up. "Yeah. Pretty much." Jagold helped her keep steady. "Though... uhm... I-I wouldn't mind if you guys helped me with something."
"Name it," Smythe said.
Rainbow nodded towards the thick group of ponies still cheering from across the ravine. "Don't let 'em know that I collapsed just now?" She smiled nervously. "I... kinda sorta have a reputation to maintain."
Kitsune glanced at Sivrem. Both First-Borns smiled. "I don't think that'll be a problem..."
"And then she just flew up, grabbed my hooves, and spun the two of us around like we were dancing!" Jagold chirped, doing miniature flips in the air as the whole group flew over the treetops. "What nonchalance! What style!" Jagold giggled and nudged Rayvinne. "I'm tellin' you, Ray! She's one of a kind!"
"Mmmhmmmm..." Rayvine smirked and flipped her mane. "She certainly is."
Rainbow saw the mare's glance from the corner of her eyes. She glanced back with a nervous smile.
"What kills me is that she not only beat all of us, but she was able to throw in such a wicked cool stunt at the end!" Smythe exclaimed. "I mean—we're good fliers! But how come we can't pull something like that off?"
"Because we have two primary functions in the skies of Durandana," Jerrio said, flying firmly through the group. "To herd and to forage. So long as we are able to home, then it doesn't matter what way we choose to gust."
"Yeah... heheh..." Rainbow Dash smirked aside. "But it doesn't hurt to get your kicks in every now and then, r-right?"
Jerrio merely flew on ahead without looking at her. "I shall check to make sure the elders are ready, Sivrem."
"Sure thing, Jerrio," the leader replied.
Rainbow Dash blinked, staring after him. "He's... uh..." She cleared her throat. "...kinda stiff."
"Oh, we all know. Trust me." Sivrem smirked. "But, for what it's worth, I've rarely seen him as enthusiastic as he's been these past twenty-four hours."
"Maybe... uhm..." Rainbow fidgeted, glancing up at the glowing tower as they flew ever closer. "Maybe I shouldn't have pulled that stunt back there."
"Huh?" Sivrem squinted at her. "Why?"
"It's been a long time since I had an opportunity to show off like that," Rainbow said, then sighed. "Especially with pegasi."
"You don't encounter other winged ponies along your travels?"
"No. Believe it or not. You're a rare breed."
"Don't you mean we are a rare breed?"
Rainbow blinked at that. A giggle popped out of her mouth, followed by another one. She rolled over in the air and flew backwards, slicking her mane back as she smiled at him. "Yeah... yeah, I guess so."
Sivrem smiled calmly at her. "Frankly, I would have been let down if you didn't give us your all. What's life if not an excuse to exhibit the Valkyrie's spirit strongly?"
"Well, thanks for... y'know..." Rainbow glanced at the various ponies flocking with them. "...still counting me as 'strong.'"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Well..." Rainbow glanced down at the jungle canopy.
Sivrem tilted his head aside in mid-flight. "Your condition. Does it have a pattern?"
"Huh?"
"I figured you suffered your spell on account of the effort it took to produce that 'Sonic Rainbooming.'"
"Oh. Uhm..." Rainbow bit the edge of her muzzle. "It's hard to say. It comes and goes. But... erm... it's been having a lot more commonly lately."
"Has that been the prevailing pattern in your life?"
"Oh, I wasn't born with this."
"How so?"
"I... I-I don't want to get into it all that much..."
Sivrem nodded. "I apologize for prying."
"No, it's okay. I just figured that I would have saved it for explaining to the Gray Feathers, seeing as you're all waiting to have them explain stuff to me."
"Heh. Fair enough."
"But, long story short, I... g-got infected by something."
Sivrem raised an eyebrow.
Rainbow stammered, "It's n-not contagious! It's more like a corruption. Something... er... zapped me, and I've been suffering from it ever since." She grasped the pendant around her neck. "You see this thing?"
"Hard not to," Sivrem said with a smile. "It suits you."
"Heh. Yes, well... it's very important to me and my culture for a ton of reasons. But, in my specific case, it's a gift from the Princesses of my kingdom." She gulped. "Not only that, but it's the one thing keeping me alive."
"I... did not know that," Sivrem said, cocking his head aside. "Do you always keep the source of your vulnerability around your neck?"
"I-I've never really seen it as a crutch, to be honest." She rubbed the ruby lightning bolt, summoning a slight glow. Nearby pegasi cooed at the illumination. "It's actually kind of cool, and..." Rainbow sighed gently. "It reminds me of a lot of ponies who were very close to me."
"Then it is a blessing that you still have it on you," Sivrem said with a smile.
"Does... does it freak you out?" Rainbow asked, fidgeting. "Not just this, but the sonic rainboom I just did and the ship I flew in on and the fact that I'm an outsider and—"
"Whoah whoah whoah..." The stallion chuckled. "Slow down! I can see you're concerned for us, Rainbow Dash, and that's quite noble. But we wouldn't be loyal children of the Valkyrie if we succumbed so easily to fear and uncertainty..." He winked. "Now, would we?"
Rainbow gave a nervous smile. "Heheh... g-guess you have a point."
"Some of that which you've shown us is awe inspiring. As for myself... heh... I'm still trying to wrap my head around flying Valkyrie Silver. As for the lights and the sonic rainboom and the stories from beyond the greens... well... I find them all remarkable. I have no doubt the elders will as well. After all, Gray Feathers are simply First-Borns who have given up their days of flight for maintaining the scrolls. I think they'll be ecstatic to talk to you. You'll bring back the spark of youth to their minds."
"Now there's a thought."
"I presume you're concerned about my friend Jerrio."
Rainbow spun around, facing forward as they flew along. "Erm... sh-should I be?"
"He's a stallion who takes things a little too seriously. I swear, he was born a Gray-Feather." Sivrem smirked as the last thing he said summoned a chuckle from Smythe and Jagold nearby. "Personally, I don't understand how anypony could be anything but mesmerized by your presence. I've always assumed there was a world beyond the greens—including ponies like Durandanans. After all, the Valkyrie had to have come from somewhere, and I bet even once I have my hooves on the legendary scrolls and the words contained therein, I'll still have questions to ask."
"I... I-I don't know if I can provide the sort of answers you might be seeking."
"You can't?" Sivrem cocked his head aside. "Or you shouldn't?"
Rainbow Dash winced heavily. At last she murmured, "I really don't know what to say..."
"Nor should you be troubled about it," Sivrem said. He reached over and patted Rainbow's shoulder. "Speak to the Gray Feathers, Rainbow Dash. They'll be as open to your wisdom as you'll be to theirs." He smiled and gestured ahead. "Behold... the Middle Tower in all its glory..."
Rainbow looked up... and up and up and up. Her jaw hung agape.
Built along the vertical stalk of Durandana's central tower was a complex array of circular platforms, all interconnected by a double-helix of winding wooden lattices. Atop these platforms, several large buildings had been fitted together out of elaborately carved wooden slats. Many of the structures were three stories tall—consuming as much height as the base of the next upper platform could allow. At first, Rainbow couldn't guess how the structures of Central D were capable of withstanding the mechanical extension of the tower itself, until she realized that its upper vertical pylons simply collapsed inside one another, occupying the hollow of the lower base when there was no sunlight up above to illuminate.
As it was First Light, the summit of the Central Tower was in full glow. Rainbow watched as a fixed point of light beamed in from a distance—presumably originating in the reflectors of the eastmost tower—and found its mark somewhere in the center of a geometrically rigid structure. A shiny "cube" with jagged edges topped off the tower like a piece of glittery chalk at the end of a standing pool cue. Unlike the rest of the tower, this structure was noticeably metallic, with immaculate gold surfaces carrying a wet sheen from morning dew and mist. There were several porous holes in the walls of this structure—including an east and west opening to allow for the magnified light to shine through the very heart of the crater. Aside from that, the entire summit resonated with a platinum glow, illuminating the base of low-hanging clouds that drifted lazily overhead.
It was a difficult task to make a solid observation of this spectacle, for pegasi were constantly flying to and fro between the tower and Rainbow Dash, and the wandering flocks were growing even denser as the seconds rolled by. One by one, the thick crowds of ponies took notice of the stranger with a ruby pendant hanging around her neck. Collectively, Durandanans both young and old hovered about to stare at the Sivrem's group and the striking mare who was accompanying them.
Rainbow heard just as much commotion below her as above. She glanced down to see that there were numerous buildings built all along the forest floor bordering the centeral spire. Many of them were veritable towers in and of themselves, scaling as high as seven stories tall. Structures were built into trees, erected on platforms, and even affixed to the base of the main spire itself. The community of Central D was a virtual city, and it easily dwarfed the tiny cluster of treehouses that made up West D. This made for innumerable platforms from which pegasi took off and landed, making their way to the furthest reaches of the crater.
Below all of the buildings—including the Central Tower itself—Rainbow could have sworn she saw a floor of solid wood. She squinted, trying to see beyond the branches and foliage and pegasi feathers, but she couldn't tell if it was a courtyard or something else entirely.
By then, a terribly thick crowd had gathered. Pegasi murmured to one another, their eyes all locked on Rainbow Dash. From a distance, Rainbow could hear occasional murmurs of "outsider" and "ponies with no wings" and "flying Valkyrie silver."
"I guess I've been expected," Rainbow muttered.
Kitsune nodded as she flew alongside her and Sivrem. "We're a talkative bunch here in Durandana." She smirked aside at her. "We just couldn't help ourselves."
"I almost wish we could have brought some of your buddies along!" Jagold exclaimed. "No one here has seen a pony without feathers before!"
"Er..." Rainbow smiled nervously. "Maybe it's best that we take things one wing flap at a time..."
"There's no reason to be nervous, Rainbow," Sivrem said with a smile.
"It's not me I'm worried about."
Jerrio spoke up. "There." He pointed at the second lowest platform of the center tower. "The elders await, Sivrem."
"Calm down, Jerrio," Sivrem said with a chuckle. He flapped his wings and dove forward. "I've got this."
Kitsune gestured for Rainbow to hold back, so she did. Craning her neck, Rainbow watched as Sivrem touched down on the platform. It was so low to the forest floor that the canopy shadowed most of the wooden surface, making for a cool and relaxing shade. The longer Rainbow stared, she could make out several clusters of equine shapes lounging about in the sanctuary that the platform afforded.
"Is that where all the old ponies live?" Rainbow asked.
"Mmmm... mostly the First-Borns who become Gray Feathers," Kitsune explained.
"All ponies are welcome to congregate there," Jerrio chimed in. "But the Inner Sanctum belongs to the Gray Feathers. Only they can open the door to the Gold Lights."
"Uh huh..." Rainbow nodded. "Where exactly are the 'Gold Lights?'"
Jerrio fidgeted in midair.
"Oh... oops?" Rainbow smiled awkwardly. "Am I not supposed to know where they are?"
"That... is up to the Gray Feathers to share," Jerrio quietly remarked.
"What he said," Kitsune said with a smile.
"Kitsune! Jerrio!" A pony called out from up above. The wind whistled. Rainbow looked up to see a middle-aged stallion gliding down, only to be followed closely by no less than three dozen fillies and colts. "Is it true? Do you have the outsider with you?"
"The one and only, Ice!" Kitsune said with a smile. "Giving the little gulls their morning exercise!"
"You bet!" Ice said with a smirk. "But I couldn't resist swinging by just once!" He squinted from where he glided in a slowly descending circle, accompanied by fast-feathered foals. "Whoah... her mane really is the real deal! Just like they said!"
"Uhhh..." Rainbow nodded. "I'm afraid so."
"Whoah!" A colt gasped in a scratchy voice. "She talks!"
"Of course she talks!" A filly raspberried at him. "She's a pony, isn't she?"
"From beyond the greens?!" Another colt made a face. "Could she be a frost ghost?"
Rainbow squinted. "Frost... ghost...?"
"Yeah, well, can a frost ghost make colored lights appear out of thin air?!" Smythe said with a grin.
"What?!"
"No way!"
"She can make lights?!"
"Sure can!" Rayvinne winked at the circling youngsters. "With explosions like thunder too!"
"Cooooool!"
"That's so awesome!"
"I wanna see!"
Jerrio sighed. "Now's not exactly a good time, Ice..."
"Oh, lemme guess..." The stallion smirked in mid-glide. "Off to feather the Gray Feathers, eh?"
"Sivrem's chatting with the elders right now," Kitsune said.
"By Valkyrie's shout! How exciting!"
"Ice, can we stay and watch the outsider make lights?"
"Pleeeeeeease?"
"Oh, do let them stay!" Jagold snatched two random foals with her forelimbs and nuzzled them closely. "Heeeeeeee! Life can never be too adorable!"
"Gaah! Bleack!"
"She smells like spider webs!"
"Heheh... I get the point..." Ice winked and let loose a shrill whistle. "Alright, my little sparrows!" He motioned towards the youngsters and ascended high above the treetops. "We have fruit to gather for lunch, then it's lesson time! Quickly, now! Let's gust!"
"Alright, Ice!"
"Coming!"
"Bye, Miss Outsider!"
"I really like your mane!"
The fillies and colts took off after the stallion. The group of foals glided along the northern horizon, disappearing beyond the mist.
Jagold blinked, hovering alone. "Awwwwwwwwwww..." She sighed, ears drooping. Smythe drifted over with a chuckle and patted her shoulder.
"Ice is so good with those gulls," Rayvinne remarked. "I only wish my wingteacher was half as pleasant as that stallion when I was little."
"You should take up flocking with the youngsters yourself, Ray," Kitsune said. "It'd put your talents to good use."
"Pffft. Eggshells to that!" Rayvinne smirked. "I'd kiss my social life good bye."
"Hah! As if you only ever settle for kissing."
"Wuh oh. Somepony's cruising for a wet tail wind!"
Both mares giggled.
"Shhh..." Jerrio pointed. "Sivrem's returning."
Rainbow Dash pivoted about in time to meet the stallion.
He hovered up, smiling. "They're ready to greet you." He looked past Rainbow. "Kit? Jerrio?"
The other two First-Borns drifted forward. Rayvinne, Smythe, and Jagold stayed behind, with the last one waving happily.
Rainbow waved back, gulped, and followed the other three towards the lower platform. As they entered the shade of the nearby jungle canopy, Rainbow's eyes refocused, and she saw dozens if not hundreds of equines gathered about on the wooden floor. There were crude chairs and benches, upon which the majority of the oldest ponies sat. At first, Rainbow presumed that they were sleeping. She soon realized that their lips were moving, murmuring words in quiet meditative breaths.
Her companions touched down, so she did as well. The closer she got to the ponies, she saw that they were all clad in plain gray tunics and gowns. To her surprise, a multitude of the "elders" weren't exactly elders at all, but simply a few years older than the likes of Kitsune and Sivrem. The truly senior equines didn't appear until she was led towards a building erected against the curved base of the tower itself. There, lanterns full of flittering lightning bugs cast a dim illumination across the wooden floor and ceiling.
A full line of ponies stood in wait. One stood out a few feet from the rest. She was a mare with a youthful complexion and a calm, wise smile. As Rainbow trotted up, so did she. Her mane was bleached white, save for the very tips of her long locks, which still possessed a faded fascimile of multi-colored dye.
"Greetings, Rainbow Dash, we have been waiting for you," the mare said. Her red eyes glowed in the lanternlight, adding warmth to her words. "Sivrem has told us so much. Welcome to Durandana."
"Uh... yeah. I've been made to feel totally welcome." Rainbow's eyes darted towards the other Gray Feathers. Most of their manes were entirely ghost-white. She glanced back at the pony who still possessed a hint of color. "Really, it's been pretty cool. I was kinda sorta afraid that maybe you all would be freaked out by my friends and I."
She chuckled richly. "An understandable concern. Trust me. Durandana is all about peace and harmony. It's something that the Valkyrie herself strove for. She was a warrior at heart, true, but also a pacifist in spirit, which is what has made her legacy so remarkable."
"Heh..." Rainbow nodded with a smile. "I totally feel you." She swallowed. "Uhm... how should I refer to you...?"
"Please, call me by my foalname." She pointed to herself. "I am Fawful, and I've been chosen by the rest of the Gray Feathers to speak on our behalf, and to teach you the ways of the Valkyrie."
"Oh... uhm..." Rainbow fidgeted. "Uh—"
"And..." She smiled, nodding her head. "I'm certain that you have much to teach me in turn."
"Well..." Rainbow scratched the back of her head, smiling. "I dunno about teaching, but I definitely have some stuff to share. I... uh..." She glanced around. "I have a buttload of questions about this place."
"And we certainly have many questions as well," Fawful said. "Your presence here is a miracle in and of itself. We never make contact with the realm beyond the greens."
"Yeah... heh..." Rainbow smirked. "I sorta got that part."
"Flying Valkyrie silver and ponies without wings?" Fawful chuckled. "Most remarkable indeed. And here I thought my years of excitement were over." A pause. She glanced aside at Sivrem, then back at Rainbow. "I heard that you have the ability to generate your own lights."
Rainbow glanced at her companions.
Sivrem said nothing. Jerrio bit his lip.
"With all due respect, elder..." Kitsune bowed as she said, "Rainbow Dash isn't entirely in the best of health. It would do her well to rest while conversing with the Gray Feathers."
"What?" Rainbow gawked at her strangely. "For real, I'm not—"
"I do not wish to be rude. If she needs rest, then we will most certainly provide it," Fawful said. She reached over and touched Kitsune's shoulders. "Thank you, Kitsune. You may go now."
Kitsune bowed again. As she, Sivrem, and Jerrio turned to fly off, she gave Rainbow a lasting smile, then was gone.
Rainbow sighed.
"Is something wrong, outsider?" Fawful remarked.
"I dunno..." Rainbow turned towards her with a weak smile. "I've travelled an awful lot, and I'm... just not used to ponies treating me so nicely."
"Is that so? How unfortunate," Fawful remarked. She led Rainbow towards the dimly lit building before them. "I would very much like to hear all about your journeys."
"I get the feeling you're gonna do just that," Rainbow said.
A chunk of rock flew into a hundred smoldering pebbles, rattling across the forest floor along the southern edge of the crater.
Roarke stood up straight from a nimble crouch. With a metallic hiss, a miniature missile launcher retracted back into a sheath that was attached to her shoulder. She flexed her forelimb, feeling the tug of the metal braces fitted neatly around her figure. "Hmmm... I can barely feel the temperature increase. I guess that confirms that the thermal layers are in working order."
"Heh... that was a pretty nice one, Roarkie!" Kera said from where she sat on a grassy mound of dirt at the forest's edge. She grinned, her horn glowing as she stared at the clearing smoke. "I especially like the way it went 'kapow!'"
"Yes. It tends to do that."
"You should make one that makes a lot of flame! Y'know... Phwoooomb! All bright and orange n'stuff!"
"That's not necessary," Roarke droned, her nostrils flaring. "My days of watching forests burn are... well behind me."
"You know, for a pony who deals with explosions so much, you really don't seem to be all that proud of them."
"It's not about pride, Kera," Roarke said, trotting back to her box of equipment. "If anything, it was all about getting the job done. Believe it or not, such tasks required more subtlety."
"Really?"
"Indeed. Several of my Searonese sisters were dependent on shock and awe alone, but most of those metal mares didn't live to see their own bounties turned in. Their weapons had the awful tendency for blowing up in their faces."
"Oh. Not cool."
"Indeed, not cool in the least," Roarke droned. "But it was to be expected. You have an entire culture devoid of mothers and fathers and you give the blood-thirsty daughters a hoofful of death machines and... well... the results aren't entirely surprising."
"Wow." Kera blinked, then smiled. "You must be super-lucky to have survived as long as you did."
"I almost didn't," Roarke said, pausing to stare blankly into the treeline. "I was taking jobs with higher and higher stakes each passing month. Imre did all she could to keep me alive, but it didn't matter. I had it in my head that I had to impress Pestiferous. At last, I had a huge Ledomaritan bounty that would have given me a fortune. There would have been several Franzington heads thrown in to boot. But... looking back..." Her words trailed off.
Kera gazed curiously at her.
Roarke sighed out her nostrils. "Well..." She muttered, "Looking back now, I realize that Pestiferous would very likely have betrayed me despite my professional diligence." She fiddled with the equipment in her container. "'Roarke Most Rare' was just a banal monicker. In the end, I didn't owe my luck to myself. I owed it to a mare simply for kicking my teeth in. She changed my life."
"Uh huh..." Kera stifled a yawn, twirling several pebbles magically above her head. "I bet it doesn't change the fact that you're pissed at her."
"Hmmm? Rainbow?"
"I mean—yeah! She beat you up, didn't she?"
"Kera, you're still a foal," Roarke droned. "I can't even pretend to explain to you the fine intricacies of—" She glanced up, and her lenses retracted. "...how long have you been doing that?"
"Hmmm?" Kera's eyes darted over. "Doing what?"
Roarke pointed. "The rocks. Floating them."
"Hmmm?" Kera looked back at the cyclonically twirling pebbles. "Oh, these?" She smirked. "I snatched them from the last explosion."
Roarke tilted her head aside. "You caught them in midair?"
"Yeah, sure." Kera shrugged. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not bored or anything." She pointed at Roarke's equipment. "It just takes you so long to load another missile, so I'm just passing the time." She kicked her legs playfully as she hummed to herself.
Roarke turned and looked at the pockmarked cliffface. She turned back towards Kera. Silence. She trotted away from the equipment case. "Kera... I'm thinking..."
"Huh?" Kera glanced up.
Roarke stood above her. "I think I've tested enough of my weapons for the time being." Her lenses pistoned outward. "How about you get some practice out of the way instead."
"Me? Practice?" Kera's eyes twitched. Her tattooed face grinned. "You mean I get to fire some rockets?"
"No."
"Awwwwwwwww..."
"What I mean is..." Roarke gestured towards the shattered boulders lying on the stone floor. "I would like to see you move some of these rocks with your magic. What do you think?"
"Meh. Please..." Kera rolled her green eyes. "I was saving Belle's and Phoenix's skin back in Blue Nova while you were busy crashing your ship into the ground. Good job with that, by the way. You know, according to Propsy, that mana vessel of yours looked just like a giant—"
"Hmmm. I understand." Roarke turned and trotted back to her container. "If you deem the task too taxing..."
Kera stood up straight, brow furrowed. "Is that supposed to be some sort of a challenge?"
Roarke glanced up briefly while shuffling through her equipment. "...Meh." She looked back at her things.
Kera fumed and fumed. "Yeah... well..." She glanced at the floating rocks, then shot them off like bullets into the trees. "I can make a rock spin into orbit!" She hopped down from the dirt mound and stomped her hooves. "See if I can't!"
Roarke glanced up with a bored expression. "Prove it."
"An entire city?!" Fawful exclaimed, breathless. She and Rainbow Dash stood on cushioned benches beneath an array of dimly-lit lanterns inside a wooden lounge. "Made out of Valkyrie Silver?"
"Floating buildings," Rainbow Dash said. "The whole city flew. And what you call Valkyrie Silver—well—it's really a bunch of granite and stone buildings older than I can even pretend to tell you."
Across the way, several old ponies with white manes glanced at one another, murmuring in awe before returning their gaze upon the ongoing conversation.
"And..." Fawful stroked her frayed bangs back, staring blankly into the shadows. "And while in Stratopolis, you were attacked by this matriarch named 'Axan' and her brood of fire-breathing children?"
"No no no..." Rainbow held her hooves up, chuckling slightly. "That was Silvadel. See, you're not letting me tell the stuff that I've seen in order." She smiled. "My friends and I survived our ordeal in Stratopolis only recently. Silvadel was nearly a year ago... well... for me it was. I've since flown through Ledomare and Xona and... and..." Rainbow blinked, squirmed in place, then shrugged. "Well, that's about it, I guess. Heh. But Silvadel and Darkstine and Emeraldine were all before that."
"And you claim to hail from... Emeraldine?"
Rainbow smiled. "Equestria."
"I-I'm sorry..." Fawful shuddered. "It's just... all so much to take in." Her red eyes narrowed. "To think that there's actually more than one kingdom outside of Durandana, beyond the greens!"
"Yeah, crazy, huh?" Rainbow smirked. "Now... hee hee hee... if you'd just let me tell it all in order—"
"Please forgive me..." Fawful chuckled warmly. "I-I suppose we're just keen to ask so many questions—"
An old stallion spoke up from another bench. "Are there ponies living in proximity to the basin?"
Fawful rolled her eyes and smiled, blushing.
Rainbow craned her neck to look at him. "What? You mean right outside the crater?"
"Crater?"
Rainbow gestured with her hooves. "This place—Durandana, as you call it—is basically one huge bowl of earth surrounded by a series of high mountains called the Sky Stabs and—"
The stallion and several other Gray Feathers stared at Rainbow blankly.
"... ... ..." Rainbow blinked. "Ahem." She slinked back in her seat. "Yeah, there are places right beyond the greens. One place is called Alafreo. It's a pretty swell community built on a bunch of bluffs overlooking the arctic wastes. Just imagine a bunch of metal platforms overlooking crashing surf and populated by a bunch of big sentient turtles. Really nice turtles, by the way. Boy were those guys really swell to hang with..."
"Turtles... as in shelled reptiles?" a wrinkled mare remarked.
"And they can think and talk?" another stallion stammered.
"Er... right..." Rainbow grinned. "Where I come from, there're dogs, dragons, sea serpents, griffons—all capable of talking, laughing, hugging, and farting up a storm. Whew! Boy, lemme tell you! And don't get me started on the foxes that my buddies Josho and Eagle Eye found in Aurum. Heh... talk about jobbers..."
"Dragons...?" A mare murmured. "Sea serpents?"
Another mare nodded. "These names are... odd." She squinted at Rainbow Dash from afar. "Do you mean to say that there are creatures who aren't the foals of the Valkyrie?"
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow fidgeted. "You guys are so big on birds, right?" She smirked and gestured. "You really expect yourselves to believe that the Valkyrie squirted out an albatross in her day and age? I mean, come on..."
"Animals are different, child."
"Ahem." Fawful cleared her throat and smiled. "Sivrem and his flock claim to have seen ponies without feathers on board Rainbow's flying Valkyrie Silver. The First-Borns Kitsune and Jerrio confirm this." She stared at the other elders. "Some ponies in Rainbow's group have horns sticking out of their head—one even has them branching out like tree limbs."
"The dudes with a single horn are called unicorns," Rainbow said. "And where I come from, they're just a race of ponies."
"A race?"
"Yeah." Rainbow nodded. "Just like earth ponies and pegasi."
"So... there are ponies who can't fly?"
"Oh, totally. Sad, isn't it?" Rainbow grinned. "But hey, we're all special in our own little ways. Unicorns can perform magic—er... what you may call 'the lights.'"
The Gray Feathers all murmured amidst one another.
"And earth ponies—well—aside from being boring as mud..." Rainbow rolled her eyes with a smirk. "They're actually really, really strong, not to mention freaky-good at raising crops and doing farmwork. Aaaaaand... uh... as for that one dude with the 'branching horns?' That's Floydien, our ship's pilot. He's an elk. As to why he can use magic... uhhh... I-I haven't actually figured it all out myself." Rainbow gulped. "I mean, y'know, I'm awesome and all... but I don't know the answers to everything. Sorry."
"It's quite alright, child." A mare smiled from across the room. "Your words are mystifying... but enlightening all the same."
"And, y'know... about our 'Valkyrie Silver,'" Rainbow said. "It's not really as crazy as you probably think. Sure, the Noble Jury looks freaky on the outside, but really all that keeps it up in the air is a combination of a bunch of different magically-powered technologies. But—to be honest—I find your big glowy tower thingies to be pretty snazzy as well. I mean—heck—I don't know how they work! But I'm sure there's a way!"
"They magnify the Light From Above," an elder said.
"Huh?"
Fawful smiled. "At the start of every day, the Light From Above appears over the eastern edge of the greens. The earth's summit there allows for a fixed point of luminescence to shine through at dawn. Ages ago, when the Durandanans inhabited this basin by the Valkyrie's blessing, we sought to harness the glow of the Light in hopes of better exalting its majesty."
"So we constructed the towers," a stallion said. "While also equipping them with sacred relics of the Gold Lights. We were able to broadcast the glow throughout the basin, but it required three towers to do."
Fawful continued. "We adjust their height and rotate them at regular intervals. By the grace of the Light's glory, we've relegated the glow to three magnified points in the day."
"First Light... Second Light... and Final Light," Rainbow murmured with a nod. "I get it. The Towers are just projecting sunlight as it passes over the basin throughout the course of a day." She smiled. "That's so cool..."
"We are blessed by its shine," Fawful said. "It is one of the many signs of the Valkyrie's glory still at work in this land, along with the life-giving heat from the Gold Lights."
"Uh huh." Rainbow leaned forward. "And where... are these Gold Lights."
Fawful's eyes darted towards the other elders.
They stared back.
Fawful focused on Rainbow once again, smiling. "One thing before another, Rainbow Dash. We know you wish to comprehend who and what we are, and we feel the same way about you. But... it is certainly challenging. A lot of what you say is hard to fathom."
"Yeah, okay..." Rainbow nodded. "No rush or anything..."
"I'm afraid it's not exclusively up to me to share with you the majesty of the Gold Lights. It is... very sacred to us." Fawful chuckled slightly. "It's an odd thing to even have to explain that fact to another pony. You see, we've never once had a reason to prepare for speaking with an outsider about this."
"Heh. I get it. It'd be like me trying to explain pizza or something."
Fawful gave Rainbow a blank expression.
"Erm..." Rainbow cleared her throat. "Did you... h-have more questions or something?"
"Well..." Fawful leaned back, smiling. "I would absolutely love to hear more about where you came from."
"What, you mean Equestria?"
"Please. If you wouldn't mind. I am most excited to know more of this... multi-faceted landscape."
"Well, you see, it's all really simple." Rainbow leaned forward. "It's a monarchy run by two matriarchs named—" Just then, she froze, her expression paling.
"What?" Fawful blinked, her eyes bright with concern. "Is something the matter, Rainbow?"
"Erm..." Rainbow shuddered with a crooked smile. "Maybe we should... uh... g-go for a stroll or a flight or something?"
The ponies exchanged curious glances, then stared collectively at her.
Rainbow gulped and said, "You may need some fresh air for some of the stuff I'm about to tell you..."
"Focus... focus..." Roarke paced around the petite mare before the southern clifface. Several tiny rocks levitated between them, all covered in a glittering translucence that matched the green aura emanating from the filly's horn. "Don't lose your grip. Not even for an instance."
"Heh... that's some tough talk," Kera said with a smirk. She licked her lips and caused the pebbles to spin around them both. "Coming from a not-unicorn such as yourself."
"And you expect Dr. Bellesmith to treat you any better?"
"Why don't you just call her 'Belle' at this point?"
"You're not concentrating."
"Pffft. Like it's making a difference!" Kera grinned. "I'm rocking these... rocks! Heehee!"
"You're too confident. Arrogance can prove to be your undoing. No need to turn this lesson into your veritable swan song."
"H-huh?"
Roarke stood above her. "I think I've tested enough of my weapons for the time being." Her lenses pistoned outward. "How about you get some practice out of the way instead."
FWOOSH.
Without warning, a dozen rockets launched from Roarke's suit and screamed towards Kera.
Kera yelped in surprise and instinctively lashed out with her telekinesis. The ensuing whip of energy lanced across the oncoming missiles, deflecting them over Roarke's stoic figure. Roarke didn't even flinch as they detonated across the cliff-face behind her with a deafening roar.
As the noise faded and the dust settled, Kera managed to recover enough from her shock to speak.
"H-Holy poopstains, Roarke!" Kera snarled angrily. "What the hay was that for?!"
A moment of silence passed with no answer, before several multi-pod rocket launchers extended from Roarke's sides with a loud whirring of gears. As they fell into place, Roarke responded with only one word:
"Practice."
And two dozen ribbons of multi-hued smoke trailed the next salvo of missiles as they arced their way inexorably towards the filly, roasting her alive.
"...Kera!"
"Kera? Kera!"
"Nnnngh—guh..." The filly's emerald eyes flashed open. "Huh?"
Before her, a heavy boulder five times the foal's size was floating in a field of green translucence. Roarke trotted into view, her eye-lenses narrowing on the child.
"You have to concentrate. Just what were you thinking about just now?" Roarke asked.
"Rrright..." Kera gritted her teeth as bulbs of sweat collected across her tattooed brow. "That this thing weighs a ton!"
"Do not pretend that this is out of your element." Roarke casually shoved the boulder with her hoof, causing the thing to twirl in the air, making Kera's levitation act all the more difficult. "From what Bellesmith has said, you've handled far more challenging spells while in hiding with both her and Phoenix."
"Yeah, well... grnngh... th-that was... a while ago," Kera's voice cracked. The boulder wobbled more in midair. "Couldn't we—I dunno—let me spin around some smaller rocks instead? My head hurts..."
"Kera, do you or do you not wish to improve your unicorn prowess?"
"I-I do! But—"
"Then you need to push yourself harder," Roarke said firmly. "You have what it takes to do ten times that which you're tackling right now. I have full confidence in this."
"I don't think I can—"
"The filly who warded off a flock of undead pegasi is inside you still," Roarke said. "You single-hoofedly saved the Noble Jury in a burst of righteous fury. Somewhere, that filly is waiting to show herself. Together, we are going to find her."
Kera trembled slightly. "I... I-I'm not sure that I want to... to..."
"Shhhhh..." Roarke stood over Kera. "Concentrate. This is child's play. You could shatter this mountainside if you truly wanted to."
Kera sighed. Closing her eyes, she tried relaxing her muscles. Slowly—with gradual strength—the boulder lifted higher and higher.
"Good... good... keep focusing, Kera..."
"How exactly do you do that?"
"Hmmm?" Eagle Eye tilted his head aside.
Ebon pointed at the severed blades of grass flying in complex, intersecting figure-eights before them. "How do you make them move in such whild yet beautiful patterns?"
"Oh... uhm..." Eagle Eye glanced down at his hooves. He was in the process of plucking more blades of grass from the ground and tossing them into the telekinetic field before them. With a smirk, he shrugged and nestled deeper into the large roots of a tree where he and Ebon were lying side by side. "The key is not to think about it so much."
"Oh yeah?"
"It's all about being in a relaxed state," Eagle said. The blades of grass orbited the two stallions' heads. "Not fretting too much, y'know?"
"I see..." Ebon sighed gently, leaning his head against the ex-mercenary's shoulder. He produced a tired smile. "And are you... relaxed right now?"
"If by 'relaxed' you mean 'happy,' then sure." Eagle smiled. He tilted his horn forward and "blasted" the levitating pieces of vegetation, sending them into a wild flight over the rippling pond just a few feet away. The tiny waterfall kept trickling into that end of the basin, causing a misty rainbow to appear in the noonday sunlight. "It's very tranquil here. Almost reminds me of—"
"Lemme guess..." Ebon smirked. "Foxtaur."
"A little bit, yeah." Eagle nodded. "But, all things considered, Foxtaur wasn't a place where I should have been even remotely relaxed."
"Why not?" Ebon asked. "You were safe from the eyes and ears of Queen Ledo. At least at first."
"Yes, but we were still AWOL soldiers, and despite how righteous we may or may not have been in our reasons to desert Ledomare, we were still wanted stallions, which kept us constantly just a sneeze away from being caught and executed."
"Yeesh. When you put it like that, it must have been unbearably stressful."
"And yet, it wasn't. For a few months there, everything was... as peaceful as could be," Eagle murmured. "I wasn't on the Xonan front, so I didn't have to deal with random orders to kill civillians. And I wasn't in Franzington, so I didn't have to deal with my family's cold distaste for who I was."
"I'm... very sorry that you had to deal with such terrible things, Eagle," Ebon said. "At no fault of your own."
Eagle shrugged. "I had to come to terms with a lot of major stuff in life, for sure, but I was still... y'know... overall happy." He turned towards Ebon. "In the end, it all comes down to who you choose to spend your time with. In Foxtaur, I had Phoenix and Zenith..." He gulped. "And Crimson. Sometimes they were pretty rough to handle, but..." He smiled calmly. "I had no doubt whatsoever that they cared for me... and for my well-being."
Ebon gazed towards the pond waters. "You must have been very happy with them." A lavender hoof tilted his face until he was gazing into Eagle's eyes.
"Not as happy as I am now," Eagle softly said.
Ebon bit his lip, his eyes glistening slightly. He leaned forward, nuzzling his head just beneath Eagle's chin. The unicorn wrapped a hoof around the stallion's shoulder and held him close. For the time being, Ebon's mane had a very pungent... very real scent to it. Eagle concentrated on it, and it steadied his lungs so that he didn't sob as he embraced the stallion dearly.
"And these Elements of Harmony..." A Gray Feather squinted Rainbow's way from where he hovered in mid-air. "...you were one of them?"
"Oh. Yes. Still am, I guess you could say," Rainbow said. She, Fawful, and a train of elders were slowly orbiting the lower stalk of the tower. Young pegasi zipped back and forth above and below them, curiously glancing at the group as they congregated around the fluttering outsider. "Together, the six of us embodied all that was snazzy and good about peace. It came with some pretty cool fireworks too... heh. More than once, we had to combine our powers to stop evil things from taking over the Kingdom of Equestria."
"Was there some sort of process by which the half-dozen of you were selected to possess these Elements?" another elder inquired. "It seems quite bold of Celestique and Elune to relinquish such power to ordinary citizens."
"Celestia and Luna."
"My apologies."
Rainbow giggled. "It's perfectly fine! And, no, there wasn't a big process, per se. In truth, I never thought all that much about it, but it's kinda like we were all destined to become bearers of the Elements. We found out almost by accident, and it only made sense once we perceived how we all gelled together as friends..."
"Upon the arrival of this 'Twilight Sparkle' to your life," Fawful said with a smile.
Rainbow exhaled, smiling faintly. "Yeah... it pretty m-much... all revolved around her." She gulped. "And she was Princess Celestia's well-trained student, so... there's that..."
"Sounds remarkable," a stallion said. "Instead of your First-Borns becoming elders, it seems as if you only relied on two."
"And these princesses formed a Matriarchy," a mare said. "Even more interesting. Tell me—did these elders have heirs?"
"Not... exactly..." Rainbow stammered. "I'm pretty sure they had every intention of ruling and governing Equestria for a long... long time..."
"Well, surely they had to pass the torch onto somepony else in the not too distant future," an elder remarked. "Nopony lives forever."
Rainbow fidgeted in midair.
Fawful cleared her throat. "This has been very... very informative," Fawful said. "However, seeing as Second Light has come and gone, and we've chosen to ignore the call to feast—might I suggest we take a break to compose ourselves? I'm certain Rainbow Dash would enjoy the respite as well."
"Oh... uhm... sure..."
"Very well, Fawful," a mare said, bowing in mid-air. "We shall reconvene later."
"You were right about the fresh air, child," a stallion said, floating by Rainbow Dash with a wrinkly smile. "It's served us well to meditate on your words, though I don't know why you would find them so troubling."
"Eheheh... hey..." Rainbow shrugged. "Wasn't sure how much of Equestrian business you could easily swallow..."
"Please, elders, enjoy your rest," Fawful said. "I'll make sure that Rainbow Dash is given all of the ammenities she deserves."
"Very well, Fawful." A few elders bowed, turned, and floated towards the lower platform below.
Rainbow took a deep breath. "You know, for a while there, I was a teensy bit intimidated. But they're all cool. Really. They're like a bunch of Sivrem's and Kitsune's only with their manes all dyed." Rainbow chuckled dryly. "And here I was expecting a room full of Jerrio's. Heheheh—"
"Rainbow, my little pony..." Fawful turned and calmly gazed at the mare. "I know you are hiding something."
Rainbow instantly clammed up.
But Fawful bore a gentle smile. "Please. Don't be afraid. It's more than obvious that you're anxious about opening up to the other elders, but you need not hide anything from me."
"Who's... h-hiding...?"
"When you speak of Equestria..." Fawful's red eyes narrowed. "When you speak of your elders—the Princesses—you are leaving something out... something you're terribly afraid to share for some reason."
Rainbow simply bit her lip.
"Heheh..." Fawful brushed her white bangs back. "If you must know, Rainbow, the true reason I was chosen to be your direct contact here in Central D is because I am one of the youngest of the Gray Feathers. I haven't lived so long in personal isolation and constant meditation—not like the others. So, in many respects, I truly am like a Sivrem or a Kitsune. The rest of the elders anticipated this—just as they anticipated that whatever you may have to share wtih me... the truth that you have to share with me could be quite eye-opening. Please, Rainbow, you needn't fear shocking me like the others."
Rainbow stared steadily at Fawful, gulping. Eventually she spoke in a dry, raspy voice, "It's not so much about shocking... but it's about re-inventing. Fawful... I..."
"Do you truly believe that you are here completely by accident?"
"Huh?"
"You with your flying silver and your natural-born mane colors that match the description of the Valkyrie to a T?"
Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words.
Fawful flew in closer, speaking in a softer tone that only the two of them could hear. "There is a very special reason for the Gray Feathers' existence. Our lives serve a purpose that none of the second, third, and fourth-borns partake in. We are protectors of the scrolls. But we don't preserve just the scrolls' sanctity... but we also preserve their secrets... secrets that could be very alarming to the ponies who have sworn their very lives to honoring the Valkyrie's legacy."
"What... k-kind of secrets?" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Truths that have mystified and perplexed us for generations," Fawful said. "So that many Gray Feathers have been forced to take their enigmas with them to their graves." She took a deep breath. "I am hoping... all of us are hoping that a pony like you might be a sign..."
"A sign of what?"
"Illumination."
Rainbow bit her lip. She glanced over her shoulders, then looked back at the mare. "Fawful, what if I was to tell you that... not only do I know who and what the Valkyrie was... but I also can tell you things you've never known about the Light From Above?"
Fawful merely gazed at her.
Rainbow sighed, face-hoofing. "Nnnngh... who am I even kidding? Nopony would believe me." She gulped. "I don't blame 'em."
"Hmmm..." Fawful smiled gently. "Then perhaps a test is in order." She twirled about and glided earthward. "Follow me."
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked, then trailed after her. "Where are we going?"
"To show you the Gold Lights," Fawful said.
Rainbow's eyes bulged. "Wh-what?! But... but I thought you guys said—"
"Rainbow, this is something that I was personally tasked with doing," Fawful said. "And if my assumption is correct, then this is a necessary step that we must take. Do not worry—it is all for the best." She glanced over her shoulder. "Besides, do not pretend that you are completely devoid of curiosity yourself."
"Heh... girl, you may not be an 'elder' but you've got the whole 'wisdom' schtick down pat." Rainbow nodded her head. "Light the way—er... you know what I mean."
Beneath the glowing beacon of Central D, beneath the mushroom-shaped platforms and buildings built along the wooden stalk, beneath even the treeline and rugged clefts of earth, there was a solid floor of wooden planks. They covered the surface of the earth that bordered the southwest edge of the tower. Down here, a quartet of pegasi stood at attention, their forelimbs girded with stone-carved javelins. Two were First-Borns and the other two were Gray Feathers. While they stood in a tight circle, facing opposite directions, they nevertheless engaged in casual conversation, even affording a chuckle or two among themselves.
When they heard hoofsteps approach, they were naturally calm about turning to observe who had arrived. Upon seeing Rainbow Dash at Fawful's side, however, they jumped with a start, their eyes widening in the dim shadows of the lowermost platform above.
"Rest easy," Fawful said, nodding her gray head. "We need access to the Lower Reaches."
The First-Borns exchanged nervous glances.
"Fawful... how is it that you mean 'we?'" one of the Gray Feathers asked.
"Is there a problem, Dressen?"
"It's just that..." The old stallion fidgeted, avoiding Rainbow's gaze. "She may appear First-Born, but... sh-she's an outsider, Fawful."
"The only outsider," one of the First-Borns nervously stammered, shivering slightly. "I mean, should we? Is... is th-this allowed?"
"I was charged with caring after Rainbow Dash during the extent of her stay here in Central D," Fawful said, smiling calmly. "The head elders trust my wisdom in this matter. In order to better understand each other, it's imperative that I let her see the Lower Reaches."
"Including..." The other First-Born bit his lip. "...the Gold Lights?"
"Shhhh..." The other elder, a mare, rested her hooves on both First-Borns. She stepped forward and bestowed Fawful an aged smiled. "It is true. You are responsible for Rainbow Dash, Fawful."
Rainbow Dash blinked at that.
The mare chuckled slightly. "Surprised? Your name has become well-spoken of around here. Everything I've heard about you has been exemplary."
The old mare turned towards the two young pegasi and let loose a chirping sound.
They twirled their polearms around, revealing hooks on the opposite ends. These, they latched onto tiny notches built into a square panel of the wooden floor. With grunts and heaving muscles, they swiveled the panel open on its hinges, revealing a stone-carved stairwell leading crookedly down into a deep, dark abyss.
Rainbow craned her neck, curiously.
"Thank you, Gren. Auburn." Fawful brushed past the two and trotted gracefully down the steps. "Rainbow...?"
"Er... right..." Rainbow trotted swiftly after her.
The elder stallion called out: "The group is still down there, meditating on Second Light."
"Understood, Dressen," Fawful said back. "We shan't disturb them."
As the two mares made their way down—Fawful trotting and Rainbow hovering—they heard the creek of the latched door shutting above. Darkness overcame them.
"Uhhh..." Rainbow fidgeted in midair. She gazed straight up at a ceiling comprised of countless slits of dim sunlight. "They're gonna let us back out... r-right?"
Fawful managed a raspy giggle. "But of course. We are merely visiting. I make trips down here daily. All Gray Feathers do."
"Uh... okay..." Rainbow gulped. "So... wh-what kind of a pit is this anyway?"
"You shall see," Fawful said. Suddenly, she sensed a ruby light behind her. She glanced over her shoulder.
Rainbow blushed, taking her hoof off her ruby pendant. "S-sorry. Force of habit."
"That's quite alright." Fawful continued descending the steps. "You must be used to entering dark caverns."
"Girl, don't you know it."
"Hmmm... amusing."
"What is?"
"Nopony has called me 'girl' in years."
"Awwww... Well that's a shame."
"I think otherwise. I'm honored to be a Gray Feather."
"Guess it's one heck of a retirement plan, huh?"
"Hmmm? Retirement plan?"
"Er... my bad. Equestrian humor." Rainbow squinted. "Jeez... for real, though. How do you walk so confidently down steep stone steps in the dark—"
Before Rainbow had even finished her sentence, the ground evened out. Fawful stepped confidently onto a polished granite straightaway. She smiled with bright teeth. "As I said... daily."
"Yeah, okay..." Rainbow nodded with a smirk as they both proceeded towards a dim light at the far end of the cavern. Her voice echoed against the high walls of the place. "Yeesh, this place is huge. Kind of a freaky location to build a tall wooden tower, huh?"
"I assure you, Central D has a firm foundation. We constructed ut here for a purpose. It was the first part of the basin where we Durandanans settled. Fitting that it would be nearly in the center, as you so perceive it."
"That seems... uhhh—"
"Fortuitous? We're inclined to agree."
"You know, ever since I came here, I haven't had a single one of you guys tell me straight just how you showed up here. And... ugh... please don't tell me that you remember your culture as having always lived here."
"Everything has a beginning, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said as they approached a tunnel flanked by lamps full of lightning bugs. Another set of descending steps—this time less steep—led down the winding stone passageway. Fawful slipped in first with undaunted grace. "That's one reason why I brought you down here. I feel that you have as much to teach us as we have to teach you."
Rainbow touched down, blinking. "Really?"
"Do you find that so hard to believe?"
"Honestly, yeah..." Rainbow trotted slowly after her, ducking wherever a flickering was hung in the crooked, sloping hallways. "I mean... I know stuff. Or at least I think I know stuff, but... I-I've been crazy-afraid of stepping on everypony's hooves."
"A reasonable concern," Fawful said, nodding. "But perhaps a bit too anxious."
"You really think so?"
"I'm a considerably young elder, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said. "I'm... still getting used to being a protector of the scrolls. My youth betrays me often, for I am ever so frequently pining for the days of flight and romance that carried me daily over the mists of this valley."
"And yet, the other elders believe that I am gifted with sharp perception," she said calmly. "That is the reason that they chose me to be a direct representative in communicating with you, or at least I like to think so."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow smirked. "And just what do you perceive about me?"
Fawful paused to turn and face her. "I sense that you are not here to sow strife or confusion. I believe that your courage and your sincerity are one and the same, and what you do and the way you do it is what defines you. If you thought that being here in Durandana would be a damaging thing, then I doubt you would have stuck around for as long as you have."
"Heh..." Rainbow brushed her bangs back a bit. "You sense all that, huh?"
"Mmmhmmm." Fawful smile. "Also, your eyes linger on the flanks of mares."
Rainbow bumped into a wall. "Gahhh—I... uhhhh.. th-that's not what I'm here f—!"
"Shhhh!" Fawful suddenly hissed.
Rainbow squatted, wincing. "None of the elders, though, I swear! Please, don't think that I'm some kind of a—"
"Relax," Fawful said, gesturing slowly forward. "We simply need to keep our voices low for this part of the Lower Reaches." She shuffled ahead, and it was then that Rainbow noticed equine shadows dancing against the walls. "They are meditating..."
"Who?" Rainbow blinked. Then, as she slinked ahead, her eyes grew less tense. "Ohhhh..."
The two mares threaded their way through a group of Gray-Feathers, all spread out and seated in various places. Some of them faced the walls of the stone compartments. Others huddled under flickering lamps. It didn't matter either way, because most of them had their eyes shut. All the while they chanted and murmured repetitive prayers, often rocking back and forth from where they were seated.
Rainbow glanced aside. Every now and then, she caught sight of a mare or stallion with an old dusty scroll spread open before them. Their wings were stretched forward, framing the edges of the parchment and holding the pages down as they read and read and re-read choice passages.
"The Valkyrie left us many words to focus on," Fawful murmured, snapping Rainbow back to the path they were trotting. "Some of them make sense. Then a lot of them don't. We pay close attention to every one of them, regardless, in faith that clarity awaits the good servants of the Light in the Windlessness to come."
"Windlessness?" Rainbow whispered back.
Fawful stole a glance over her shoulder. "The calm beyond death, of course."
"Er... of c-course..."
"Without wind—or even air—only the glory of the Valkyrie will keep us afloat, as it has allowed us to survive for so long in this basin." Fawful brushed a hoof across a stone pillar as she trotted forward. "After all, it helped Duranda's ponies survived in the Days of Dimness."
"Days of Dimness. Gotcha—" Rainbow did a double-take. "Wait." She winced, then galloped forward until she was even-neck with Fawful so she could whisper: "Duranda? Am I hearing that right?"
"Mmmhmmm..." Fawful turned to smile at the mare. "She was a brave and selfless soul, one of the few whom even the scrolls confirmed had witnessed the Valkyrie when she flew through the air. When Duranda awoke upon the greens, she had very few ponies to aid her. Many were sick and dying; so starved were they of the Light From Above. But Duranda's quick thinking and wisdom spared the foals of the Valkyrie from certain oblivion. She built a shelter here in the Lower Reaches—simply to survive. Little did they know that they would unlock the majesty of this place, for down in these depths is where they found the Gold Lights."
"Huh... then I guess this place was—"
"In honor of her indomitable spirit, we have since named our realm after her. She was a brave soul, harboring a courage that cost her her life far too soon. She may only have been a mere pony, but she exalted the Valkyrie with great vigor. We have all since learned from our sparrow years to follow her example, and it's not let us down in the least."
"Yeah. I can see that." Rainbow glanced aside as the two walked down the crooked stone floor. "Well, for what it's worth, looks like you guys have chosen the best sort of heroes to—" She froze in place, hooves scuffling.
Fawful trotted a few steps, stopped, and looked back. "Rainbow?" Her red eyes darted about, and her ears folded in concern. "Rainbow, is everything alright?"
Rainbow's eyes were twitching. She took a few steps forward and placed a hoof on the wall before her.
Three rings were etched into the stone. Even through the dust and soot, she could spot twelve segments on each of them.
"Urohringr..." Rainbow murmured.
Fawful's brow furrowed. "I..." She leaned forward. "What was that?"
Rainbow hovered backwards, taking in the full extent of the etching. She glanced down the wall, and immediately her heart skipped a beat. Hauntingly familiar images of pegasi leapt at one another amidst impressionistic designs of cosmic stars and nebulae.
"Pegasi," Rainbow murmured, hovering now on blurred wings. Her muzzle hung agape as she scanned down illustration after illustration. "The 'angels' that the Herald spoke of... from before the Sundering..."
"I... I am confused, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said, shuffling over to catch up with the scrambling mare. "Do you... somehow recognize the Valkyrie's Symbols?"
Rainbow spun to gawk at her. "Valkyrie's what-now?"
"Her Symbols," Fawful said. She cleared her throat. "They are very sacred to us. From what the elders understand of the scrolls that Duranda preserved, they are meant as a warning of the coming Windlessness and how we must preserve the Valkyrie's glory to surpass oblivion."
Rainbow turned to face the symbols once more. "A warning..."
"That is why they stand upon the threshhold of the Valkyrie Silver... which lies ahead..." Fawful squinted, trotting up until she was right beneath Rainbow. "Rainbow, are you feeling okay... ?"
"I feel... I feel..." Rainbow turned around. She gazed down the way which they came. Through the combined aura of the various lanterns, she made out chambers, columns, and perfectly cut walls of smoothe granite. "We're inside a sentinel," she murmured to herself. "Or j-just a piece of one..." She gulped and flew back before the Urohringr symbol. "We were right all along... this is Stratopolis. It has to be."
"These words that you're using..." Fawful shook her worried face. "They are... very strange."
"Sorry. I'm just... erm... h-having something of an epiphany right now."
"Would you mind sharing it?"
Rainbow exhaled. "Not until I get a better grasp of the full picture." She turned calmly towards Fawful from where she hovered. "Please... may I see the Gold Lights, now?"
Fawful led Rainbow through five more turns and corners. Finally, they came upon a straightaway, and this was where the interior changed. At some point about five meters down the stretch, the stone floor cracked at an odd angle. Thick wooden pillars had been erected between the floor and a partially collapsed ceiling. Nevertheless, there was still enough room to proceed, and a patch of sundered earth was covered with wooden planks.
The Gray-Feather escroting Rainbow had to trot carefully along this point. Rainbow simply flew through the niche, ducking beneath the jagged ceiling. On the other end, she saw the hallway ending abruptly before what appeared to be an enormous dull expanse. In the center of the chamber ahead, a pulsating gold light hung in a circle, like a spotlight was shining straight down from the distant ceiling above.
Before they entered the next spot, Fawful paused. She knelt down low, extended her wings forward, and murmured a breathy prayer. Then, with a flick of her tail, she stood up and stepped boldly onto a strange floor.
Rainbow looked straight down.
Where the stone ended, an immaculately polished sheet of metal began. It proceeded forward at a perfectly even angle, with several geometric grooves and lines winding across it as far as her eyes could see in the darkness.
"This is the Valkyrie Silver," Fawful said quietly, though her tiny voice echoed immensely across the incomprehensible expanse.
This forced Rainbow to spin around towards the tunnel exit, upon which she gawked at the sight of a huge chunk of gray stone resting eternally at a jagged angle against the metallic floor. Around and above her where she hovered, a domed hollow of exposed earth, rock, and dust lingered just beyond the penumbra of light.
"And this..." Fawful's voice caused Rainbow to look ahead. The elder stood a before a wooden pedestal flanked by four ponies—once more, two Gray-Feathers and two First-Borns. "...is the source of the Gold Lights." She stepped aside, allowing Rainbow to see what was on top of the platform.
Rainbow squinted.
She saw a gold helmet, stained with the decay of time. All across its top, several tiny fibrous strands stuck out at every angle. She could faintly detect multiple colors clashing and mixing all at once. Glancing down, Rainbow could see a pulsating halo of light emanating from where the wooden pedestal made contact with the metallic floor. The smooth curves and geometric lines shimmered with living energy. Beyond the sphere of influence, the metal was dull, dim, but no less shiny.
Rainbow sucked in her breath. Once again, she gazed at the helmet. A pair of blue hooves clasped over her muzzle, and she clenched her eyes shut with a shudder.
"Yes... the... the sheer power of the Valkyrie is overwhelming to anypony," Fawful said with a reassuring power. "At first, our ancestors had no idea that the Gold Lights would be here to bless us. But then, on one fateful occasion, Duranda brought this artifact down here while she was seeking shelter for the foals of the Valkyrie. Not long after they discovered the unblemished silver of this realm, it began issuing unworldly illuminescence—directly in response to the last piece of the Valkryie's essence. It was immediately afterwards that Duranda and everypony with him knew that the Lights From Above had blessed the surviving remnant of the Air's Protector, for they had given this sign to mirror the glory that awaits us every dawn."
"I..." Rainbow Dash exhaled with a shuddering breath, lowering her hooves. "I know wh-what this is..." She reopened her ruby eyes thinly. "This... essence of the Valkyrie—"
"Contained within the helm," Fawful said, pointing atop the pedestal.
Rainbow stared squarely at her. "It's her mane hair, isn't it?" She glanced at two of the guards. "Is that why you're dying yourselves to look like her? Because of this?"
"Elder?" One of the First-Borns leaned towards her, eyes on Rainbow. "Who have you brought to gaze upon the Gold Lights...?"
"Shhh..." Fawful placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay. Trust me." She turned to look up at Rainbow. "The scrolls that Duranda preserved also maintain who and what the Valkyrie looked like in her physical form. We emulate her out of reverence, an honor that is carried out by the First-Borns and then humbly sacrificed upon achieving the status of elder."
"Right... right. I-I get all of that. But... but you see..." Rainbow winced, sighed, and ultimately muttered, "Fawful, I... I knew who the Valkyrie was before I even arrived here."
The guards glanced nervously at each other.
"You mean..." Fawful smiled brightly. "...before you arrived from beyond the greens?" She took a bouncy step forward. "That is delightful to know, Rainbow! It means that the glory of the Valkyrie extends to all realms! If she spoke to your heart, then surely the scrolls—"
"It's... not like that. She..." Rainbow gulped. At last, she sputtered, "In Equestria, we have a different name for her: Commander Hurricane."
The two First-Borns immediately exchanged wild expressions.
"Commander... What?" one of the two elders stammered.
"She was the military leader of a kingdom in the sky... a cloud city named Pegasopolis. It belonged to winged ponies—just like you and me—only thousands and thousands of years ago. After a horrible winter that lasted over a decade, the pegasus formed an alliance with other ponies in the land—most famously the earth ponies and unicorns. Equestria was founded, and the remaining Alicorns—ponies with both wings and magical horns—ruled over the land as monarchs. Not long after, a terribly nasty cloud city flew in out of nowhere. Commander Hurricane took it up on herself to steer this cursed thing away from Equestria before it could destroy the newly-formed kingdom. She took a bunch of pegasus soldiers and warriors with her, and they were never seen or heard from again... until I stumbled upon what remained of the ill-fated city once fabled to be called 'Stratopolis.'"
Fawful blinked. "Stratopolis...?" she murmured.
"Fawful, what is this all about?!" an elder exclaimed.
The other pointed. "Is this the outsider whom Sivrem spoke of?"
"I... I..."
"Please... just..." Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and shook two hooves in front of her. "Just hear me out! The reason I know the Valkyrie is because I had always grown up learning about her as a kid! And then—to my surprise—I totally stumbled upon the place of her last stand! I saw a magical projection of her, delivering a message. I even saw an effigy of her on her tomb and—"
"Her tomb?!" one of the elders blurted.
"Why... wh-why is she speaking of the Valkyrie in this way?" A First-Born stammered. "Fawful...?"
"Rainbow Dash, do you actually—" Fawful winced, straightened her bleached bangs, and composed herself. "You mean to state that she is an Equestrian?"
"You mean from a realm beyond the greens?" an elder barked. "Preposterous!"
"Look," rainbow said. "I know this sounds crazy—"
"Why've you brought this pony here?" a First-Born growled. "To the Gold Lights?! This place is sacred! And yet you let her speak like this?"
"Everypony, please, just calm down!" Fawful exclaimed, spinning. "Let us not be quick to anger!" Taking a deep breath, she turned and gazed up at Rainbow. "Rainbow, if that was even somehow remotely true, how is it that the Valkyrie Silver reacts to her essence?"
"Well... that... uh..."
"Clearly, she was fated to have arrived here, in the hooves of Duranda. It was a message meant to keep us on the path of exalting the Lights From Above. I... I-I fail to see how cloud cities such as 'Pegasopolis' and 'Stratopolis' have anything to do with this matter—"
"Because I think that there's more to the story than what you guys get from the scrolls!" Rainbow gulped. "Fawful, you yourself said that 'everything has a beginning.' Well, that's just what I'm trying to get at here! I suspected it for a while, but I didn't want to open my mouth until I saw all of the evidence before my very eyes. Well, now I've seen it, and—clear as day—this is all related to Commander Hurricane! Someway, somehow, I'm dead-certain that everypony who lives here is descended from a piece of the expedition that commandeered the cloud city most ponies beyond the green called 'Stratopolis.'"
Fawful opened her mouth to respond, but an angry elder stallion brushed past her and growled: "And just how do you intend to explain our arriving here?"
"I... I don't know... but you did."
"In a flying cloud city?"
"It... nnngh... it wasn't all clouds!" Rainbow spun and pointed at the granite structure that housed the tunnel exit. "That's one of the buildings that flew in it!"
"A flying structure..."
"Yes! Just like the Noble Jury—an example of 'flying Valkyrie Silver' that got me and my friends here from beyond the greens, only this thing was powered by something else." She spun to glance down at Fawful. "Fawful, those symbols I saw along the way here—they're the same kind of things I saw while my friends and I were stranded inside Stratopolis not long ago! I think something caused it to crash-land here, and afterwards Duranda and her fellow pegasus soldiers had to make do with what they had and rebuild a society in this strange crater!"
"And what of the majesty of the Valkyrie?" the aged stallion remarked, frowning. "And the power of the Lights From Above that are imbued in her glory?"
Rainbow shook her head, wincing. "I-I... I can't—"
"Rainbow, so much of what you claim is... unbelievably far-fetched. Don't you understand that?" Fawful said, her face awash with concern. "I refuse to think that you have any intention of deceiving us. Nevertheless, I implore you to look deep down and ask yourself just why it is you believe these things..."
"You wanted answers, didn't you?" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. "I'm trying to give you some!"
"On what claim?!" the other elder spoke up. "That your outsider history somehow validates the insults that you've launched at the Valkyrie's legacy?"
"It's... it's more than that," Rainbow murmured. "This metal place... this machine world... I-I've seen it before... like a gazillion times."
"'Machine... world...?'" one of the First-Borns stammered.
"And... and..." Rainbow sucked in her breath, closed her eyes, and spoke through tight lips. "I think I may actually be related to Commander Hurricane."
One of the elders almost fainted.
"Related... to the Valkyrie, Rainbow?" Fawful exhaled in shock.
"Enough is enough!" The old stallion adjusted his gray mane and shouldered his way past the First-Borns. He marched towards Rainbow, snarling up at her. "Listen here, outsider, you will not blemish the glory of everypony's Righteous Mother! We don't need the likes of you down here! This is a sacred place! The essence of the Valkyrie—contained in this helm—has produced the Gold Lights for eons, and it will continue to do so long after your eggshell soul has fallen into Windlessness—"
Rainbow clenched her jaw. Coiling her wings to her side, she dropped straight down. Cl-Clank! Her hooves made contact with the metal floor, and instantly pulsated with four round halos of shimmering light.
A swift shriek escaped Fawful's lips. She stumbled backwards, eyes bulging as she held a hoof over her muzzle.
The stallion stood dead-still, his eyes locked on the glowing flood of light issuing outward from Rainbow Dash in every angle.
One First-Born shivered in his avian armor. The other immediately dropped his javelin and fell down in a panicked state, bowing towards Rainbow—at least until the other elder fiercely yanked the timid youngster back up to his hooves.
All five Durandanans watched in stunned silence as the gold light spread further and further from the living pegasus. Soon, the entire chamber was as bright as day, illuminating the entire earthen ceiling along with every crooked crevice along the corners.
Fawful was slowly twirling about, whimpering indecipherable words into her hooves as her teary eyes darted across every golden sheen.
"Fawful," Rainbow murmured.
Fawful kept spinning, trembling.
"Fawful..." Rainbow marched firmly towards her and grasped the mare's hooves. "Look at me."
The elder's frightened eyes locked with Rainbow's. A tear or two trickled down.
Rainbow smiled calmly. "I don't understand it either," she said. Slowly, she flapped her wings, lifting her legs off the ground but not letting go of Fawful's hooves. The room gradually dimmed, the gold light pulsating a few more times in the last spot where the pegasus' limbs made contact. "But perhaps we can find out together, okay?"
Fawful simply gazed at her, lips trembling.
"Hey, c'mere..." Rainbow tugged at the mare. The Gray-Feather's wings nervously flapped, and soon she was hovering in Rainbow's tight embrace, her head gazing blankly over her shoulder as they hugged. "Tell me," Rainbow said quietly. "What do you sense?"
Fawful's hyperventilation came to a gradual end. She gulped hard, and said in a shaky voice, "C-Confusion." Her face scrunched up as she fought another sob. "N-nothing but confusion..."
Rainbow gently patted her shoulder, gazing at the helm on the pedestal below them. "You and me both, girl..."
Several Gray-Feathers stood side by side, all bunched up in a thick crowd at the tunnel's stone exit to the metal-floored chamber. They murmured amongst each other, craning their necks to see Rainbow Dash and Fawful.
"Is it true...?"
"She makes her own Gold Lights?"
"Impossible! Only the essence of Valkryie can create the Lights!"
"But the First-Borns say they saw her!"
"Could it be outsider sorcery?"
"Not a chance! Look at her. She's a foal of the Valkyrie just like the rest of us!"
"This doesn't make sense..."
"Duranda's scrolls would have mentioned something—"
"Please... please!" The elder stallion stood before the group, stretching out both his wings and his forelimbs. "Everypony, calm down! There is no need for this juvenile display! Be calm. Meditate! The Valkyrie's righteous intution shall make itself known to us!" He sighed, turned around, and gave Fawful a tired gaze. "Would you wish me to summon the high elders? If so, then I will need help passing by all of our fellow companions here..."
"Not... not just yet," Fawful stammered. She paced and paced before the helm, her hooves brushing over the half-illuminescent sheets of metal. "I... I-I just need a moment to think."
"Fawful," Rainbow murmured from where she hovered above.
"Just..." She gritted her teeth, staring ahead of her at all times while she trotted in circles. "Just concentrate... focus." She gulped. "Nothing Duranda taught suggests that a pegasus couldn't possess the Gold Lights from the Valkyrie. After all, we are all her foals. Why shouldn't she choose to hoof down even the barest sliver of her glory?"
"Please, girl... would you..." Rainbow winced. "Would you relax for one second? You're making me anxious just watching you!"
"There's... th-there's no reason to say that any of this invalidates the scrolls!" Fawful skidded to a stop, shuddering. "But the light... the light was so bright... and... and..."
Rainbow's hoof rested on Fawful's shoulder.
"Mmm!" The elder spun, taring up at Rainbow with twitching eyes.
Rainbow gulped and smiled. Slowly, that grin faded away. Her ears drooped and she glanced aside. "Look, I'm... I-I'm sorry..."
Fawful stared up at her, shivering slightly. "Why?"
Rainbow looked at Fawful once more.
Fawful was still, quiet.
After a breath, Rainbow gently said, "Look, I-I didn't come here to rain on your parade. What you all hold faith in, it totally works for you! I mean... you've got a pretty nifty society goin' on here! Fruit-picking, leatherback-milking, flight-racing and love-making?" She grinned. "That's all awesome! And I'm super happy to witness it all up close. So please... believe me..."
She hovered lower until she was a few inches from Fawful's gaze.
"I didn't mean to come down so hard on what you believe in," Rainbow said in a low tone. "It was never my wish to shatter beliefs or crush hopes or any of that jazz. I have nothing against this 'Valkyrie.' Heck, if she truly is the pony I think she is, then I believe in her too! Er... more or less. But... please, Fawful... understand." Rainbow bit her lip. "I'm not out to tear your faith to shreds. I-I wouldn't have anything to friggin' gain from that! I wouldn't want to gain anything from it! All things considered, I'm just passing through!"
"But... the Gold Lights!" Fawful stammered, her eyes turning misty again. "You... y-you summoned them." She gulped, shivering. "Nopony h-has ever been able to summon them without the essence of the Valkyrie..."
"Yeah, well, now that I have..." Rainbow hesitated slightly, then muttered, "Just what does it mean to you Gray-Feathers?"
"I..." Fawful grimaced. "I do not know." She gazed at the crowd of onlookers. "Already, even the slightest hint of what's happened here has made everypony... uneasy. I am less scared of what this means about the scrolls and more scared of what it means to every Durandanan."
Rainbow held her breath. She turned, glanced at the onlookers, then looked back at Fawful. "Maybe they don't have to know."
Fawful's eyes twitched. "Wh-what?"
"Sivrem saw me do a sonic rainboom up above! In the Raked Ravine!" Rainbow smiled sweatily. "I-I'm full of tricks!" She gestured with her hooves, wings beating heavily. "Fwooosh! Zooom! Ker-sparkle!! Heh... perhaps it was all an optical illusion, y'know? Silly guards are down here for hours on end—maybe their eyes just played tricks on them! Heh! Yours too!"
"Rainbow..."
"Or, y'know, 'outsider sorcery!' Nopony knows what crazy, wacky stuff happens beyond the greens!"
"Rainbow, don't be dishonest," Fawful said with a frown. "Even I can tell that it doesn't suit you."
Rainbow winced.
"It didn't work with Kitsune when you tried to pretend you were from East D, and it most certainly will not work here." Fawful gestured towards the onlookers. "Not before all of the Gray-Feathers, especially."
Rainbow hung her head.
Fawful trotted firmly towards her. "What else... do you know about the Lights?" Her brow furrowed. "About the Valkyrie?"
Rainbow opened her mouth, but hesitated. She stared forlornly at Fawful.
The elder mare waited with baited breath.
"What..." Rainbow fidgeted in midair. "...what if I told you that... th-that the Valkyrie was imbued with more than just the power to make these 'Gold Lights?'" Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "What if I told you that she was given power to wield the energy of the Lights From Above?"
Fawful nodded slowly. "That would be in accordance with the scrolls..."
"Right..." Rainbow flew in a slow circle. "And... like... what if there was—uh—an artifact, just like that helmet over there—only it was a direct vessel for the Lights?"
"You mean something that could make the lights on its own?"
"Erm... almost. But it so happened that the Valkyrie possessed it."
Fawful gave Rainbow a blank stare.
So the pegasus went on: "And... like... what if one of us—a mere pegasus—was to... er... stumble upon this artifact?"
"What kind of artifact are we talking about?"
"A sword," Rainbow Dash said. "A sword blessed with golden energy—like a living sunrise." She took a deep breath. "And... uh... it was something the Valkyrie used while she was still 'ruling the air.'"
Fawful eventually nodded. "The immensity of the Valkyrie's power has always held various interpretations in the minds of her foals. I can't see why a sword wouldn't factor into her righteous arsenal."
"I mean... she was totally a warrior, right?"
"Every Durandanan knows that—even from a sparrow's age."
Rainbow's eyes darted towards the helment. "How do you suppose Duranda got ahold of that?"
"She was given it by the Valkyrie herself."
"They knew each other in real life, right?"
"But of course. She was one of the few who was blessed to share breaths with the Valkyrie."
"And... like... what if history was different?"
"Huh?"
"Hear me out," Rainbow said, gesturing with a hoof. "What if Duranda was never directly given the helmet? What if she found the helmet... later... much later..."
"You mean... as if the Valkyrie visited Durandana?"
"I'm talking about finding it on the Valkyrie's grave, Fawful."
A few voices gasped from afar. Fawful glanced over. She shared worried looks with the stallion and other Gray-Feathers. Finally, she tilted her eyes back up to Rainbow. "Nopony knows the time or location of the Valkyrie's passing. She lives eternally in our blood. To... to assume anything about her final resting place is shameful."
"Well I know where she was laid to rest, Fawful," Rainbow said. "Because that's where I discovered the sword she last used." A gulp. "Up in Stratopolis."
"The... the evil cloud city."
"Yes."
"What would possess her to occupy such a place?"
"I tried to explain it earlier," Rainbow said, eyes darting briefly to the onlookers. "She was steering it away from Equestria. Comma—erm... the Valkyrie and her fellow soldiers—Duranda included, most likely—sacrificed their lives so that no equine civilization would have to suffer from this place. It turned out to be an even tougher job than they imagined. Something really... really nasty was waiting deep inside the bowels of Stratopolis. Once it woke up, it brought death to most of the Pegasopolitan expedition. I've every reason to believe it killed the Valkyrie off too, but not before she made a brave last stand, with several of her most trusted warriors at her side."
"The Valkyrie?" Fawful winced. "Defeated? That's..."
Rainbow stared quietly at her.
Fawful sighed. She rubbed her temple and grumbled, "It is not a concept that any of us can easily wrap our heads around."
"If there's anything I've learned from all my travels, Fawful, it's that everything dies." She blinked, then glance down at her pendant. "Sometimes more than once..."
"Huh?"
"But I'm telling you this: the sword is real." Rainbow looked up. "If I hadn't found it, I'd not have gotten out of Stratopolis alive. The power of the sun—or the Light From Above—saved me and my friends when I needed it the most. What's more, it allowed me to talk with my ruler—Princess Celestia—back in Equestria."
"Princess Celestia?" Fawful tilted her head aside. "What... I mean... how is Equestria related to the Light From Above?"
"Because..." Rainbow paused, then exhaled long and hard. "Because Princess Celestia controls the Light From Above, Fawful." She gulped dryly. "She makes the sun rise and fall."
The Gray-Feathers gasped and murmured in the distance. The stallion holding the line between them and Fawful shifted uncomfortably.
"Rainbow... d-do you realize what you're saying?"
"Yes. I know it sounds—"
"No single pony can control the Lights!" Fawful exclaimed. "Even the Valkryie—as glorious as she is—is empowered by the Light From Above! She's never wieled control over it!"
"Right! And Celestia blessed the sword that she gave Commander Hurricane to maintain harmony with! They also used it as a means of two-way conversation!" Rainbow swung a forelimb wildly. "I-I could even get you to talk to her yourself!"
"With your Princess? From far away in Equestria?"
"Yes! It's a really powerful magic spell."
"Too powerful if you ask me."
"And controlling the Sun is foal's play?"
"I'm telling you, Rainbow, no pony can do that!"
"Alicorns can!" Rainbow said. "They live longer than all of us mortals combined! I'm not saying that the likes of Celestia can make stars, but they come from a cosmic place so far away and so old that they've figured all that stuff out!"
"And it's Celestia's sole purpose to keep this realm lit?"
"Among other things, sure! Fawful, listen..." Rainbow sighed, gesturing with her hooves. "This is all pretty crazy stuff to take in, I'm sure. And... I-I could easily have just flown away and not said anything but... but..."
Rainbow bit her lip. "I know what I know. And... and to think of leaving you ponies without letting you in on Commander Hurricane and Celestia and... and..." Rainbow grunted internally. "You're Equestrians, Fawful! You may not know it—or even feel it, but deep down—in your blood and guts and feathers—you're the same as me and all of the friends I've ever cared for... all the fr-friends I left behind... and... and..."
"...Rainbow?" Fawful suddenly stood up straight, worried. "What's wrong?"
Rainbow was teetering in midair. "Harmony... H-Harmony can't exist without th-the light... so..." Bulbs of sweat formed along her blue brow. "Buck me... n-not now... not here..."
"Fawful, what's wrong with her?" an elder from the tunnel asked.
"I... I-I don't know!" Fawful flapped her wings and hovered at Rainbow's level. "Rainbow, look at me. Are you ill?"
"So... so dizzy..." Rainbow squeaked, teetering forward. "Happening... again..."
"Mnnnghh..." Rainbow plummeted. She slipped through Fawful's weak forelimbs and collapsed on the floor. The metal instantly lit up with a gold aura, causing many voices to gasp and shriek.
Fawful hollered above the noise. "Get a wing-mender! Quick! She needs help!"
"Yes, elder!" Two First-Borns dashed up the tunnel, along with a few Gray-Feathers.
"Rainbow... Rainbow!" Fawful shook the mare's shoulder, cradling her. "Try and stay awake!"
"Can't... c-can't..." Rainbow's eyes were tearing.
"You'll be alright, just stay focused!"
"Whatever... h-happens..." Rainbow hissed, her eyes rolling back. "Don't... t-take my pendant off. Don't... d-don't..." And she went limp as the metal world spun.
"Unky Prowsy?" Props stammered. She licked her lips, sweating as she adjusted the dials of her communications array inside the engine room of the Noble Jury. "Unky Prowsy, if you're there, come in! This is your lil' Propsicle! Over and out!"
Nothing but static screeched out of the quivering speakers.
Props pouted.
"Mmmmmmmm-Prowssssssy! Talk to me! You've got the most powerful antenna in the world! Get it sparkling, old stallion!"
At last, a voice: "You're sure working up a sweat, blondie."
Props gasped, grinning. "It's working! I can hear you, Unky—wait." Her goggled brow furrowed. "How do you know that I'm still dying it?"
"Ahem."
Props swiveled around in her stool.
Zaid stood in the open doorway to the navigations room, waving with a bashful smile.
"Zaidddddddd..." Props stuck her tongue out. "You're not Unky Propsy!"
"Heh. 'Tis a shame. I'd kill for his beard."
"Well, considering the law of averages, you probably would have to do just that."
"Busy with stickening the wicket, I see." He closed the hatch behind him and trotted nonchalantly towards her work bench. "Any luck?"
"Phweeeeeeeeeee..." Props blew through her lips and slouched in her stool. "No." Another sigh. "It's this poopy-headed crater and its poopy-headed Sky Stabs breaking the unbreakable symbol."
"Fitting, consider the basin's pretty much nature's toilet, don't you think?"
"Ehhh..." Props shrugged. "The ponies here are nice." She swiveled about, smirking pleasantly. "I guess when love is free—heehee—you have very little to stress about!"
"I'm not sure how to feel about that, by the way."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Kind of takes the thrill out of boinking it when all you're ever doing is boinking it."
"Heeheehee... Well, so long as they all get along nicely with each other, I don't see what the problem is!"
"Not having a mom or a dad?" Zaid brushed his bangs back. "Seems a bit crazy to me." He grinned wide. "And I was part of a cult!"
"Still, a lot less baggage."
"Yeah. But then there'd be no smexy Uncles with bigass antennae to inherit."
"Oh... right..." Props made a sad face, her ears folding. "Wow, that sounds lonely."
"Hmmmm..." Zaid scratched his chin. "Ponies incapable of feeling lonesome... kinda makes you wonder if they ever truly get 'happiness' down pat."
"Pffft. It's not like us to judge!"
"Sure it is."
Silence.
Zaid cleared his throat. "You... uh... you're totally gonna see him again, y'know."
She turned towards him, blue eyes sparkling. "Chiii?"
"Prowse," Zaid said, sliding up a metal crate and sitting beside her. "You really think he'll fall back on his promise to meet us in Val Roa?" He winked. "For real, gurl. I've not seen an Uncle that protective over her niece since... since..." He grimaced slightly. "Yeesh, y'know, let's end it right there." He gulped. "It'd be a real buzz kill to talk about that one week that the Herald spent recruiting in Oakansas..."
Props giggled. After a sigh, she turned and looked forlornly at the communications array. "You have it the other way around."
"Huh?"
"He's not the one who's protective over me..."
Zaid stared at her. He smirked. "You know... for all of your clumsiness—"
"Clumsiness?!"
"—and fuzzyheadedness—"
"Fuzzyheadedness?!"
"—and the way you spit in other ponies faces when you get excited—"
"I do notspitttt!"
Zaid shielded his face, took a breath, and finished: "—you have an angelic charm about you. Like... golden harps friggin' kill themselves out of shame everytime you so much as talk. Not to mention you're bootyful with a capital 'booty.' It's hard to imagine anything that squeaky-clean coming out of the floating cesspool that was Gary Smokes."
"Gray Smoke."
"Whatever. Point is..." He smirked. "There are very few irresistible things in this world. I've no doubt that Prowse would drop everything he was doing—even Queen Lasairfion! Whewwwwwwww-KERSPLUNK!—just to come zipping back to find you and make sure you're just as cuteawesome as you were when he last hugged you."
By this point, Props was biting her lips while her cheeks puffed red at the bursting point. With an inward squeal, she teetered forward and flung her forelimbs around the stallion's neck, nuzzling his shoulder. "Ohhhhhh Zaidy Waidy. You're super adorbs when you're this thoughtful! I don't care what Josho says about you! Or Roarke or Ebon or Eagle or Handsome! You're cute as soot in my book!"
"Errr... th-thanks!" Zaid blinked crookedly. "I think."
"Heeheehee! Anypony ever tell you that you're fuzzy in all the right places?"
"Yes, well... heheh..." He gently scratched behind one of her ears. "To each their own."
"H-Hey!" She batted his hoof away and pouted. "I just scrubbed there this morning!"
"Erm..." He gulped and sat straight. "My bad."
"... ... ...I didn't tell you to stop." Her eyelashes batted.
"Oh... h-hey..." He shrugged and resumed scratching her ear with a smile. "L'chaim!"
"Heeeeeeeeee..." She leaned into him with a comforting exhale, her tail flicking pleasantly.
"It's no use..." Kera gritted her teeth, sweating as legs wobbled beneath her. No matter how brightly her horn strobed, the large boulder in front of her barely got a foot off the ground. Grass and weeds swayed within ten feet of the magical exercise. An unearthly wind picked up, only to die and then pick up again. Large bulbs of sweat gathered around the filly's tattooed brow, glistening in the amber sunset. "Couldn't I-I just... I dunno... try twirling around several coconuts instead?"
"It's a crater, child," Roarke droned from where she stood by the filly's side. "Not a beach."
"Then h-how about some large twigs or several small t-turtles?"
"Do you really wish to be tossing turtles around so soon?"
"R-Roarke!"
"I know you're strong enough and disciplined enough to tackle this," Roarke said, pointing at the boulder. "To choose something else would be undermining your true potential."
"Roarke, I-I don't even know what my true potential is!"
"Perhaps you have, but you've simply forgotten it."
Thud! Kera dropped the boulder altogether. She turned to glare at Roarke. "Forgotten it?! I'm a kid! I am what I learn! I'm not some old mare pining for the glory days like you!"
"Just because my past has been bloody doesn't make it glorious," Roarke droned. "Now stop changing the subject. We're here to focus on improving your skills, not lambast mine."
"Unnngh..." Kera rolled her eyes.
"Again," Roarke said, pointing at the boulder. "See if you can make it turn upside down in midair."
"What's th-the point of all this, anyways?!" Kera said, frowning. "I don't remember anypony making me your apprentice."
Roarke's brow furrowed over her lenses. "Strange. Earlier, you were quite excited about doing some magical training."
"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd be putting my brain through a meat grinder!"
"From what Bellesmith has said, you were once able to open complex locking mechanisms from the inside out, even overpowering weighted devices that ran on pure mana."
"Yeah, well, I-I haven't had to do that in a while!"
"So you admit that you're out of practice."
"What I admit is that I shouldn't have come out here if all you wanted to do was make me sweat like a trained dog!" Kera frowned. "Let me float around some smaller rocks that I know I can handle, and then let's call it a day."
Roarke took a deep breath. "Very well." Nodding, she trotted towards the southern crater wall to gather chunks of debris blown off earlier from her rockets. "I can see now that having been coddled into a surrogate family by Bellesmith and Pilate has softened you. It may not exactly be my standard of living, but that's simply me. I was wrong to assume that you were a mare who wished to push herself and calculate her strengths. If you wish to lower the difficulty of this exercise, I shall do so. However, someday, you will be grown, and the likes of Pilate and Bellesmith may depend on you, and I doubt the world will allow itself to be any easier."
Kera clenched her teeth. She fumed and fumed, shutting her eyes tight.
Roarke was in the middle of gathering some tiny rocks when all of the sudden she felt the wind shift once more. Her lips curved for the briefest moment. Then, deadpan, she turned around. Her lenses rotated upon seeing the rock floating a good four feet off the ground.
"Hmmm... now that's a considerable improvement," the metal mare said.
"Yeah, well, doesn't seem quite so huge now," Kera grumbled.
"Perhaps because you're channeling your emotion into it."
The filly was silent.
Roarke trotted up. "Very well. Now... concentrate." She pointed. "Turn it upside down..."
"Grnnnnghhhh..." Kera grunted and hissed.
An hour had passed. The basin of the crater was bathed in crimson. Soon, the light of the dying day would be past the western sky stabs, casting the tree canopies in soupy darkness.
Somewhere, like dots clinging to the southern wall, Roarke and Kera still lingered, the latter producing a shimmering glow that stood out amidst the darkening shadows of evening.
"Good..." Roarke trotted around Kera in a wide circle, observing the boulder as it floated fifteen feet above the ground. "You've gotten good at manipulating its lift." She turned towards the filly. "But now you've got to turn it upside down."
"Look... it's up high, okay?" Kera squeaked amidst her strain. "Isn't that good enough?"
"No, Kera," Roarke muttered. "Raw strength is one thing. Controlling it takes true skill. To exhibit true mastery, one must be able to impart her will in noticeable detail."
"How d-do you know?" Kera's teeth gnashed as leaves and grass blades twirled around her. "You're... nnnghh... not a unicorn!"
"You think true mastery applies to one race?" Roarke paced as she spoke. "You think Props needs magic to know engines like she does? You think Floydien needs wings to fly the Jury?"
"You c-could really use a cork to shut the b-buck up!" Kera squeaked.
"Cute." Roarke pointed up at the boulder. "Now turn it upside down."
"I-I can't... I'm telling ya...!"
"You've already lifted it much higher than you had it earlier," Roarke said. "What makes you think you can't improve again?"
"Common... s-sense...?"
"You're doing well so far."
"B-because you're pissing m-me off so much!"
"Very well, then." Roarke's eye-lenses pistoned outward. "Focus on that anger. Harness the passion. If it's what empowers your magic, then flow with it."
"H-how's that going to help anything?!"
"You're a filly who says what she thinks and does what she wants," Roarke said. "What's more, you're wise beyond your years. You're a filly that's simultaneously defined by your rebelliousness and your precociousness. Also, you're quick to anger. So be it."
"So... b-be it?"
"Stop being s-something that you're not and give in," Roarke said. "Be yourself. Feel and act all at once."
"I... I..." Kera heaved and shivered, her horn pulsating. "I don't know wh-what you're talking about—"
"Kera..." Roarke spoke in a hauntingly calm tone. "Kera, I know what you've been wanting to say. Now say it."
Kera clamped her jaw shut. Her nostrils flared.
Roarke's ears folded back as she snarled, "Stop holding back! You want to be Belle's and Pilate's little coward all your life?! Now let it out!"
"Rrrrrr-HAAAAAAUGH!" Kera spun the rock... and sent it hurling straight at Roarke.
Without saying a word, Roarke nimbly leapt back, firing a trio of mini-rockets from her shoulder-braces. They screamed through the air, impacted the boulder dead-on, and exploded the chunk of earth in mid-air. The smouldering pebbles parted ways, splattering harmlessly against the crater wall behind Roarke. The metal-mare landed from her leap, skidding to a reverse stop as she crouched. She looked across the clearing, catching her breath.
Kera slumped down on her chest, but her horn hadn't stopped glowing. When she looked up, her tattoos were crawling with magical illuminescence. "Why did you do it?!" she hollered. "Why did you talk me into staying at Lerris?!" Her breath seethed through her teeth. "Didn't you see I was happy on board the Jury?! That I was just fine with Belle and Pilate?!"
Roarke stared. She listened quietly, patiently, not moving a muscle.
"Hrnnngh..." Kera curled her forelimbs to her chin and growled, "I didn't need you messing with my head! You hear me?! I didn't need any of that! I wanted... I-I wanted..."
Slowly, the air grew still across the clearing. Kera's panting breaths rolled over the dusty rock and stone.
"...I wanted for just once in my life to not have to be running from something all the time. Once, it was pretty cool to be the only filly on the street who didn't need to be part of some stupid gang in order to feed herself. But now? I'm just so friggin' tired of it. I want... I-I want to chillax, you know? And then there was Lerris... and then there were the th-things that you said to me at Archer Point. And I thought... I-I thought I might finally... have..."
Roarke held her breath.
"Grrrrrrrr..." Kera slapped the earth floor. "I hate this! I hate this I hate this I hate this!" She clenched her skull and grumbled. "Why can't I friggin' get over what happened, already?! It's not like I brought that maniac there! It's not like I wanted so many ponies to die! I hate it... I hate it so much!"
At last, she slumped against the earth, exhaling heavily. She closed her eyes and fumed, her face stuck in a permanent frown.
After half a minute, Roarke's hooves shuffled over. She stood beside the filly.
"I... I never had the courage to kill my mother," Roarke said.
Kera stirred. Sniffling, she wiped her muzzle and looked up with glossy eyes. "What...?"
"In Searonese culture," Roarke explained. "There comes a time in every young mare's life where they must prove their resilient warrior's blood. The most common rite of passage is to slay one's own maternal bearer in combat. A lot of grown mares give birth several times just so they can prove themselves against thick-headed daughters who are a third of their age, to show that they still have the tenacity to spill blood for the Goddess Searo. As for the daughter—if she can overcome her superior, then she is considered a strong warrior, and she gets to sit and feast on the spoils of war in the Great Hall for the rest of her days, until she's slain by another mare, of course."
"For me, it was life. My life. And I failed at it." Roarke's nostrils flared. "Even worse. I never even tried."
"But... h-how could you?"
"That's what my mother thought, and she tried several times to engage the attack in hopes that she would get something out of me. I suffered many broken bones before the age of ten. There are some winters I don't remember, because I had endured so much head trauma. Eventually, though, my mother discovered that I didn't have the guile to try striking her down."
"What... wh-what did she do?"
"She fled towards a bounty hunter station in the south, far from Searo's Hold. It was the only way she could manage the shame. I wasn't the only one who was cowardly... I suppose..."
Kera bit her lip.
Roarke sighed as she squatted beside the filly. "For years, I carried my weakness as a burden. Nopony wanted to train me, and most mares who so much as saw me out in the field tried their best to eliminate me as soon as they spotted the colors of my ship. It took over a decade and constant struggle, but I soon became a professional bounty hunter, with a list of victories and spoils that made every warrior around me green with envy. At some point, Lady Pestiferous took note of my accomplishments, and she granted me entry into the Great Hall. I was one of a very small group of warriors who made it that far without enduring a traditional rite of passage. That made me something of an oddity... a rarity."
"And... what happened to your mother?"
Roarke shook her head. "I can only guess. Odds are she died in combat, which is what she would have wanted. But it doesn't matter. All my life, I saw myself as a coward for refusing to do what I did. I had nopony to turn to and share my feelings. Then Imre entered my life. And after that, Rainbow Dash liberated me from a prison that I didn't even know I was stuck in. Looking back, do you know what I realized?"
Kera simply gazed at her.
Roarke said, "I realized that, the whole time, I was stronger than all of the ponies around me. When Searo's Hold collapsed, they were all confused and witless. And yet I carried on. Even with my ship destroyed and my former armor stripped, I still feel as strong as ever—maybe more so. And I know now that all of my life I have been preparing for a future that I'm only now starting to grasp, and I wouldn't have it any other way. With the Noble Jury—with Rainbow's friends—I am discovering more and more to be proud of... to be thankful of..."
The filly blinked rapidly, staring down at the stone floor—at least until Roarke's metal-laced hoof tilted her chin back up.
Roarke's lenses reflected Kera's face. "You have such... such immense strength, Kera. Beneath all of the confusion and the jocularity and the anger, there lies a powerful grown mare just waiting to burst out of her shell." She let her hoof rest on the filly's shoulder. "What happened at Lerris is going to weigh on you for a long... long... very long time. It may even stay with you for the rest of your life. But I am convinced that the inner strength that you possess—the very tenacity that allowed you to live on the streets—will make you more than capable of bearing that weight. I've seen evidence of it myself. Deep sleep or not, you've bounced back, and much of the pain that you find detestable will one day serve to be your greatest ally. That will be a time when the lives of ponies will depend on you, and you will accomplish such heroics that right now you can't even fathom them."
Kera's eyes watered. "But... b-but it's just so much... so terribly much to d-deal with..."
"Kera, listen to me. You must never... ever doubt yourself. Your life is so fresh and young that the last thing you need right now is blindness. Don't blind yourself, Kera. We all deserve to bear full witnesses to our own strengths. Don't waste decades until you can finally look back and realize that you were strong when you thought you were weak... even for just being a loving daughter."
The filly sniffed. She leaned aside, nuzzling Roarke's forelimb as she smiled tearfully into the mare's face.
Roarke fidgeted. "You should know," she grunted, her lenses retracting. "I don't do hugs."
"Too bad." Kera flung herself forward and wrapped her forelimbs around the mare's neck. She buried her warm face in Roarke's shoulder. "Thank you, Roarke most Rare..."
The bounty hunter sighed hard. "...I think I preferred you throwing boulders at me."
"...and in early November, the leaves would turn color, giving the forests beyond the fields a melting orange glow," Eagle Eye said, gazing out onto the darkening mists beneath the waterfall as the sun set beyond the Sky Stabs. Ebon leaned comfortably against his shoulder as he went on. "The harvest left the crops of Franzington bare for a month. We'd use the field for war games. Every little colt and filly was a mercenary at heart, and we'd divide ourselves up into teams and do hard tackles at full-gallop."
"Hmmm... Maybe. Foals know how to bounce back up onto their hooves."
"And you?" Ebon exhaled, feeling the warmth of the unicorn's colt beneath his muzzle. "You're petite enough as it is. I can't imagine how dinky you must have been as a kid."
Eagle's breath squeaked with a slight giggle. "You're not exactly the biggest boulder on the block yourself."
"Heh... just saying."
Eagle shrugged. "I... bounced a lot as a kid. Got my fair share of bumps and bruises. In fact... I was never all that good at winning war games."
"Why'd you keep on trying?"
"Cuz the other kids were starting to think I was pretty cool." Eagle flicked his tail. "For... g-getting up so much after taking tons and tons of heavy falls. I guess they all thought I had guts." He gulped. "Then, one day, we all went out on our own to lose them... on some foreign field or another."
"Sounds like a tragic way to live."
"Except that the ones who made it back lived all the harder," Eagle said. "They all got married quickly and had foals... tons of foals. They made their parents proud. And I..."
Ebon waited quietly.
Eagle sighed out his nostrils. "I realized early on that I wasn't gonna be making any kids ever..."
"You say that as if you regret it."
"Heh... not a chance." Eagle smirked. "I love foals. Only... Franzington isn't all that big on adoption."
"But I thought you said that Crimson and Phoenix became surrogate brothers to Tweak in Aurum?"
"Heh... they're different. They left Franzington by doing that. I mean... I did in a way, too, but I had my heart set much... much earlier. Wish I could say the same about my mind."
Ebon sat up straight, gazing at the other stallion. "Well, I'm glad that you still have such pleasant memories to hold onto. When it comes to Franzington, I mean."
"Heh..." Eagle squirmed slightly, staring down at his folded legs. "Yeah, I guess."
"It... it must be a wonderful thing." Ebon gulped, staring off into the darkening forest. "To be able to remember things like that, for better or for worse."
Eagle sat in silence. He turned to look at Ebon.
Ebon's shoulders slumped with a prolonged sigh. Suddenly, he felt his chin being tilted towards Eagle.
"Isn't it better to dwell on where you are now?" Eagle smiled faintly. "Than on where you were once or where you're going?"
"Then what does that make me, EE?" Ebon's eyes moistened. "What does that make anything?"
"You're happy though, aren't you?" Eagle remarked. "On board the Jury? With friends and family and... and..."
"But there has to be more to me than just a feeling," Ebon murmured. "Where's the substance? What do I have to measure myself by?"
"Do you truly feel lost, Ebon?"
"Yes... and yet... n-no..." Ebon sniffled, glancing down. "It's hard t-to explain. There are nights when I just want to cry myself to sleep. But then there are moments—wonderful waking moments..." He gulped. "Like this one."
Eagle smiled. "I, for one, am a fan of happy moments. What about you?"
"I just... I-I want to know where I belong," Ebon said. "I want to be grounded. I want to have a story."
"A story?"
"A beginning a middle and an end." Ebon shuddered. "You and the rest have that. I don't."
"I'm sure Propsy would disagree," Eagle said with a smile. "Bet she could tell you in great detail how she felt the moment you blessed her by entering her life."
"Props could fall in love with a rabid manticore if she wanted to."
"Heh. Guess that explains Zaid."
"Huh?"
Eagle sighed and shook his head. "Never mind." He caressed the stallion's chin. "Ebon, listen. Maybe you feel lost at times. Maybe there isn't much to see behind or before you, but I'm telling you... you are real. You do matter. And just because things look and feel bleak now doesn't mean you can't find that subtance that you crave."
"I've tried, Eagle," Ebon murmured. "For so long on my own, I've tried. You can't make a life's story out of n-nothing."
Eagle gazed at him. He fought to keep his voice even. "Then maybe you need a place to start."
"With what?" Ebon asked.
"With this." Eagle leaned in and kissed him gently. Then, raising a hoof, he softly embraced the stallion, nuzzling him cheek to cheek. "I love you, Ebon Mane. If you're looking for a story, then let's make one together." He smiled, his eyes shut. "And we can make it a happy one, from page to page, start to finish." He choked back a sob and cracked a smile. "What do you say?"
Silence.
"Ebon...?" Eagle raised his forelimb again, but felt nothing but cold air. His eyes opened.
Ebon had stood up and was not shivering several feet away. His expression was pale, hollow.
"Ebon?" Eagle stood up, jaw agape. "What's—"
"This... th-this isn't..." Ebon quivered. He hobbled backwards, his eyes watering. A slight whimper escaped his throat. "I'm so foolish. I'm doing it again!" He clenched his eyes shut, hissing at himself. "I promised myself. I promised!"
"St-stay back!" Ebon shrieked. Tears ran down his face as he approached the brink of hyperventilation. "Eagle, I'm so sorry. But it's just not... I mean you shouldn't..." He clenched his teeth, seethed, and spun around. "I can't! I just c-can't!"
"Ebon—!"
"I'm s-sorry!" Ebon's breath faltered, fluttering behind him in sporadic sobs. He galloped off into the night, approaching the distant glittering specks of West D.
Eagle stood dead still, alone beside the babbling brook. It was too dark to make sense of the waters or the foliage. He plopped down on his haunches, numb with shock. Slowly, as the shadows of night fell into every corner of the basin, he buried his muzzle into his forelimbs, and wept in quiet confusion.
Rainbow Dash's eyes fluttered. Her muzzle tensed, and she hissed a bit before turning over to flickering lamplight. At last, her lids popped open.
A gray-maned figure came into focus, bearing bright red eyes. Fawful blinked, staring down at Rainbow Dash with patient concern.
A low trilling sound escaped Rainbow's mouth. "Let me guess," she muttered. "'Gold Petals?'"
Fawful's brow furrowed. "Who?"
Rainbow smirked. "Heh." She tried getting up, only to feel a wave of dizziness still soaring through her. "Grnnngh... good t-to know some things are capable of changing."
Fawful reached down and helped the pegasus sit up. Rainbow saw a starry night twinkling just outside a wooden window. She sat on a cot inside a building located somewhere along the upper height of Central D's tower.
"You dragged me all the way out, huh?"
"A pair of First-Borns assisted. But yes."
"Hah..." Rainbow smirked through another wave of dizziness. "Guess Ebon's cooking must have finally paid off. I'm getting heavier for once."
"I'm... not sure what you mean by that."
"Don't mind me. I wake up with the worst rambling in the morning," Rainbow said. Fawful helped prop her up against a wooden post. Rainbow stared calmly out onto the misty night's sky as her head gradually stopped spinning. "I... must have given you quite a scare..."
"I'm certain it wasn't on purpose."
Rainbow gulped. "What am I talking about? It was more than one scare."
Fawful said nothing.
"I've never been the best communicator. Guess I couldn't think of a better way to show you than—well—showing you." Rainbow exhaled out her nostrils. She tilted her head down, catching a glimpse of the pendant through the corner of her eyesight. "You kept it on me." She brought a hoof up, toying with the weight of the lightning bolt. "Good girl."
Fawful nodded. "I... can't fathom how you bear to carry the weight of that thing at all times."
"Yeah, well, there are different way to m-make sacrifices, Fawful." Rainbow gulped. "Some of us give stuff up... the rest of us slap stuff on."
"What would happen if it were to come off?"
"I could tell you what would stop happening," Rainbow said. "Me."
Fawful paced slowly across the tiny hut. "You... you stated that you left Equestria as the last bearer of your kingdom's Elements."
"Did I?" Rainbow shrugged, feeling the dizziness gradually wear off. "I'm the Element of Loyalty, if you must know."
"And the other Element bearers?" Fawful squinted at her. "What became of them?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "They're dead. All of them."
"They were faithful companions of yours?"
"They were my best friends."
"What caused them to die, if you don't mind my asking?"
Rainbow opened her mouth, hesitated, and eventually droned: "Discord. A supreme bad guy from Celestia-knows-where. He came in, wielded a whole bunch of 'chaos lord' powers, and the rest of my friends tried to take him out. Problem is, without me around, they didn't realize that the Elements would backfire. They all... they all turned to dust. I was the only one left alive. As you can imagine... I was... uh... pretty ticked off, to put it lightly. I grabbed the last surviving Element and took out Discord on my own, but I did so at a price. His chaos energy shot into me, and now I've gotta wear this thing at all times to keep that evil stuff corked up, ya feel me?"
Fawful was ready to ask: "And your Princesses... Celestia and Luna—?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"They didn't intercede on your friends' behalf? They didn't use their mighty powers to stop Discord on their own?"
Rainbow exhaled heavily, shaking her head. "No."
"Why not?"
"Just because there are creatures in this world who are like gods, doesn't mean they are." Rainbow tilted her head to look squarely at Fawful. "Even your Valkyrie—for all the awesome things she's done—has her limits." She gulped. "Everything lives and everything dies. Just not everything manages to do so awesomely."
Fawful chewed on her lip. Her gaze was locked on Rainbow's pendant. "This... this chaos energy that you speak of..." Slowly, her eyes raised to Rainbow's level. "How long do you think you can fight it back?"
Rainbow simply stared back at her.
Fawful's ears folded. "How long have you known?"
"Between you and me?" Rainbow muttered. "I stopped living the very moment I saw the piles of ash that my friends had become." She gazed out at the stars again. "When Belle and Pilate hopped into my life, things changed... like a spark ignited something inside me. I learned to live once again. But even then, I knew... as I know now..." She slowly shook her head. "Nothing lasts forever. And—especially as of late—it's getting worse. I... I don't know how much time I have left. The flames of the machine world seem to help, but even that can't do the trick indefinitely."
"And yet, you stopped here." Fawful leaned her head to the side. "You have the flying Valkyrie Silver. You could have flown off to more important things on your journey, and yet you didn't. Why?"
"How could I?" Rainbow said quietly. She gulped. "You and I, Fawful? We're cut from the same cloth. Same with Sivrem, Jerrio, Kitsune, and all the little birds around the campfire." A faint smile. "We've got Equestria in our veins. It's just too good of a thing for me to pass up." She then winced. "I guess... I-I let it go to my head a little..."
Fawful nodded at that. Slowly, she pivoted about and sat right beside the cot. She faced the window full of stars, breathing evenly. At last, she said, "You aren't lying... about Commander Hurricane and the evil sky city..."
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "I'm afraid not, elder."
Fawful sighed. She closed her eyes and sat there in silence.
Rainbow fidgeted a bit. She glanced aside. "Do... uhm... er..."
Fawful opened her eyes and glanced up.
Rainbow gulped. "You and the others took me out of that place with the gold lights." Her brow furrowed. "How many know about what went down in there?"
Fawful adjusted her white bangs and said, "Only a few."
"Only a few?"
"The Gray-Feathers believe that the nature of our discussion should be kept in strictest confidence until all of the elders have reviewed it in great detail."
"Fawful... let's be real, here..." Rainbow sat up straight, wincing. "You can't keep the cork on that for long!"
"Rainbow—"
"Especially—nngh—in a secluded crater populated by flying horndogs! I mean, come on!" She smirked painfully. "That Jagold chick alone looks like a living prattle-a-minute."
"I know it must seem like an awful thing," Fawful said. "To keep a secret such as that from the Non-Grays."
"Pfft! Only because it is!"
"But you witnessed what happened down there!" Fawful exclaimed, wide-eyed. "You saw how most of the elders reacted!" She pointed at herself. "You s-saw how I reacted! You must understand, Rainbow, that we've never had a reason to challenge the scrolls in untold eons!"
"But if you just let me talk to everypony!" Rainbow said. "Someplace calm and out in the open! I promise I won't freak anyone out this time! All I need to do is sit them down and tell them all about... about..."
Fawful simply glared at Rainbow.
"Er... yeah..." Rainbow winced, her wings drooping. "Maybe it's best that your elders talk this one over."
"I'm inclined to agree," Fawful said, standing up and trotting towards a window.
Rainbow scooted up until she sat on the edge of the cot. "Do you... uh... do you have any idea what they're gonna say?"
"I'm afraid I don't," Fawful muttered. She lifted one hoof and rested it on the window frame while she gazed out onto the lower huts and platforms amidst the trees. "I am still freshly initiated, and I'm too young to accurately predict what they'll decide."
"But... th-they gotta own up to what I have to share with them, r-right?" Rainbow stepped off the cot, winced, and hobbled towards the window. She managed to stand upright the whole time. "There were tons of witnesses. They all saw the gold lights down there. There's no sane point in covering that all up, right—"
"Rainbow Dash, we are not a dishonest band of silencers!" Fawful said, seething slightly. She turned to frown at the mare. "Our chief duty as former-First-Borns is to look after the sanctity and preservation of the scrolls! Believe it or not, we are not opposed to truth and the evidence of truth!"
"Then... wh-what was with all the freaked out ponies downstairs, y'know?"
Fawful sighed, her ears folding. "Regardless of how much control we have over our faculties, we are still ponies, Rainbow Dash." She gulped. "As much as I hesitate to admit it, we are still vulnerable to fear."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that."
"You see, the Valkyrie has always been a source of strength and courage for us," Fawful explained. "Dwelling on her legacy has been a means of preparing ourselves for the inevitable Windlessness beyond death and beyond the greens."
Rainbow smirked. "And—like—who says you gotta give up all that monk-like hocus pocus up, huh?"
"But Rainbow..." Fawful clenched her teeth. "If what you say is true, and the Valkyrie was... was... a mere militant—!"
"Hey... whoah whoah whoah..." Rainbow waved a hoof. "Hurricane was no mere soldier. She led an entire race of ponies. Stratopolis wouldn't have survived its horrible winters to join Equestria if it wasn't for that mare! Heck, she was even responsible for helping pegasi survive the windigoes—"
"The what?"
"The... the windigoes..." Rainbow cleared her throat. "Big... uh... freaky ghost horses that bring pestilence, famine, and—most of all—snow and ice."
Fawful blinked, her mouth agape. "The frost demons," she murmured. "The Valkyrie... b-banished their blight from the skies of Light."
Rainbow chuckled. "Heh... ya see?" She smiled. "Equestria and Durandana has more in common than you think." She cleared her throat and tilted her hoof from side to side. "Aside from—y'know—the messiah worship schtick."
Fawful glanced up at Rainbow Dash. She blinked. "How do you think you factor in all of this, Rainbow?"
"Huh?"
Fawful reached forward and caressed the mare's mane.
Rainbow's eyes followed the elder's hoof, then glanced back at Fawful.
"You... you truly are a daughter of the Valkryie, aren't you?" Fawful's jaw trembled. "A First among First-Borns everywhere?"
Rainbow exhaled calmly. She grasped Fawful's hoof and held it between them while maintaining a gentle smile. "Over the last year or so, I've been called many things. Half of them I believe are bunk. The other half—I don't really care. All that matters to me is finding the strength to fly towards the next sunrise while remaining in one piece... and then—of course—to make sure the same goes for my friends."
"But... but..."
"Fawful, I am telling you... I am promising you... I didn't have any agenda for coming here. Other than to find out the truth and share that truth." She opened her mouth again, but lingered.
Fawful took notice of it.
After a sigh, Rainbow gazed towards the floor and muttered, "Guess that's not true. There is another angle to it all."
"And what's that?"
"I... I couldn't pass this place up," Rainbow said. "The moment I saw it... heard it... smelled it and tasted it..." Rainbow shook her head, sniffled, and smiled weakly. "I didn't think that after flying in one direction for so long th-that I'd somehow end up in a place like home. At least not this early." Rainbow gulped. "The timing seems all too perfect, considering... well..."
Fawful gazed at her worriedly.
Rainbow cleared her throat and shook her head. "But screw all that noise. Your elders are stressing about it. Why should we?" Rainbow tilted her head up, bearing a brave smirk. "So, tell me, Fawful..."
"Tell you what?"
"What does a girl in Central D do to party this time of night?" Bright teeth.
"I... I-I know, beloved," Bellesmith exhaled, trotting in wide circles across the top deck of the Noble Jury. "I can't help it. Don't you think they'd be back by now?"
"Roarke is a mare who fully commits to what she does," Pilate said. "I've no doubt that she had the entire day set aside for her exercises. Even up to sundown."
"Pilate. It's almost an hour past sundown."
"Perhaps there were some things she wished to test after the sun had set."
"Shhh!" Belle spun, gazing towards the horizon with a gaping expression. "Did you hear that?"
Pilate tilted his head, ears twitching. "I don't hear anything, beloved."
"Nnnnngh... I swear, I've been hearing explosions all day."
"That would fall in line with the sort of things Roarke would be testing."
"Pilate." Belle frowned. "I'm worried. Aren't you?"
The zebra slowly shook his head. "Honestly, no."
"Need I remind you that our little Kera is still out there with a former bounty hunter?"
"I'd be more worried for Roarke at this point."
"Ungh... Pilate..."
"Well, think of it this way." Pilate smirked. "If she had spent the day out with Rainbow Dash instead, she'd probably have spelunked ten monster-filled caves by now."
Belle ran a hoof through her chestnut bangs. "Hmmm... you have a point there."
Pilate shrugged. "And if she had spent the day with Zaid—"
"Guh! Don't go there!"
"Heheheh..."
"Speaking of Zaid, have you noticed how he and Props appear to be—?" Belle's words were cut off by the flapping of feathers. She glanced up.
A trio of Durandanans were hovering right above the stern of the Noble Jury. The largest of the three deposited an earth pony down onto the top deck. It took some squinting, but Belle made out the unmistakable shape of Ebon Mane. The stallion pivoted to face the pegasi and gestured towards them, thanking them.
"Hey! Don't mention it, outsider!" one chirped.
"Yeah!" One of the others nodded. "I'd be feathered too if I was wingless! May First Light bless ya!" And the three flew their way towards the Western Tower. "Wow... did you ever meet a stallion that smelled that good?"
"Hrmmmm..." Pilate tilted his head in Belle's direction. "I have two guesses, but I'm not in the mood for making a fool of myself this late."
"Ebon!" Belle trotted briskly towards him, grinning. "You're back! Why..." She came to a stop, blinking at his limp figure. "Why d-didn't you take the Lounge sphere back? Where's Roarke and the others?"
Ebon lingered on the top deck. He turned, gazing lethargically at the mare. "I... I dunno..." He trotted coldly past her and headed towards the cockpit entrance. "They'll come around. Don't worry."
Belle watched him pass by, her lips pursed.
"Well, he sounded remarkably... dead," Pilate said.
"If only you could see his expression." Belle gulped. "Though I doubt the O.A.S.I.S. Sphere would do it any justice, even with all the upgrades."
"Perhaps something less than pleasant went down between him and Eagle Eye."
"Spark spare us!" Belle exclaimed. "That's a horrible thing to ponder."
"Was he carried here by one of the locals?"
"Seems that way. Ebon isn't the type to approach strangers without—"
"Belle," Pilate murmured, reaching a hoof out to her shoulder.
"What?"
The zebra's ears twitched as he motioned in the direction of the ship's stern.
Belle stared at him. Eventually, she gasped, for she heard the unmistakable sound of mana engines gliding. "The sphere!"
"Come..." Pilate grinned warmly, tugging Belle towards the stairwell. "Let's take a whizz, shall we?"
The black transport vessel had landed and the hangar doors were closing right as Belle and Pilate descended the stairwell and entered on the bottom floor.
"May I advise that we not go on the offensive immediately? At least not in front of Kera?" Pilate remarked. "It's perfectly natural to be displeased with Roarke for being out this long, but I think we can choose a more strategic time and place for expressing our frustrations and concerns."
"I'm more concerned about Kera at the moment, to be perfectly honest," Belle said while helping Pilate down the stairs. "She's so easily bored. Having spent the entire day out there while Roarke shuffled through one obscure piece of equipment to another? She'll probably never want to leave the ship again."
"Wasn't she promised explosions?"
"The girl has grown up with explosions, Pilate. I really think she should have stayed by our side today."
"The filly needs to stretch her legs once in a while. Not to mention her horn."
"I know that. But if today has proven anything, it's that we need to allow her freedom in smaller and more manageable slices of—"
The two reached the bottom floor of the hangar, and they barely had time to breathe when Kera came scampering from the opened doors of the transport. "Belle! Pilate!" She leapt high, practically tackling Bellesmith. "Heeeee! Hi hi hi!"
"Gaaah!" Belle fell back on her haunches, catching Kera. She stifled a giggle and smiled at the filly. "Well, hello there yourself!"
"We had the best time! There were explosions and big rocks and small rocks and missiles!"
"Erm... well..." Belle fidgeted with the foal in her grasp. "That's... uhm... v-very..." She blinked, feeling the child's silken mane as she nuzzled Belle in crook of her neck. "...Kera?"
"Hmmmmm..." Kera smiled, her eyes shut above rosy, tattooed cheeks. "Have I mentioned how much I love you?" She clutched Belle's shoulder and giggled again. "For real. You guys are swell. I really should tell you that more. I don't care how sappy."
Belle blinked, her eyes slightly misty. "Why... what a darling thing to say, Kera." She sniffed, then lovingly stroked the filly's mane while looking her in the eye. "Looks like you had a blissful day."
"Mmmhmm! Hmmhmm!" Kera grinned, her green tail flicking. "Roarke taught me a lot of stuff! And then I almost killed her!"
"I see..." Belle's eyes darted up towards Roarke. Her coy smile lingered. "It's a good thing that she's so resourceful."
"Yes," Roarke said. She finished dropping a crate of equipment into the corner of the hangar. "Fortunately, I am." She fidgeted slightly. Then, with a forced twirl, she turned from the equipment and trotted across the hangar. Belle was standing up by the time she came to a stop. "You and Pilate have done much good to Kera. It was... a pleasure to spend a day with her." She stretched a hoof out.
Belle looked at it, then at the metal mare's eye-lenses. "Roarke? What...?"
"I assume it is traditional by Ledomaritan custom to hoof-bump in celebratory fashion?" the ex-bounty hunter said.
Belle merely smiled. She gently moved Kera aside and flung her arms around Roarke.
The metal mare's body stiffened in Belle's embrace. Twitching, she sighed out the side of her muzzle. "This is turning into a disturbing pattern..."
"Mmmmm... get used to it," Belle said with a smile.
"Heeheehee!" Kera giggled.
Pilate stood nearby, smiling as he overheard the exchange. Just then, a series of petite hoofsteps clattered across the hangar floor behind him. He turned, took one sniff, and smiled. "Eagle Eye. Have a nice day, I hope? You know, Ebon arrived not that long ago and—"
"I know," Eagle murmured, his eyes glossy as he trudged right past the zebra. "Sorry. I... I-I'm tired. I'm heading to bed."
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. He turned, following the sound of Eagle's retreating steps. He gazed blindly with a curious expression. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned back towards the conversation ensuing between Kera, Roarke, and Bellesmith.
"And so I gripped Nevlamas' big crystal death antlers like this, ya see?!" Rainbow Dash said, grinning into the firelight. She hovered above an open wooden platform clinging to the stalk of Central D. No less than a hundred pegasi sat beneath her, gazing through the smoke and embers in jaw-dropping awe. "And she's flying down the mountainside at full force, right? Any moment and she could grind me to a pulp and then breathe glowy aquamarine flame all over my bubbling corpse! Well, I wasn't about to have any of that! Time to kick some mutant chaos dragon tail, am I right?!"
The crowd murmured, feathers rustling. Jerrio squinted with perpetual skepticism. Sivrem leaned against a wooden support strut with his forearms folded. He smirked at the other Durandanans, then stared pleasantly up at the mare.
"So, I take this baby right here..." Rainbow Dash touched the pendant, summoning a tiny glow. The pegasi all gasped harder. "And I shine it into Nevlamas' skull! Pewwwwwwwww! Endless stream of harmonic energy, ya feel me? And—guess what?—it does the trick! A whole crapton of her scales melt away and she's bleeding all over like a chocolate-filled pinata! By the time she's reached the base of the mountain, she's become so weak that I could practically suplex her! I mean, why not! I've had tons of practice along my journey!"
Giggles and chuckles. Jagold clung to Smythe as she stammered, "And then what happened?"
"Pffft. She crashed into the countryside. But I had bigger fish to fry, so I spat on her, turned tail, and glided all the way to the battlefield where I was headed! And don't even get me started on all of the tattooed warriors and screaming managliders I took down! It was like fireworks during the Summer Sun Celebration!"
The Durandanans chuckled and murmured in awe amongst themselves.
Rainbow grinned wide. "And you know what the best part is?" Her eyes darted across everypony. Eventually, she winked. "It wasn't the first dragon I had headbutted with! Not by a longshot!"
The ponies all cooed in awe, eventually clapping their hooves against the wooden surface of the platform. Rayvine lay on her chest, gazing up at Rainbow Dash with a warm smile and even warmer ear-tips.
"That's so awesome!"
"Tell us more, outsider!"
"I haven't felt this excited since I was a little sparrow!"
"Heh... trust me..." Rainbow Dash touched down, pretending to examine her hoof as she stood beside the fireplace. "All of the crazy stuff I've done could fill a book... or maybe five..." She tongued the inside of her mouth, gazing across the stars above. "Or twelve."
"Tell us about the Gold Lights!"
Rainbow's blood went cold. "Errrrrrr..." She glanced through the campfire.
A young mare with red wings blinked back. "We... we h-heard that you made Gold Lights... your own Gold Lights down below..." She gulped. "Where only Gray Feathers and First-Borns go."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
Jerrio's eyes darted from her to the Durandanans and back. He stood in silence.
"I... don't exactly know what you think you heard," Rainbow eventually blurted. "If I were you, I'd stop paying bridle gossip any mind and j-just... y'know... listen to your elders! Like you always do, ya dig?"
"But... b-but—!"
Kitsune cleared her throat. She hovered above the crowd, smiling. "Rainbow Dash is right. Besides, it's quite late. We have many chores to do in the morning."
The crowd collectively groaned.
"Kitsune has a point, gulls," Sivrem added, yanking at a rope that suspended a varnished whicker dome over the fire. He lowered it so that it stifled the flames, gradually choking them to a low flicker. "The leatherbacks won't milk themselves. Even with outsiders visiting on floating Valkyrie Silver, our tasks here in the basin do not end." He motioned with a sweep of his mighty wings. "Go to roost. All of you."
"And for those of you going to roost in pairs..." Kitsune hollered after the sulking, retreating groups. "Just get it over with and get some rest, ya hear?"
Several chuckling voices echoed back. Eventually the group dissipated.
Rainbow stood on the edge of the platform. She turned to see Kitsune and Sivrem floating towards her.
"Don't mind them, Rainbow," Kitsune said. "Their heads are like their wings. They're prone to catching a breeze—any breeze."
"Well, I don't blame them," Rainbow said. "This crater is cool and all... but it's still a crater." Her ears folded. "Maybe... m-maybe I shouldn't have told tales of my journey beyond the greens."
"Nonsense!" Sivrem grinned wide. "You made their entire day! Duranda knows you made mine!" he winked.
"A story is a story," Kitsune said. "If nothing else, it'll live on in their dreams."
"Yeah, sure. I can dig that." Rainbow said. She gulped, then fidgeted as she glanced sideways at the two. "Uh... just... j-just how much do they know."
"Hmmm?"
"Lemme put this another way," Rainbow muttered. "How much do you guys know?"
Kitsune and Sivrem exchanged glances. With lingering smiles, it was Kitsune who spoke first, and quietly: "We know that... that you collapsed again."
"Just like earlier when you outflew us in the Raked Ravine," Sivrem said.
"Only this time it was... a lot scarier," Kitsune remarked.
"Uh huh..." Rainbow nodded, then gulped. "And is that all you know?"
The two First-Borns were silent.
"Did anypony tell you about what went on downstairs? Y'know... in the room with all the Valkyrie Silv—?"
"You said it yourself, Rainbow Dash," Kitsune said. "Best to listen to our elders."
"Yeah. And I know you guys respect them. But—"
"Rainbow, I know it must seem very... very odd to you," Sivrem said with a calm smile. He waved a hoof as he spoke. "But relying on their wise judgment has worked here for countless generations. They preserve the scrolls and guide us towards liberation by the Valkyrie's Shout, both in this life and in the Windlessness beyond."
"Yeah, and I respect that—"
"Then do not concern yourself with what the elders decide or don't decide," Kitsune remarked. "They'll come to you when they've made their choice. They'll come to all of us."
Rainbow took a deep breath. "I... I just don't want you guys to freak out, y'know? And I know how much it stinks to have to wait for something important to be decided by others..."
"Rainbow, look at me," Kitsune said, caressing the mare's chin. She smiled. "Hanging out with you has made us anything but anxious." She winked. "If you came here to Durandana bringing something horrible, I'm sure Sivrem and I would have figured it out by now."
"And we woulda kicked your flank," Sivrem said with a wink.
Kitsune giggled. "Yes, well, we would have tried to, anyway."
"Hah hah!" Sivrem slapped his own knee, grinning. "Isn't that the truth?!" He squinted Rainbow's way. "I would love for you to perform that amazing sky light trick before Ice's flock. You think it's possible?"
"Uhhhhh... you mean the sonic rainboom?" Rainbow gulped. "Honestly, I'm not s-sure I have another one of those in me right now." She suddenly paled, staring off into the glittering lights of Central D. "I'm not sure... I have another one of th-those in me ever."
Sivrem and Kitsune exchanged glances. They gazed calmly at Rainbow. "Would you like an escort back to your Valkyrie silver?"
"No... heh..." Rainbow smiled. "I'm good. But thanks, though. You two get some rest."
"Rainbow Dash, are you certain you shouldn't reconsider?" Sivrem said in a very calm tone.
Rainbow opened her mouth, her eyes lingering on their serious expressions. "Yes. I'm certain. I'll be fine, okay?"
Silence.
"Very well," Sivrem said, nodding. He smiled. "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Perhaps you could tell us of the other dragons you've battled."
"Heh..." Rainbow kicked at the floor, smirking. "I'm afraid you guys have heard the most exciting one."
"Hmmm..." Sivrem winked, flapped his wings, and took off. "Somehow I doubt that."
"Have a blessed First Light, Rainbow," Kitsune said, soaring after him.
"Yeah, uh..." Rainbow waved. "You too." As the two pegasi disappeared along the glittering night sky, she stood alone, exhaling hard as she glanced across the stars, tree branches, and lanterns of Central D. The wind blew through her mane, warm and inviting. She closed her eyes, stretching her wings out as she smiled to herself. Her bangs fluttered in the nightly breeze, and for a brief moment Rainbow was sitting on a cloud overlooking the hazy stretches of Cloudsdale and its many buildings. An endless array of lights twinkled in the sky, from homes to weather factories to public courtyards. In the distance, lighting flashed, giving the lofty world an undercurrent of magic and mystique.
Rainbow exhaled with a shuddering breath. At last, she turned west and opened her eyes. She instantly got a muzzle-ful of Rayvinne.
"You must have been scared."
"Gah!" Rainbow hobbled backwards, panting.
"Heehee... like that!" Rayvinne said, grinning from ear-to-ear. "A pony? As tiny as you? Taking on some giant reptilian fire-breathing beast? It's hard enough to believe that you can steer a leatherback off course."
"Yeah, well, Nevlamas was no push-over, and—" Rainbow blinked. "Wait, what do you mean 'tiny?'"
Rayvinne giggled, pacing in a close circle around Rainbow. "Please. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Jagold's a little thing, but she knows how to make a big splash." Rayvinne paused to smirk. "In more ways than one."
"Well... uh... glad to know you gals are such... g-good friends." Rainbow blinked, turning her head to blink at Rayvinne. "Aren't you supposed to be heading to bed?"
"Hmmm. Aren't we all?"
"For real, I don't wanna be stepping on anypony's feathers," Rainbow said, chuckling to herself. She glanced up at the higher platforms. "Kitsune and Sivrem are obviously calling the shots here. But, really, I think they're totally qualified for the leadership thingy." She turned back. "I bet you're really proud to fly alongside them everyday—Mmmmmff!"
Rayvinne's muzzle was clamped tightly over Rainbow's.
Eyes bulging, Rainbow yanked her neck back, disentangling her lips from Rayvinne's with a comical pop!. "Whoah... whoahhhhhhhh-ho-ho-ho..." She stretched her hooves out, bracing Rayvinne's shoulders. "Heh... I like your style, girl, but—for real—it's all about the landing!"
"I agree." Rayvinne grinned, her eyes thin. "Your nest or mine?"
"Buh?"
"You wanna land?" The pegasus purred, nuzzling one of Rainbow's forelimbs. "I've got a place for that. And then, right after, I can show you what it truly means to fly."
Rainbow stared, her jaw dropped. "Uhhhh... ahem... uhhh..." She wrenched her eyes away, grinning stupidly as her cheeks caught aflame. "Not th-that... that doesn't seem like a really swell invitation or anything..."
"Hmmmm..." Rayvinne nuzzled her cheek up the length of Rainbow's leg. "Who's inviting?"
Rainbow blinked. "Look, no..."
"It's not that long of a flight—"
"I'm sorry, but no, okay?" Rainbow yanked her leg out of Rayvinne's grip. "I'm flattered. And..." She winced. "Damn if you aren't hot as Tartarus, but... I can't..."
"I won't," Rainbow said. Her frown was a brief, brief thing, swallowed up by a sigh as she ran a hoof through her bangs. "Don't take it personally. But... but it's just that... I'm not in a good place for—"
"Hmmm..." Rayvine leaned back with a knowing smirk. "There's somepony else, isn't there?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, staring at Rayvinne. Eventually she murmured, "I... I-I don't really know..." She gulped. "But there might as well be."
Rayvinne's wingtips fluttered. "Well, have them join!"
"HAH!" Rainbow barked. She tilted her head back, eyes rolling. "HA HA!" She exhaled long and slow. "Whewwwwwww..." A smirk. "Go to bed, Rayvinne."
"Hmmph. Fine." Rayvinne brushed past Rainbow, as did her feathers and feathers and feathers. "But the moment you change your mind..." She winked. "I'll be waiting." Then, with a heavy flap of her wings, she took off into the glittering night sky.
Rainbow Dash stood there, watching her. All the while, her ears twitched to a persistent rattling sound. She realized it was her Loyalty Pendant rhythmically clattering with her intense heartbeat. She pressed a hoof to the gem and steadied herself with a deep breath.
"I hope you know," Fawful's voice remarked, descending from above. "You just turned down the opportunity of a lifetime."
Rainbow turned to glance at the elder. "And just how would you know that?"
Fawful smirked in the penumbra of distant lantern light. "I haven't exactly been a Gray Feather for long." She pointed in the direction where the other mare had just flown. "And Rayvinne's older than she looks."
"You can stop right there. For real." Rainbow gulped. "Must be hard to 'protect scrolls' in a place like this with all of the... distractions."
"Hmmmm..." Fawful chuckled breathily. "We Durandanans have more self-control than you think. Especially when it matters." She landed and pointed at the pegasus. "So do you, it would seem."
"That wasn't self-control," Rainbow muttered. She then sighed, wings drooping. "That was... something else."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"No."
"My apologies."
"Nothing to be sorry about." Rainbow glanced over. She blinked calmly. "However, you could talk to me about what the elders have decided."
Fawful nodded. "Yes. Yes, I could..."
"Well?" Rainbow gulped. "Is it good news or bad news?"
Fawful gazed thoughtfully into the stars. "Well..." She gave Rainbow a faint smile. "A little bit of both."
"The elders are willing to talk to Celestia," Rainbow Dash said. "Through... erm... the sword."
"Truly?" Pilate remarked. He and Bellesmith looked up from where they sat on a couch inside the Noble Jury's Lounge. Kera was curled up beside Bellesmith, a contented smile plastered on her slumbering face as the mare stroked her mane. "That was rather quick."
"Er... they want some time to prepare, though," Rainbow said. "So... erm... w-we're gonna be here at least two more days." She winced from where she hovered over the mess hall's table. "You think that's doable?"
"Rainbow, this is major development that could very well determine the future of these remarkable ponies," Pilate said. "I'm sure the crew will let you take as much time as you need."
"Mmmm..." Belle chewed on the edge of her lip.
The zebra tilted his head towards her. "Or... erm... am I-I wrong?"
"I'm all for staying here personally," Belle said. "But what about Val Roa? Certainly we plan to get there sooner than later."
"We'll still be making it there faster than Chrysalis could ever have expected us!" Rainbow said with a smirk. "Going around the Sky Stabs would have taken ten times as long!"
"Yes, but still..." Belle took a deep breath, glancing across the mess hall. "There is no telling how swiftly she might regain her strength."
"Pffft. Without her brood? She's chump change!"
"And I appreciate your optimism there, Rainbow," Belle said with a smile. "But, logically speaking, there is no real way to tell just how powerful she might become."
"There is no real reason to tell anything," Pilate remarked. "All things considered—we really don't know all that much about what Chrysalis is up to in Val Roa, aside from what she's capable of."
Rainbow rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmmmm..." Her eyes darted up. "Has Props been able to make contact with her Uncle Prowse?"
Pilate shook his head. "Not sense we've entered this crater."
"Though I doubt she's put much effort into contacting him as of late," Belle said. "She's been distracted as of late."
"Distracted?" Rainbow blinked. "How?"
"Oh... well... er..." Belle gulped and smiled nervously. "You know Props!"
"Heh. Yeah, sure."
"I must say, Rainbow," Pilate spoke up. "These Durandanans seem to be taking all of this rather nicely."
"Ehhhhhh..." Rainbow winced.
Pilate's ears twitched. "...No?"
"Things could have gone down a lot smoother," Rainbow said. "I only have myself to blame for a lot of that."
"But apparently they're willing to communicate with the Princess directly."
"Yeah. But who the hay knows where that could go," Rainbow muttered in mid-hover. "I did get them to agree with one thing, though."
"Hmmm? What's that?"
"I still can't make heads or tails out of how Duranda and the rest of the ponies got here in the first place," Rainbow said. "I mean, that inner sanctum thingy of theirs is sooooooooooooo a piece of the Machine World. And the structure above it is a piece of Stratopolis."
"You're certain of that, Rainbow?" Belle asked.
"Sure as I am awesome!"
"Well, no arguing that," Belle said with a smile.
"But I don't buy that the piece of Stratopolis smashed into this place and caused the crater! I mean... the structure is just too dang small! Those buildings aren't exactly indestructable. Like, we all saw how Stratopolis crumbled once it hit the skystone fields." She winced, then smiled nervously in Pilate's direction. "Erm... most of us saw it. Sorry."
"That's quite alright," Pilate said with a nod and a smile. "I got a front row seat. I'm not complaining."
"Then what do you think caused the crater?" Belle asked. "Or exposed the machine world?"
"That's what I wanna find out," Rainbow said. She tilted about. "So, I got the elders' permission to bring somepony to the sanctum so that we could study the place together and hopefully come up with some answers."
"Hmmm?" Pilate tilted his head aside. "Like who?"
Rainbow was silent.
Pilate gulped. "Me?"
"You and Belle got the O.A.S.I.S. thingy working again, right?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"Pilate, you've always been my go-to zebra for figuring all this Austraeoh crap out," Rainbow said. "Granted, you've been my only zebra—but you catch my drift. With your brains and that scanning orb thingy, maybe the two of us can come together and figure out from the site just what happened."
"But—Rainbow—it's been several thousand years!" He chuckled helplessly. "I mean... I'm flattered! But just what could we possibly find?"
"Isn't it a smart thing to have a naked hypotenuse?"
"Null hypothesis," Belle corrected.
"Yeah. What she said."
"To be perfectly honest, Rainbow, I'm not sure how much I can even scrounge up in just two days!" Pilate remarked. "Even with O.A.S.I.S. at full capacity."
"Yeah, but think of it!" Rainbow hovered down until she was directly in front of where the stallion sat. "This is the one opportunity in thousands of years that anypony with science has been allowed to study this site! And what we discover could possibly provide answers to these ponies that they've been missing out on for eons!"
"Well... yes..." Pilate fidgeted. "I do suppose that does carry an air of excitement to it."
"Rainbow, how do we know that the Durandanans truly desire to have these answers?"
"Huh?" Rainbow turned towards her, muzzle scrunched. "Well... b-because it's the truth, Ding-Dong! I can't be leaving these ponies in the dark!"
"They seem to be doing quite well for themselves, Rainbow," Belle said with a gentle smile. "Why, they even have a way of harnessing the light on their own."
Rainbow squinted at her. "Are... you suggesting that we just leave them the way they are?" Rainbow gestured blindly with a hoof. "That we just let them keep believing that they're the only ponies who've ever existed? That Commander Hurricane is some Goddess Valkyrie Mare Thingy and that there're no Alicorn Princesses?"
"It's worked for them for so long, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, but it's not..." Rainbow sighed. "Belle, it's not true."
"Isn't it more appropriate to say that it's simply what you don't believe?"
"What?!" Rainbow frowned. "No! No, it's not. This is completely different!"
"How so?"
"B-because I know who raises and lowers the sun!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "I know who the true source of Harmony is! I've seen it with my own eyes! I've lived it!"
"Then how come you didn't stop to preach to the ponies in Darkstine?" Belle asked. "Or Silvadel? Or—heh—how come you've never once taken a swipe at me and Pilate for adhering to the Spark?"
With a sigh, Rainbow's wings went slack. She plopped down on the edge of the mess hall, balancing her chin on a forelimb. "Hrmmmmfff... it's because I'm related to them. Or at least I feel that way."
"We're all related in some fashion or another, Rainbow," Pilate said.
"Yeah, well, you don't have wings." Rainbow blinked, then winced. "Erm... no offense."
"I think we understand, Rainbow," Belle said with a smile. "You have every reason to believe that these Durandanans are direct descendants from proto-Equestrians. I think it's very noble that you want to illuminate these pegasi to the best of your ability."
"Yeah... but?" Rainbow looked up with bored eyes. "You're dying to tell me otherwise, aren't ya, Belle?"
"Truthfully, Rainbow?" The mare paused in stroking Kera's mane to shrug. "I think we should keep in mind what's best for the Durandanans. Evidently they express a legitimate curiosity in what you have to share with them."
"And it's a good sign that they're willing to let another outsider help you in conducting a study on the area," Pilate added.
"But... there are so many possible ramifications to what's being unveiled here," Belle said. "For better or for worse, it could deconstruct the entire system that they've established after all these years. Why... just the act of acclimating to even a sliver of modern Equestrian societal values could shock them to the core!"
"I... that..." Rainbow gulped. "Nopony ever said that they'd have to change who they are!"
Belle raised an eyebrow. "Really? You think Princess Celestia and Luna would be accepting of the Durandanan 'family' structure?"
"Or more appropriately, the lack of one?" Pilate remarked.
Rainbow squirmed on the edge of the table. She squeaked forth, "M-maybe? I mean... Celestia's used to this sort of diplomat stuff! It's her bread and butter! And... and it's not like the Equestrian idea of Harmony can be forced—" She stopped dead in her speech, blinking.
Pilate and Belle were silent.
Rainbow sighed heavily, running a hoof through her mane. "I guess I haven't put a lot of thought into this." She gulped. "Not like I should have."
"Nopony can blame you for being enthusiastic, Rainbow Dash," Belle said. She then smiled. "Did you enjoy your day spent in Central D?"
"Oh girl... lemme tell ya!" Rainbow grinned, her wings fluttering and carrying her back into the air. "First, we showed these leatherbacks who's the boss. Vrmmm-nyeeeeuuuur! Heh! Felt just like cloud kicking back home! Erm... with less kicking. They wouldn't make nice milk that way."
"Heehee... I imagine not..."
"And then I raced Sivrem and Kitsune and the rest!" Rainbow grinned, gesturing with her hoof. "Fwoooooosh! We soared on through this bigflank Ravine like it was nopony's business! I mean... pffft... it ain't got nothin' on the Ghastly Gorge back in Equestria, but I totally schooled them! Even made a sonic rainboom out of it!"
"Sonic... rainboom...?" Pilate remarked.
"Hah! Yeah! Boy, you shoulda heard them gasp! And then they applauded and cheered! It was like being at a Wonderbolts Airshow!" Rainbow grinned wide. "And don't get me started on their campfire stories!"
"Their stories or yours?" Belle remarked with a cool grin.
"Pffft! Mine, of course! I told them about kicking Nevlamas' tail and I had every single one of them instantly floored! Not a single lowered wing in the crowd... heh... if you catch my drift..."
"Loud and clear, Rainbow," Pilate said. "We're quite happy you hit it off so well."
"Yeah—and... y'know... it got rough there for a second—but only a brief second, ya feel me?!" Rainbow said, smiling. "Fawful—the Gray Feather I'm communicating with—she's a lot cooler than I expected. Hell, all of them are super cool! Even the elders who sometimes lose their cool!" She giggled, hugging herself in mid-air. "And Sivrem's so badass and Kitsune's so confident and Rayvinne..." She rolled her eyes, cheeks blushing. "Don't get me started. Ahem. But... everypony's so chillaxed and they've got everything so together! There's no bullying, no wars, no enslavement—it's just a perfect flock, y'know!"
"Wow, Rainbow Dash," Belle uttered, smiling warmly. "It's been a while since I've seen you this... this..."
Pilate interjected, "Toasty?"
"Hah! Yeah, sure!" Rainbow giggled again. "Heeheehee! Whew... boy would it suck to leave a place like this—" Her muzzle froze in place, and her ears folded slightly. She added with a squeak: "So soon, I mean. But... I-I've got things to talk out with Celestia, to get her prepared and all." She cleared her throat. "And... of c-course, there's the sanctum that deserves studying... and... uhmmm..."
Silence.
Pilate tilted his head towards Belle. Belle glanced at him, then up at Rainbow. "You say there's an exposed piece of the machine world down below?"
Rainbow gulped and nodded. "Yeah. Just a patch. It responds to an artifact of Commander Hurricane's—like... a piece of her mane hair attached to a helmet."
"Just like the metal responds to you?" Pilate asked.
"Right."
"And..." Belle squinted. "...is there a door in there?"
Rainbow shook her head. "If there was, I would have noticed right away. Heck... I'm sure the Durandanans would have opened it centuries ago with that helmet of theirs."
"So... there's no way of getting close to the ruby flame?"
"Er... I don't think so, Belle," Rainbow said in a low tone. "Besides, I... uh..."
"What?"
Rainbow shrugged. "I'm not sensing any nearby. The last few times I've come close to the stuff, I could sense where it was at all times. That's not the case here. Beats me where the heck the next flame is—but I'm guessing between here and Val Roa."
"Or beyond?" Pilate asked.
"Yeah, I guess."
More silence.
"I... uh... I guess I should get some rest... heh..." Rainbow scratched the back of her neck. "I need to talk to Celestia in the morning. Lonnnnng talk."
"I can only imagine," Belle said.
"Pilate, you on board or not?" Rainbow asked. "Sorry to put you on the spot, dude, but I need your talents here. Can't do squat without 'em."
"Heh..." Pilate sat up straight. "I am as willing as I am intrigued. I'll do the best I can. Besides..." He smirked. "I doubt these pegasi will feel threatened by a blind zebra with a metal plate wandering around their sacred hovels."
"Now that's the spirit!" Rainbow smirked, patting Pilate's shoulder as he flapped past the pair. "I gotta hit the hay. Wish I could say goodnight to all the Jurists, but—not much time."
"Right."
"Say, where's Roarke? Any of you seen her?"
"Errrrr..." Pilate pivoted his head towards Belle.
"She was... with Kera all day," Belle said. "But, otherwise, she's made her scarce."
Rainbow nodded quietly. Eventually, she said, "Well, the hammock calls. Thanks for hearing me out, guys." She smiled, waving as she hovered away. "You're swell... as always!"
"What are best friends for?"
"Heh... I know, right?" And Rainbow was gone.
Slowly, Pilate and Belle leaned against each other. A quiet breath was shared between them as they lingered beside Kera's slumbering form.
"What... what do you think, beloved?" Pilate said quietly.
"I was going to ask the same of you," Belle muttered.
A collective sigh. They nuzzled each other.
"Just... give it time," Pilate said quietly. "Whatever happens... it will be for the best."
"Can we honestly believe so?"
"Do we have a choice? Should we?"
Belle bit her lip. Her eyes grew misty as she closed them. Pilate rested his chin atop her head, holding her close as the seconds drifted by.
Eagle Eye stirred in his cot. He sat up, groaning inwardly. The first thing he instinctually did was levitate a brush across the cramped quarters to straighten out his mane. However, halfway through the routine, he paused, staring dully at an empty space beside him on the cot.
A sigh escaped his lips.
He dropped the brush to the floor, swung out of bed, and trotted dizzily across the tiny compartment.
Eagle trotted up to where the second floor ended at the vertical crawslpace towards the front of the Jury. He placed one hoof on a ladder rung... and paused. His ears twitched to the sound of murmurs and commotion. He stared down the crawlspace.
In the sunlight glaring through the observation room, he spotted the shadows of Zaid and Props. The two ponies rambled on in casual conversation. At one point, Props giggled, and Eagle could see the shadow of her mane flouncing while Zaid leaned against the bulkheads. The stallion chuckled, and soon the conversation continued on for an unknown length of time.
Eagle wrenched his gaze away and crawled up the ladder.
Inside the cockpit, Floydien was grumbling to himself, using two cloven hooves to fix a loose panel just above the airship's instruments. The elk suppressed several angry curse words. At first—as Eagle came up from below—he was at a loss to figure out just why Floydien was holding his voice down.
Then he heard two voices from the top deck beyond the cockpit: one raspy and the other disembodied, majestic. Eagle Eye craned his neck, peering onto the sun-lit exterior of the Noble Jury. There, he saw Rainbow Dash sitting up on the edge of the ship's port side railing. Her legs dangled, and she had the Sword of Solstice balanced across her thighs.
"...too quickly, Rainbow Dash. My sister and I would be more than happy to speak with them, but only on their terms. It would not be wise to rush them."
"And I-I'm totally not, Your Highness! But—face it—getting to hear from you and Luna would be the simplest and easiest way to show them who's really running the place!"
"It's true that Celestia and I maintain the Sun and Moon for this physical plane, but our rule only covers Equestria Proper. Need I remind you that there are countless landscapes all throughout this world that exist beyond our sphere of influence? Some of them even harmoniously."
"Yeah, but—like—most of them not harmoniously. Ya think?"
"From what you've described, it seems as though the Durandanans have done magnificently on their own, even if their values are considerably different than Equestria's."
"Are you s-saying that we should just leave them be?! Celestia, they're all Equestrians by blood! They're... th-they're like a long lost flock!"
"Rainbow, I'll have you know that I feel responsible for all living beings that exist—incuding all the ones who don't even belong to Equestria."
"And I-I'm totally not denying that! It's just—"
"I could have set out long... long ago to bring every remote civilization into my fold. But while harmony is something that can be maintain, it mustn't be forced, for then it becomes a mechanism. I fear that we have... mutually learned th-that the hard way with the Elements of Harmony..."
"Mmmmm... yeah... y-yeah, I guess so..."
"My long lost brothers and sisters sacrificed everything to do their best for this plane, and their blessing of harmony exists today as a natural essence, breathing life and vigor into this world. As the last immortal alicorns, Luna and I are tasked with illuminating the world and staving off chaos so that the creatures still dwelling on this plane can bask in peace for as long as the world will allow them."
"Which isn't for too much friggin' longer, if what Axan says is true."
"I am not entirely convinced that Axan's views are completely accurate in that matter. Just because the Divines are dying doesn't mean that the whole world is doomed as well. Then again, all things do come to an end. I simply haven't had the time nor the resources to investigate the matter thoroughly."
"Right... chaos rift and all..."
"But Luna's sarosian agents and Cadance's expedition are attempting to learn all that they can. And yet, despite our efforts, you—Rainbow Dash—are still the finest and most learned pioneer that this kingdom has ever produced. If there is any pony who can discover the truth, it's you. For that, you have my pride, my confidence, and even a little bit of my envy."
"Heh... you ain't so bad yourself, Your Highness."
"But not all ponies are quite so bent on discovery. I've no doubt that your presence there in Durandana has sparked a fire of curiosity in the locals. I will gladly do what I can to satiate the wonder in their hearts, for I too am eager to make a connection with these long lost souls. But I will do so only if it is approved by the powers that be. Please, whatever you do, Rainbow Dash, do not thrust this knowledge upon them with any more spontaneous dramatics. This is a very delicate situation, and I would greatly appreciate your tactfulness."
"Hey, don't sweat it, Princess! 'Tact' is my middle name!... along with 'Danger' and 'Professionalism' and... and... erm... something else. Begins with a 'J,' I think..."
By this point, Eagle Eye had shuffled back down the crawlspace without saying a word to either Rainbow Dash or Floydien.
Belle and Josho were seated in the lounge of the mess hall while Eagle Eye trotted by.
"So, the plan is that Rainbow Dash will carry Pilate off to Central D, and there they'll investigate the inner sanctum with its Gold Lights—using the O.A.S.I.S. in conjunction with my beloved's mimetic mind, of course."
"Wow. Heh. It's a dayum good thing you got all that fixed in time."
"I know, right? It was difficult working past the alterations Roarke made to help Pilate harness the Oracular Array."
"Actually, I was talkin' about the zebra's brains."
"Heeheehee... yes, well... I know certain languages that even Pilate didn't know he could speak."
"If I was a lot younger, I would have asked for more sordid details."
"And if I was younger, I probably would have told you."
"Fair enough. Say, where's the rust bucket off to this morning?"
"Hmmm? You mean Roarke? Is she gone again?"
"She took the Whizzer thingy and flew off. I figured that was why Rainbow was having to carry your husband horse."
"Beats me where Roarke has gone off to. I think she just doesn't want to be on board the Jury today."
"Heh, yeah. What—with all these winged cuccos flying all around us."
"No, I... I think she's trying to avoid something else."
"Oh?"
"But still, she took really good care of Kera yesterday."
"Is that so?"
"Mmmhmmm. Kera had a grand old time. Apparently it wore her out, because she's still sleeping in."
"This late?"
"Heehee. Yes, the silly filly."
"I'm surprised Roarke didn't bring her back in pieces."
"And yet, I think she's succeeding. You know? There are times when Pilate and I fear that we just don't know how to reach Kera at times—"
"You saps don't give yourselves enough friggin' credit."
"No, perhaps not. And yet... I think Roarke found something in Kera that needed attention. I have somewhat of an idea as to what it is... but I'm too busy feeling dumbstruck that Roarke made her mark that easily."
"Well, it's a shocker to me. I always thought the Searonese used fillies for target practice."
"Oh please, Josho. I think it's about high time we stopped harping on Roarke for being who she is."
"And why's that?"
"Isn't it obvious? She's still on board the Jury."
"So?"
"...I don't think she is who she was anymore..."
Eagle Eye paused, glanced back at the two, then continued his way across the mess hall. Before the kitchen entrance, he hesitated slightly, then trotted right in.
Ebon was leaning over the sink, washing lettuce in a large bowl.
Eagle Eye stood at a distance. He fidgeted, opting to turn around and leave once or twice. Eventually, his body slumped, and—sighing—he took a bold step forward. "Uhm..."
"Good morning," Ebon Mane murmured.
Eagle blinked, freezing in place. "Good morning," he blurted back in a dull tone. His eyes squinted. "How long have you been—?"
"I'm always up early to serve breakfast," Ebon droned. "Lots of us have a bunch of things we need to do today. And there's no telling now when or if we might get winged guests. It's best to be prepared."
"Erm... right..."
"Plus, your old buddy, Josho." Ebon's nostrils flared as he turned the lettuce leaves over under the spicket. "There's no telling how much he'll wanna scarf down. Some days I wanna rent him out as a second garbage disposal."
"He sure... uh... does like to eat a lot."
"It'll be about twenty minutes," Ebon murmured. "If you wanna grab a bowl for yourself, be my guest."
"Ebon..."
"You'll have to slice the carrots up yourself, though. I haven't gotten to those yet—"
"Ebon, stop it!" Eagle gritted his teeth. "Can we please talk about last night?"
Ebon said nothing. His hooves lingered under the trickling water as he stared deep into the bowl of leaves.
"I couldn't get a wink of sleep. I couldn't do anything but think about... about what happened! Or better yet—what didn't happen!" Eagle sniffed, his eyes instantly turning moist. "Please, Ebon. Talk to me. Please help me know what I did wrong!"
"You didn't do anything wrong," Ebon said in a low tone. He didn't look at Eagle as he spoke. "You didn't do anything because there wasn't anything to be done."
"Ebon...?"
"Things can't end if they don't begin," Ebon said, switching the water off with the slap of his hoof. "We can live fine with the way things are."
Eagle slowly shook his head. "No, we c-can't," his voice cracked. A tear formed on his cheek. "I can't."
Ebon's hooves gripped tight to the counter.
"Ebon, nothing can undo what I said... what I meant... or how I feel!" He sniffled and trotted forward. "And if you don't feel the same, then maybe you should just tell—"
"Don't come near me!" Ebon suddenly hissed.
Eagle flinched as if struck by a bullet. He leaned back with quivering lips. At last, his face bowed towards the floor. "This is all my f-fault. I... I-I rushed things." Another sniffle. "I'm such a sappy romantic at heart. I should have known better than to push you towards something you weren't prepared for!"
"Eagle..."
"But... I can't help it." Eagle looked up, frowning. "I love you, Ebon. I love you so much." He inhaled sharply and held a hoof over his chest. "You bring me to a place where I thought I would never be! I no longer care about where I'm going or where I've been... so long as you're there with me! I... I feel horrible because this is something I-I can't change—"
"Yes you can," Ebon said with a slight growling tone. "Stop pretending like you're powerless—"
"But I'm not!" Eagle stepped forward with a heavy hoof. "Don't you get it? For once in my life, I chose something! Even in spite of all the risks! And if you knew what I knew, Ebon, maybe then you would understand why I want to love you and protect you so much—"
"You know nothing!" Ebon snarled, teeth showing. "All you have is what you feel, and it's going to rob you blind!"
"Please, Ebon, will you just let me tell you—"
"No!" Ebon barked, finally turning to face Eagle, and it was with a frown. "We are friends, do you understand?"
Eagle slowly shook his tearstained face. "No. I d-don't."
"We are just friends," Ebon said, eyes thin. "And friends know how to do what's best with one another... even if it means leaving each other alone."
"But... b-but Ebon..."
"I've said all that needs to be said," Ebon uttered. He sucked in his breath, regaining his dull expression. "Now." He slapped the bowl of lettuce onto the counter and marched through the opposite doorway. "If you don't mind, I need to go tell the others that breakfast is served."
Eagle stood alone. As Ebon's hoofsteps grew distant, the stallion fell back on his haunches. He leaned against the counter, his face melting as he broke into quiet, quiet sobs.
In the stairwell, Ebon came to a stop as soon as he was alone. His rigid expression shattered instantly, replaced by a pale and panting face. He grimaced... then grimaced harder. Slumping back against a wall, he slid down before the steps and curled up into a little bergundy ball. His eyes darted about, then closed completely to dam in the tears.
With little squeaks, he cried to the walls for the space of several minutes, until he was once again able to summon the strength to get up and finish his duties.
With a grunt, two First-Borns pried open the wooden latch to the dark space beneath Central D's foundation.
"Thanks," Rainbow Dash said, standing in the morning light besides Pilate. "We'll try our best not to get into anypony's way."
"I doubt that will be an issue," Fawful said. "The elders have collectively agreed to grant you access once again."
Rainbow winced slightly. "Sounds like it wasn't an easy decision."
"It wasn't. But don't dwell on it," Fawful said. "We're all seeking the truth, are we not?"
"Yeah... yeah, totally," Rainbow Dash said with a nervous smile. A gulp, and she glanced behind her tail.
Unlike the day before, a fairly thick crowd of Durandanans had gathered. They murmured with each other, gazing at the two outsiders from afar. Sivrem and Jerrio flew down, gently urging the group to stand back.
"How... uh..." Rainbow murmured aside. "How many ponies know about what went down yesterday?"
"You can't keep a secret for too long in the crater," Fawful said. "Word travels with the wind in a place such as Durandana."
"Yeah, I get it," Rainbow said with a nod. "But... that's a lot of ponies? What's to blame, pillow talk?"
"Too many pegasi and not enough beds," Pilate murmured.
"Stripesy!" Rainbow hissed.
"What was that?" Fawful asked.
"Er... nothing!" Rainbow chuckled nervously before giving the stallion a swat with his tail. "Hah hah! Silly zebra!"
Fawful stared, squinted, and ultimately smirked. "How about you go first...?"
"My friggin' pleasure." Rainbow turned to Pilate. "Careful, buddy. It's dark down there."
"... ... ..."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Dammit. Whatever. Look, the stairs are steep. Lemme just carry you."
"Don't you get tired of doing that?"
"You kidding?" She smirked and grasped Pilate from behind. "Your brohawk scratches the itch on my chin."
He held his breath as he dangled in her grasp. "Well, s-so long as we're both comfortable..."
Rainbow and Pilate drifted down, followed by Fawful and a few other elders.
"Alright, everypony..." Sivrem smirked as he nudged the crowd back some. "Don't be a bunch of loitering gulls, now. Gust! Gust!"
As the crowd dissipated, one pony stood alone. Jerrio stared dully at the wooden latch as the guards slowly shut it. After a few seconds, he sighed and looked off with folded ears.
"Say, you need any help down in the robo-womb, blondie?" Zaid asked across the mess hall.
"Mmmmff...?" Props gulped down some celery and shook her head. "I don't have any metal parts! I promise!"
"No, I meant the engine room."
"Oh! Ohhhhhhhh... hee hee hee..." She smiled with rosy cheeks. "Sure thing! If you've got nothing better to do!"
"Well, it's been a good long week since Josho last backed up the lavatory, so—"
"Grab a wrench and come on down!"
"Heh! Will do!"
Bellesmith sat on a couch in the lounge, sipping from tea. She glanced up as Zaid and Props trotted by. A slight smirk crossed her muzzle.
"Everytime I see them lately, they act as though they are breeding."
"Gaaaie!" Belle nearly fell out of her seat. She spun around, breathless.
Roarke gazed down, her eye-lenses rotating to a stop.
Belle panted, panted, and exhaled, "Oh Roarke. You gave me quite a scare!" She fanned herself. "I didn't even realize you were there."
"I was attempting the casual conversation," Roarke droned.
Belle stared at Roarke.
Roarke stared at Belle.
With a gulp, Belle smiled awkwardly. "Small talk! But of course!"
Roarke's nostrils flared. "Which of the two do you think will attempt to initiate coitus first—?"
"Roarke, just—" Belle raised a hoof, clenched her eyes shut, and sighed. "...if you want to engage in small talk, you might want to ch-choose a slightly less icky topic."
Roarke was silent. Eventually, she nodded. "I understand." A fidgeting. "I suppose I have more weapons to test." She made for the kitchen door at the far end of the room.
"No. Roarke, wait!" Belle held a hoof up. She smiled gently. "Roarke, please forgive me. I can tell that you're trying very hard. But... just don't stress it! We're friends, aren't we?"
Roarke stood sideways several feet away. "I suppose..."
Belle giggled. "Well, you certainly have saved our skins on several occasions."
"And have jeopardized it."
"Yeah, well..." Belle took another sip, placed the cup down on the table before her, and chuckled. "Nopony's perfect." She gestured. "Have a seat! You can sit, can't you?"
Roarke stood, squirmed, and stood some more. With a slight trilling sound, she eventually swiveled about and marched across the room. She squatted down on a couch across from Belle. Her metal braces and thick horseshoes made the entire gesture more than residually uncomfortable. The hard lines in her face showed it.
Belle chose to ignore them. "So... uhm... this is relaxing."
"I suppose it is."
"Yes..."
"... ... ..."
Silence.
Belle cleared her throat. With a tranquil smile, she fluffed her own mane while straing at Roarke's. "You know, I've never had the opportunity to say it before, but I've always secretly loved what you do with your hair."
"What do you mean?" Roarke asked in a neutral tone.
Belle blinked. "Well..." She shifted where she sat. "I mean... the braids! And the little metal ringlets at the end!" She suppressed a giggle. "It's really quite beautiful, in its own, intricate, exotic way."
"Each twisted strand represents a different enemy of Searo whom I've slain in the name of the Goddess," Roarke said. "I used to dip my mane in their blood upon ritualistically dragging the ringlet down the length of the braid."
Belle stared, slack-jawed. Eventually she murmured, "So... uhhhh... th-then it's not your natural color or...?"
"This was a bad idea." Roarke stood up and marched towards the hallway. "I should be elsewhere."
"Roarke, wait!" Belle reached a hoof out. She sighed, smiling tiredly. "Fine. Small talk is out. No biggie. Can we just have a heart to heart, then?"
"Hrmmmf..." Roarke clenched her jaw, not looking at the mare. "You can certainly try."
Belle rested her hooves together daintily as she said, "What you did with Kera yesterday... thank you."
Roarke's lenses retracted. She slid about and stared at Belle with a furrowed brow. "I don't believe I've told you anything about what Kera and I did yesterday."
"I know. And, Roarke, I trust you... okay?" Belle smiled. "Pilate and I... we trust you. Otherwise we wouldn't have let you take Kera out to begin with."
Roarke's head tilted down.
Belle continued. "And... whatever it was that you did together, it made Kera so... so wonderfully happy." She smiled. "Almost as if a weight is off her shoulders. I haven't seen her that giddy and cheerful in a long while. I m-mean... I know she's still recovering from Lerris. We all are. But somehow you were able to help her... loosen up a lot more. That means so much to us."
"She is a strong filly."
"Which is what makes it so very hard for Pilate and I to find a way to level with her," Belle said. "She can be very unpredictable. We don't want to ignore her feelings—and yet, at the same time, we don't wish to coddle her."
Roarke looked at Belle sideways.
"Yes. Heehee... I know." Belle rolled her eyes. "I certainly can't help myself at times. But it's just that I wish the best for Kera, and I feel helpless when I can't always provide that."
Roarke's hooves grinded against the floor. She trudged back and plopped down on the seat across from Belle. Silence... until: "...Kera is a powerful mare."
"Hmmm?" Belle raised her eyebrow.
"She has magical powers unlike any other unicorn her age," Roarke droned. "I've battled many unicorns in my day. I've killed criminals and warriors who couldn't even compare to her."
"Well... h-here's hoping that you don't have to battle Kera, ever."
"That is not what I meant." Roarke glanced up. "Where I come from, untapped power is an insult to the laws of nature. Kera is capable of so much, and I fear that she's allowed the pain of Lerris to hold her back."
"No offense, Roarke... but..." Belle squirmed slightly. "I-I don't think Pilate and I want Kera becoming a bounty hunter when she grows up."
"That is not what I meant either," Roarke said. Eventually she sighed. "It is hard to explain. When I first joined the Noble Jury, and there was this child on board the craft, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. But now... as the months have gone by... I find that my mind... dwells on her often."
"And is it just Kera?" Belle said with a coy smirk.
"... ... ..."
"Ahem." Belle played with her hooves as she spoke on, "Roarke, I think it's only natural to wish the best for a little filly like her. Spark knows it consumes my mind all the time."
"I don't see the point," Roarke said. "There's no profit in it. I've never had much care for distractions."
"Have you ever thought, Roarke, that with Searo behind you, maybe your priorities have shifted?"
"I don't see what you mean."
"Not to insult your culture or anything, but it seems to me that you've carried a lot of unnecessary weight for a long time," Belle said. "You say you've never cared much for 'distractions,' but what is distractions is all you've known?"
"Impossible."
"Is it?" Belle cocked her head aside. "Is it really so impossible to think that beneath all of the armor, all of the cybernetic implants, all of the warpaint and scars of misery, there's a soul that knows what it means to be a pony that loves life?" Belle smiled. "And a mare that longs to be a mother?"
Roarke's lips opened. She winced slightly. After a half-minute, she eventually murmured, "I will never... ever have that."
Belle's ears folded upon hearing that. With a sweet smile, she leaned forward. "Roarke..."
Roarke looked up.
Belle whispered, "I used to think that about myself too."
Roarke's nostrils flared. "We are hardly alike."
"Hmmm-hehe..." Belle tossed her mane and leaned back. "Then let's fix that, shall we?"
"How?"
"We're here. Sitting. Talking?" Belle shrugged. "Tell me about yourself."
Roarke's lenses pistoned outward. She frowned. "Myself."
Belle nodded. "Yes."
Roarke clenched her jaw tighter. "You do not wish to hear about myself."
"Sure I do!"
"Hmrnnngh..." Roarke tilted her head aside. "Breakfast..."
"Huh?"
"Did you eat anything this morning?"
"Uhhh..." Belle slowly shook her head. "I... haven't gotten around to it, actually, no."
"Hrmmmf... Very well then." Roarke cracked the joints in her neck and leaned forward. "I was foaled in the frozen mountains southwest of what you would call Franzington. There was a terrible blizzard, and my mother was miles away from her ship and a heating source. According to Terra, she had to slay a llama and carve out its still-bleeding abdomen to form an insulated sleeping niche. We had little provisions, so we shared the meat of the placenta between us and..."
"See anything, yet?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Pilate sighed in the midst of scanning a wall full of carved symbols. "It is ever an endless cycle, isn't it?"
"Fine." Rainbow rolled her eyes and trotted down the leaning temple hallway. "Have you sensed anything yet?"
"You were right about what you said," Pilate remarked while O.A.S.I.S. flashed its laser-light across the chamber. "We've run across several of these symbols before. Many of them hail back to the structure we camped at inside Foxtaur."
Rainbow did a double-take. "You remember that far back?"
"Rainbow, I remember the first word I ever said."
"'Boogers?'"
"Actually, 'Ultimo.'"
"I was close."
"Hmmph..." Pilate tilted his runic plate, chewing his lip in thought. "Interesting..."
"What?"
"Do you notice anything different about the walls of this place compared to Stratopolis?"
"Jee, mystical zebra, I thought that's what I brought you down here to figure out."
"Humor me, if you will."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow squinted at the etchings along the lantern-lit corridors of the place. "Yeah, to be honest? The carvings appear a lot sharper."
"You mean the indentations are deeper?"
"Right! What's that supposed to mean?"
"I didn't have a chance to use O.A.S.I.S. on the walls of Stratopolis." Pilate turned his head towards Rainbow. "But I'm willing to bet that their etchings all appeared collectively worn down."
"And yet the ones here aren't?" Rainbow rubbed her head. "What's the reason for that, you think? Cuz Stratopolis was exposed to storm and rain and stuff for so long?"
"Did the weather reach into every interior of the buildings?"
"Erm... well... n-no..."
Pilate cocked his head aside. "But something else did pollute the halls of that floating city. Something horrendously corrosive and dangerous."
Rainbow blinked. Her eyes widened. "The zombie slime!"
Pilate nodded. "And we both well know that we and the Lounge weren't the first ones to battle that horrendous substance inside Stratopolis."
"Right, Commander Hurricane and her forces did. Wait." Rainbow turned and glanced down the hallway. "...are you suggesting that this structure got separated from the rest of Stratopolis before Hurricane accidentally accessed the 'dark heart of Stratopolis?'"
"It could be possible," Pilate thought out loud. He began trotting down the hallway. "It stands to reason that Hurricane wouldn't have felt the urgency of guarding that flying city until she discovered the ooze. Maybe she and her troops had found a way to commandeer one of the buildings—"
"—and sent it out like a scout ship?"
"Precisely," Pilate said, nodding. "Seems as though your ancient relative had invented a 'Whizzball' long before we did."
"Stop calling her my 'ancient relative.'"
"Why not? It's pretty much a given at this point, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I know... but..." Rainbow winced, glancing behind her a distant cluster of elders. "I just don't think it's a very smart thing to do right now."
"You shouldn't be afraid of exposing reality, Rainbow," Pilate said. "None of us should."
"Belle seems to think otherwise."
"Well, my beloved and I don't necessarily agreen on everythi—" Pilate tripped.
"Whoah!" Rainbow caught him. "Careful, buddy! Didja forget you were in Stallion Wonder mode?"
"Cute," Stallion wheezed. "What did I just trip on?"
"I dunno. A rock, or something?"
"Is that what I hear rattling?"
"Huh?" Rainbow glanced down the corridor.
A tiny granite pebble slid down the floor.
"It seems to be going awfully far," Pilate murmured.
"Yeah, well, the floor's at a pretty steep lean."
The pebble took a sudden right turn around the corner on its own.
Rainbow blinked. "Whoah."
"Huh?" Pilate craned his neck. "What is it?"
"Hold on." Rainbow searched the floor. She found another pebble, then kicked it. Following it along with her eyes, she watched as it rolled down to an intersection of corridors, then suddenly and sharply bend to the right. "Uhmmm... Pilate?"
"Yes?"
"How's your geology skills?"
"Not too shabby. Why?"
She led the zebra forward. "I think it's time we test your metal..."
Sputtering. Wretching. Spitting.
Roarke sighed, her lenses staring up at the ceiling of the Noble Jury's lavatory. After a few seconds, she tilted her head down. "Do you still require me to hold your hair?"
"Just... snkkkt..." Belle hissed, squatting before a wide porcelain bowl. She spat a few more times and caught her breath. "... a little wh-while longer..."
"I told you this was a bad idea."
"I'm f-fine... just... just..." Belle winced, wiping her moist chin. "Guhhh... How c-could any poor soul stand to survive that long in the desert... and disembowled?!"
"If it helps to know, I had experienced far worse pain beforehand."
"You were a t-teenager, Roarke!"
"It's not as terrible as it sounds," Roarke said. "In fact, I was able to use the raw teeth of a sand wyrm to staple my intestines back into place—"
"Hraaaa-gghhullklttttt!"
Roarke winced. "P-perhaps it's best that I not... erm.. dw-dwell on the stories of my wilderness survival..."
"Grghhhhl... pfttt... buhhh... th-that would be nice..." Belle gulped. "At least for a while." She sat up, her eyes rolling back. "Unngh...Praise Spark Zaid was telling the truth about Josho earlier..."
"I beg your pardon?"
"H-how about a happy story, Roarke?" Belle brushed her bangs back and glanced sickly over her shoulder. She bore a weary smile. "How about—urp—the t-time you first met Imre?"
Roarke's brow furrowed. "You think that's a happy story?"
"I don't know." Belle gulped down bile and murmured, "Is it?"
Roarke took a deep breath. "I... don't really know. I haven't shared it with many ponies."
"Well, you can sh-share it with me!" Belle said gently. "I'm your friend."
"My... friend."
Belle simply stared at her.
Roarke's ears twitched. "Well... I suppose it is worth a shot."
"Everything is worth a shot, Roarke."
"Hmmm—I just remembered. The sand wyrm's epidermal layer kept me warm overnight—"
With a swift hoof, Rainbow Dash kicked a cluster of granite pebbles up the inclined corridor leading to the inner sanctum. Almost immediately, they darted back in an eerie line and stopped dead against the metal floor.
"Carry them further into the temple strudture," Pilate suggested from where he stood. "Beyond the adjacent hallway's corner, perhaps."
"Yeah, I feel you." Rainbow scooped up half-a-dozen tiny pieces of granite debris. Holding her breath, she flew up, turned a corner, and stopped dead-center in a corridor full with etchings. Kneeling in the lanternlight, she squatted down and "released" every pebble. Without hesitation, they rolled forward down the hall, then zipped around the corner. Rainbow followed them, gliding. "Pilate, they're headed your way!" she shouted down towards him.
He switched on O.A.S.I.S. just in time to scan them upon approach. When they reached the layer of metal floor, they stopped dead, not rolling any further. "Hmmm... interesting." The zebra tilted his head up. "Did they move around the corner like predicted?"
"Yup. It's gotta be more than just a matter of rolling down an incline."
"I'm intrigued that they stop dead right against the metal here," Pilate said, pointing. "It seems like they would naturally roll further along the even surface. Instead, it's almost as if they're sticking magnetically to the metal as soon as they come into contact."
"Stone being magnetically attracted to metal?" Rainbow's face twisted. "When did that ever make sense?"
"It is the righteous glory of the Valkyrie Silver," said Fawful's voice.
Rainbow turned to see the mare casually strolling down the granite corridor.
"What you're witnessing isn't exactly new," Fawful said with a calm smile. "Even Duranda's scrolls speak of the power that the inner sanctum has over the stone." She pointed inwards towards the helmet and the glowing Gold Lights. "The majesty of the Valkyrie's aura commands respect from both ponies and nature alike."
"Does the 'Valkyrie Silver' attract anything else?" Pilate asked. "These pebbles appear to have once been part of the granite structure's walls."
"Indeed, the hallowed hallways before the inner sanctum aren't as immaculate as the place where the Gold Lights are made manifest," Fawful said. "We've known that for eons."
"Hmmm..." Pilate scratched his chin. "From what I'm discovering, though, it seems as if the machine world here has a particularly strong attraction to the material that makes up a Sentinel."
"You mean Stratopolis?" Rainbow said to him.
"Rainbow..." Pilate tilted his head towards her. "I would like to conduct another experiment, but this needs to be done outside."
"You mean on the surface?"
"Indeed." Pilate pivoted towards Fawful. "Assuming, of course, that the Gray Feathers will graciously allow us to take some of these granite rocks outside..."
Fawful curtsied. "I will talk to the elders concerning the matter..."
Eagle Eye sat quietly at the ship's stern, his violet eyes glazed over with a dull sheen. Slowly, he exhaled out his nostrils and stared at the emerald tree canopy of Durandana. Every once in a while, athletic pegasi would fly up through the foliage, slicing the sky with their colorful wings. The ex-mercenary was hardly enthused.
He heard a slight commotion from behind him. He turned to look, spotting Zaid in conversation with three winged mares. The stallion said a few words, and the mares all exchanged glances, giggling mischievously before nodding in one accord. Zaid smirked and bowed, then reached a hoof up towards one of them.
Eagle squinted—
"You know, the wind here really carries your perfume a long way."
"Gah!" Eagle nearly fell off the ship.
Josho steadied the petite stallion with his magic. "Relax, kid. Didn't meant to knock any of the fruit out of the basket."
Eagle exhaled, glaring past Josho. "For the thousandth time, I don't do perfume."
"Then just what's your secret, huh?" Josho smirked tiredly. "You could tell me."
"Mmmmm..." Eagle bit his lip, squirming slightly. "Sometimes... B-Belle's kind enough to let me borrow her conditioner."
"For real?" Josho grunted as he squatted his fat self down beside Eagle. "But that mare's been sporting the Sinead O'Canter look for a while. I figured it'd be the other way around."
"Meh..." Eagle sighed into the warm winds of the basin.
"Aaaaaaaand now you're back to being a mare. Well that's find and dandy." Josho was silent for a while. His nostrils flared. "But, for real, kid. Just what's been sucking the color out of you lately?"
"Don't bother, old stallion," Eagle said, sniffling. "It's nothing for you to be concerned with."
"What, you think all I do each day is sit around, eat, and fart?"
"It has occurred to me..."
"I wouldn't be on this friggin' pleasure cruise if it wasn't for a certain little girl in Franzington clothing."
"You know..." Eagle gritted his teeth. "I'm starting to get really sick and tired of you calling me a—"
"Level with me and I'll knock it off." Josho's gaze was firm.
Eagle looked at him. He sighed and stared back out into the jungled basin. "You ever feel like you have everything figured out, and then life decides to blow up in your face and remind you how truly out of control everything is?"
"Sounds like the first three times I almost got married."
"How does somepony your age keep sane?"
"Sanity's overrated," Josho grumbled. "If I ended up keeping a 'level head' back in Ledomare, then I would have remained a guilty murderer and criminal forever, just like all the other 'sane ponies' that served the Queen."
"It wasn't that bad..."
"Are you kidding me, kid?" Josho squinted. "Turning my back on Shell and the Council of Ledo is the best thing I ever could have done. It so happens it was also the most insane thing I could have done."
Eagle rolled his eyes. "You've told me all this before..."
"Then give me something new to work with, ya filly stain!" Josho nudged him. "What's life done to you that's so terrible? I mean, besides giving you a father that doesn't love you, ditching you as a fugitive in Foxtaur, chasing you towards the ends of the earth with changelings and zombie pegasi and mutant talking fox-furries and—"
"Stop it! Just... put a cork in it!" Eagle's voice cracked. "Spark, you suck at this!"
Silence... until Josho murmured, "It's because your mommy clock has gone off, isn't it?"
"It's Ebon, okay?!" Eagle screeched into Josho's ear, frowning. "I'm upset over Ebon! I've laid my heart down for him to see every squishy satin fold, and he buries me in the dust!" Eagle panted and panted and panted.
Josho reached over, patting Eagle's shoulder. "Now... that wasn't so bad, was it—?"
"And it's not that I'm mad at him, I'm m-mad at myself!" Eagle whimpered, burying his face in two hooves. "Grnnngh... I-I thought that I could protect him, that I could reach out and give him a place to feel safe, secure, and loved. But Ebon's wounds run too deep! And it's n-not about him being shell-shocked or having daddy issues or swimming in pools of remorse over the war—he's got something so secret bottled up inside him that it's gonna keep him alone and isolated forever! I thought I could help him, and that what we'd share together would be precious and special but I was wrong! Stupid and wrong! So... so friggin' stupid!" Eagle finished his rambling woes with a sniffling sound. He wiped his eyes dry and hugged himself as he stared out into the forests.
Josho took a deep breath. "It can't be easy to puch that much stock in love."
"Pffft. Jee... thanks for rubbing it in," Eagle muttered.
"Hey, I wasn't dissing you," Josho said. "If anything, I envy you."
Eagle sniffed again and glared at the stallion. "Bite your tongue..."
"No, I mean it." Josho gazed at him softly. "You've never been a pony to do things the easy way. When your family got pissed at you, you went to war anyhow. When the Ledomaritan Confederacy reared its nasty head, you deserted. When Rainbow Dash stumbled in on you and your war buddies in Foxtaur, you immediately took her side."
As Eagle heard all of this, his expression softened beneath folded ears.
Josho smirked. "When you and I got joined at the hooves, you didn't kill me."
"I wanted to," Eagle muttered.
"Well, you could have tried harder."
"Whatever..."
"Not whatever," Josho said. "In everything you've ever stumbled upon, you've always tried the friggin' hardest path to trot. It's as if you've been doing nothing but trotting uphill all your life."
"Yeah, well, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment."
"Or perhaps you just believe in doing that which is good," Josho said. "Because you're a good pony, kid."
Eagle bit his lip.
Josho exhaled heavily, glaring out onto the tree tops. "And... all things considered... you would... nnngh... be the best possible catch for Ebon."
Eagle did a double-take. "Huh...?"
"And we both know that ain't easy."
"You believe that?" Eagle remarked.
"Sure, why not?"
"You." Eagle squinted hard. "You of all ponies believe that."
"Look, I just said it, didn't I?!" Josho growled. "Do you need me to draw you a diagram in my own feces or something?!"
Eagle Eye shook and shook and shook his head.
"Hrmmmm..." Josho scratched his chins as he said, "I've always believed that ponies deserved that which they work hard for. I just never practiced what I preached because I always had ponies around me—like Secchy—who could do it way better than I could. At some point, I just got tired of trying all the time. What's the point in aiming towards life's goals if somepony somewhere is just gonna show you who's the real boss? It's shameful, not to mention stupid and pointless."
Josho glanced down at the metal surface of the Jury's stern.
"But then... y'know... I met you, kid. And suddenly it was okay to believe in something again. And to be proud." He gulped and looked at the smaller unicorn. "You make me very... very proud, Eagle Eye. And it sucks the Queen's tits to think that anything in life can still manage to make you sad."
Eagle Eye gulped. Though his cheeks burned slightly, he sadly murmured, "Yeah, well... your pity added to mine isn't gonna do much."
"It ain't pity," Josho muttered. "Unless... all you've got stored up for Ebon is pity too."
Eagle grimaced at that.
"Well, is it?"
Eagle sniffled, rubbing a tear off his cheek. "N-no..."
"Then I guess there's only one outcome to this," Josho murmured, staring out onto the trees again. "Somepony's gonna keep fighting."
Eagle Eye shook his head, fighting back a sob. "There's nothing to fight for. It's a lost cause."
"Heh..." Josho shrugged. "If you say so." With a grunt, he stood up and shuffled towards the far end of the airship. "But I used to believe in lost causes before..." A glaring eye. "Until I met you."
Eagle gazed up at him.
"But... seriously, though..." Josho gave the stallion's shoulder one last slap. "Just buy your own friggin' conditioner, ya feel me?" And he trotted off.
Eagle Eye looked after him, then gazed forward. Sighing, he hugged himself tighter, his face melancholic... yet contemplative.
"Here goes nothing!" Rainbow Dash soared straight up, scaling the heights of Central D. Her wings flapped harder than usual, for she was carrying a heavy burlap bag in her forelimbs. Looking straight down in mid-ascent, she could spot the tiny specks of Pilate, Fawful, and other ponies down below.
At last, once she was level with the summit to the tower, she angled her wings and strafed westward a bit.
"Okay!" she shouted down for posterity's sake. "I'm a little to the left of the entrance! Ready?! Here goes!"
Then, holding her breath, she turned the bag over and emptied its contents. No less than two dozen granite pebbles spilled out. Before they could even be caught in the winds of Durandana, they took a sharp right and flew diagonally downward through the air like a serpent.
"Whoah!" Rainbow exclaimed. With a devilish smirk, she dove down and flew after the rocks.
As fast as Rainbow flew, the rocks somehow descended faster. What's more, they accelerated, causing the air around them to whistle.
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow cupped two hooves around her muzzle. "Look out below!"
Several of the ponies flinched. The First-Borns "guarding" the wooden latch to the inner sanctum actually jumped out of the way. Cl-cl-cl-clackk! Every stone embedded itself into the wooden beams acting as the floor to the basin at the tower's summit.
"Great Sp-Spark!" Pilate stammered as Fawful helped him regain balance.
Fwoosh! Rainbow nimbly touched down. "Did you see that?!"
"Rainbow—"
"You know what I mean. Whip out O.A.S.I.S. already, ya melon fudge."
Holding his breath, Pilate floated his manasphere out and scanned where the stones had landed.
"You saw that, though, right, Fawful?" Rainbow gestured towards the elder. "They took a sharp turn in the air, moving over from where I released them!"
"Unlike the natural stones you gathered from the crater's wall," Pilate murmured in mid-scan.
"Totally!" Rainbow grinned. "Those fell straight down, but these flew directly towards this spot right here!"
"What's more... th-they're still moving," Pilate said as his manalight streamed over the rattling rocks. "Or, at least they're trying to move... as if they can somehow manage to squeeze through the wooden lattices."
"Forgive me if I sound unenthused," Fawful murmured with a curious expression. She shrugged. "But this isn't exactly an alarming discovery—at least not to us." She gestured at the rocks while onlookers gathered around in a circle. "We've always known that the rocks from the outer sanctum were attracted to what lies beneath."
"Yes... but why?" Pilate tapped his chin in thought. "Hmmm... perhaps if—"
"What?" Rainbow hovered in front of him. "Tell me what your zebra eyes see!"
"If the machine world of the rings and the sentinels that orbit them are all cut from the same cloth of Urohringr..." Pilate tilted his head up towards the pegasus. "Then perhaps that might explain the purposeful attraction between them."
"So, in other words, any piece of Stratopolis would be attracted to the metal surface below?" Rainbow said.
"Precisely."
"Then—like—why would the dislodged temple structure land here?" Rainbow shrugged. "I mean, the metal surface is beneath the whole earth and everywhere, right? So wouldn't the temple that Duranda and company were on just slam into any continent? Or the ocean floor for that matter?"
"Uhm..." Fawful squirmed where she stood. "Any chance you ponies could slow down? I'm having a hard time followi—"
"Rainbow, take a look around you," Pilate remarked. "I imagine this basin is far too vast for the average eye to see in its entirety."
"You have a point there, Pilate. But so what?"
"Do you honestly think that a single building from Stratopolis could have made an impact crater of this magnitude?"
"Well... s-sure!"
"How?"
"What if it flew down here really really fast?"
"Then we'd be talking rather astronomical speeds, Rainbow," Pilate said. "Not to mention improbable. Tell me, just how would Duranda and the rest of Commander Hurricane's soldiers have survived?"
"Uhhh..." Rainbow gulped, then grinned awkwardly. "Lots and lots of pillows...?"
"I believe that something else caused this crater, Rainbow," Pilate said. He began pacing across the wooden beams. "I'm talking about something long, long ago—eons before the likes of the Ledomaritans and the Xonans blasted open a piece of the earth to give Nightshade access to the Machine World. I'm willing to bet it was something that happened long before even the founding of Equestria—so long ago that it afforded nature the time it needed to form a perfect tropical niche in this very basin."
"But—like—how far back are we talking?!" Rainbow shrugged. "The way you put it, it's almost as if we'd had have to go all the way to—" She paused in mid-speech, blinking.
Pilate scuffled to a stop and pivoted towards her. He tilted his head up.
Rainbow murmured, "The Sundering."
"The what?" Fawful stammered.
"Rainbow, since our run-in with the Herald, we've had every reason to believe that the sundering of the ring—Urohringr—was something that was forced to happen by malevolent parties."
Rainbow gulped. "Or just one bunch of bad eggs."
"Right. Regardless, we can't even pretend to guess how the rings are to be properly separated. But if it was all done forcefully—even unnaturally—then it's safe to assume that the process was anything but smooth." Pilate gestured all around him. "I'm willing to believe that whatever caused this crater was something transpiring on such a large scale that it would shatter our comprehension."
"Like..." Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Like maybe this crater was caused... b-by another piece of the ring?"
"Just try to imagine," Pilate said. "Several large objects, aloft in chaotic space, suddenly separated from one another. This was long before the alicorns came upon this plane and blessed it with harmony. Beforehand, everything must have been subject to the rampant laws of nature and physics. I'm willing to bet that the pieces of the ring collided with one another due to the force of gravity... perhaps even more than once! It would certainly explain a crater of this size."
Rainbow gulped. "It might explain something like the 'Grand Choke' too."
"Now, that's pushing it a bit, don't you think?"
"Hey, just trying to be ahead of the curve."
"And an impact like that could have been sufficient enough to expose the machine world's surface from beneath the geological topography," Pilate thought out loud. "That's why there's no door down in the Inner Sanctum, Rainbow. It was never built to be accessed. It was simply dug up by unforeseen events. And then, over the millennia that passed, an ecosystem developed here—but the machine world was still exposed in the very center of the crater. And when a piece of the sentinel that Commander Hurricane discovered was separated from the rest—without any means of its own propulsion—"
"It shot its way here like a bullet!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Attracted by the energy of the machine world n'stuff!"
"And yet both the structures of Stratopolis and the Machine World are mutually responsive to the energy force of you, the Austraeoh," Pilate said. "Which explains why you and Commander Hurricane both cause the Gold Lights."
"Uhm... pardon me..." Fawful leaned her head in, squinting. "The Austraeoh?" She gawked. "Just what is that?"
Pilate twitched visibly. He turned towards Rainbow. "Rainbow...?"
"Uhhhhhh...." Rainbow gulped. "Eh heh heh..."
"Rainbow..." Pilate sighed, his ears folded. "Please... please tell me you've told them..."
"Told us what?" Fawful's head darted back and forth. Her ears flounced from the heaviness of her heartbeat. "What is 'Austraeoh?'"
Pilate tapped his hoof, jaws clenched.
Rainbow bit her lip. "So... uh... h-how 'bout lunch?" She chuckled nervously, hovering on drooped wings. "A nice... long... informative lunch? Heh heh heh heh..."
Props strolled into the cockpit, yawning. "Mmmmmm-nyupppp... 'Afternoon, Handsome."
"Hey hey hey," Floydien muttered while digging into several metal conduits.
"Hmmm... still pulling apart Nancy Jane's guts?"
"Floydien has nothing better to do," the elk said. "This basin gives Floydien the shimmer jimmers, and these winged boomers are too cheerful for their own good. Yes yes yessss."
"Awwww..." Props smiled. "I bet you'd like them if you'd get to know them."
"Kera."
"Huh?"
"The little boomerette, Kera," Floydien muttered. "She says the same thing. Grnngh... sometimes I think the Nancy Jane boomers are out to turn Floydien's skin another color."
"Heeheehee! It's just because we care so much about you!"
"Then it's best to leave Floydien alone with Floydien's skin."
"Pfft. Where's the fun in that?" Props glanced all around with bright blue eyes. "And speaking of fun, where did Zaidy Waidy run off to?"
"Hmmmfff... blonde boomer means the one with hairy brown brown?"
"Yupperooni!"
"Grfff..." Floydien's antlers sparkled as he fused a few wires together. "Lavender boomer saw him earlier on the top deck..."
"Ahhhhh." Props turned and trotted out the cockpit door. "Okay. Thankies!"
"Yes yes yes... apparently he was flying off with three winged boomerettes to their tree house."
Props skidded to a stop, her eyes twitching wildly while her coat went pale.
"They were certainly full of the giggle glimmer, lavender says. Hmmmf. Must be something boomerettes all share in the same same." Floydien looked over his shoulder. "Yes yes yes?" Silence. "Blonde boomer?"
Props was gone, nowhere to be seen.
"Hrmmm..." Floydien turned back to the consoles with a neutral expression. "Blood blood blood."
"...and, from what I can tell—at least—the flames from this machine world empower Rainbow Dash in mesmerizing ways," Pilate said from across the wooden chamber. "She's capable of controlling ancient mechanisms that remain dormant for everypony else. In other cases, she's been able to restore harmony by returning the magical fire to the pedestals where they belong."
"And these... these ancient words," Fawful murmured, squinting from where she sat across the lantern-lit interior alongside several other elders "You have found them in various places?"
"Throughout the continent of Ledomare and beyond," Pilate said with a nod. "And on top of that you have all of the landscapes Rainbow Dash has flown through previously, not to mention the symbols found in Stratopolis itself."
"And..." Fawful exchanged glances with the other Gray-Feathers, then glanced back at the zebra. "These... these dragon creatures also recognize this?"
"They're called the Divines, and Rainbow Dash knows more about them than I do," Pilate said. "But, to answer your question, yes—the dragon Axan—a guardian far older than all of our lives combined—recognized Rainbow Dash as this 'Austraeoh.' It's precisely why she spared the mare's life."
The elders all murmured amongst themselves.
Fawful rubbed her chin in thought. Slowly, she got up and shuffled past Pilate, staring at a figure in the windowsill. "Rainbow Dash..." She frowned slightly. "All this time, you never once thought of explaining all of this to us?"
Rainbow Dash was perpetually face-hoofing. After a prolonged sigh, she muffled into her forelimbs. "Grffff... I wish somepony would explain it to myself..."
"Even still, you should have told me, Rainbow."
"Tell you what?!" Rainbow looked up. "'Oh, by the way, Fawful, not only are your Sun and Moon controlled by these winged unicorn thingies called Alicorns, but I'm this magically gifted harbinger of flame and sparkles who may be of the same bloodline as the ancient mare you've worshipped since foaling!'"
"Rainbow, I am a Gray-Feather, not a child," Fawful said with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you know that I'm properly equipped to deal with the information you have to provide me?"
Rainbow gawked at her, slowly shaking her head. "No. I don't."
"But if you had just—"
"Do you forget what happened down there in the sanctum?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Or do you easily just brush off every instance that you suffer a nervous breakdown?!"
Fawful took a deep breath, turning to glance lethargically at the elders.
Rainbow sighed, rolling her eyes. She kicked off the window frame and trotted over until she stood beside Pilate in the lanternlight. "Just... think about it for one moment. Try to imagine it from my perspective. All I wanna do is connect the gap between Equestria and you guys." She gulped. "Like—what's the point in bringing up all this crazy junk if the first pill is so hard and bitter to swallow as it is?!"
"They never asked to remain ignorant, Rainbow," Pilate muttered.
Rainbow barked at him, "I know how to deal with this, Stripesy!"
"Like you have so far?!" Pilate retorted. "By leaving them in the dark about Urohringr and—"
"Enough!" Fawful raised her hooves, silencing the two. After they both quieted down, she cleared her throat and spoke in a calm voice. "Rainbow, how much does your... Celestia know about this?"
Rainbow bit her lip. "Erm... not much. The same can be said about Luna. As a matter of fact..." She glanced up with a weary expression. "Nopony knew much of anything until I... I-I began my flight."
"And when did you start to realize your purpose in this journey?"
"Purpose?" Rainbow blinked. "Jury's still out on that, girl." She twitched and rolled her eyes at herself. "No pun intended, but—for real—I'm figuring it out as I go along."
"Rainbow," Pilate spoke up. "The Herald wouldn't have existed at all if there wasn't some ounce of truth in the angels that brought about the Sundering. I don't see why you bother to deny at this point that—"
"I'm not denying anything, darn it! I just..." Rainbow sighed. She smiled weakly and rested a hoof on the zebra's shoulder. "Sorry for being so snippy, dude." She gulped and turned towards the elders. "Look, all I've known from the beginning... all I've felt was the need to move... and to fly. And it was never because something was speaking to me and urging me to go on. I just... I-I just had to chase the sun and keep moving. I couldn't stay where I was. I couldn't..." She winced, her pupils shrinking at the thought.
Fawful slowly nodded. "Because of what happened to your friends."
Pilate's ears twitched. He tilted his head in Rainbow's direction. "You told her, then?"
Rainbow gulped. "I told her enough." Her ears folded as she avoided everpony's gaze. "Or so I thought..."
"So, all this time..." An elder trotted up from the rear of the room, his eyes thin. "You never had any intention of arriving in Durandana?"
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "Despite all of the stuff you've just learned, I've never been one to take much stock in fate. I wasn't lying when I first told Sivrem and Fawful and the like that my friends and I were heading to a kingdom east of this place. It just so happened that Durandana was along the way, and we had just gone through all that mess in Stratopolis and... and..."
"Rainbow..." Pilate leaned his head towards her. "Before you speak yourself in a corner..."
"The hay are you going on about?"
"Haven't you ever paused to consider?"
"Consider what?"
"You couldn't have stumbled upon the Sword of Solstice at a better time."
Rainbow's blood went cold.
"Maybe there's a reason Commander Hurricane met the end that she did," the zebra suggested. "Perhaps there was yet a pony who would complete her journey for her."
"Pilate, please." Rainbow cleared her throat. It still sounded raspy as she spoke, "Don't make everypony think I'm something that I'm not."
"What do you mean?" Fawful remarked. "Do you believe that there's an even greater connection between yourself and the Valkyrie?" This only caused the elders behind her to stammer.
Rainbow hesitated, then eventually said, "A connection?" She gulped. "Probably so. But..." She stepped forward. "Hurricane and I were never the same thing! Please... please don't believe that! It's not what I wanted you to believe!"
Fawful stared squarely at Rainbow. "But what do you believe?"
Rainbow stood stock still. "I believe..." Eventually, she slumped back on her haunches and muttered. "I believe that things were really dang simple when all I ever had to worry about was strange caves and giant eels..."
Across the mess hall table from him, Props had just slapped a bowl of lettuce down. She plopped limply into a chair, scooted up noisily, and began munching with wild abandon. Her peach-colored ears were folded back over a perpetual scowl.
Josho blinked. Shrugging, he returned his gaze to his weapon as he scrubbed the inner pieces. At last, he muttered out the side of his muzzle, "There a salad eating contest I don't know about?"
"It's scrumptious," Props blurted, continuing to scarf away. "I like stuff that tastes good."
Josho felt his mane flouncing from the volume of her statement. "Hmmm... glad to know that it's having such a positive effect on you."
"Did you needsomething?" Props gargled between salad bits. "Because I don't have time for big bouncy meanie heads!"
"H-hey... just casual conversation," Josho said. "Besides, the war's over, lady."
Props sighed, slumping back in her chair as her expressions softened. "I'm super sorries. It's just that..."
"Something dead in the womb?"
"It's Zaidy Waidy," Props slurred, her eyes jaded and emotionless. "Handsome said that he saw him leave the ship earlier this morning with three or four winged mares."
"Floydien said that, huh?"
"And I dunno why it's bothering me, but... I-I just can't get my mind bubbles off it," Props said with a sigh.
"Well, I saw Zaid leave myself," Josho said. "And I can tell you right now that Floydien's totally wrong."
Props gasped wide, beaming. "Really?! You mean it?"
"Yup." Josho nodded. "It was more like ten winged mares."
Props' jaw hung open. Slowly, her eartips lowered towards the table.
Josho blinked. "Hmmm..." With a nervous shuffle, he slid out of his chair. "I... th-think I'm gonna... uhm... go carry my gun..." He waddled away. "...to the opposite side of the Jury."
As he left, Props sat in the chair, her muzzle frozen. Slowly—like a geological tremor—her eyebrows began twitching... and twitching and twitching and twitching and—
Rainbow Dash sat on the edge of a platform overlooking the western canopy beneath Central D. Before her, the basin's mists parted ways to reveal scarlet beams from the sunset. As the crimson light swept over the treetops, various Durandanans retreated home in lazy droves. Rainbow could see friends laughing and wrestling with each other in midair. Closer to the upper branches, lovers nuzzled each other and wandered inside just in time to evade the shadows of evening.
Rainbow took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, relishing a fresh breeze as it toyed with her bangs and filled her nostrils with coolness. She held a hoof out, feeling each drift of the wind current.
"It's not forbidden, you know."
Rainbow's eyes opened. She looked over her shoulder. "Hmmm?"
Fawful strolled up from the elders' building. Her bleached threads danced in the breeze. "Flying. You strike me as a pony who does her best thinking when she gusts."
Rainbow sighed, glaring at the horizon. "I've had my full of thinking lately."
"Hmmm..." Fawful smirked slightly as she stood at the edge beside Rainbow. "If only some of us could be so lucky."
Rainbow winced. She closed her eyes, grumbled, and said, "Fawful, I... I think I may have made a mistake coming here."
"Oh?" Fawful squatted down daintily beside her. "And what makes you say that?"
"Just imagine," Rainbow muttered. "If a sky stone vessel like ours hadn't pierced the winds of the sky stabs and shown up here..." She blew out the side of her muzzle and stared down at the treetops. "We'd never have bothered with Durandana to begin with. We wouldn't have blown anypony's minds with the idea of a huge... huge world. And we certainly wouldn't have made you rethink the whole Valkyrie business."
"Hmmmm..." Fawful smiled. "And who said anything was being rethought, Rainbow?"
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked at the elder. "But I thought—I mean... with all of the stuff that Pilate and I..."
"The way tomorrow's Durandanans will think and feel is up to time to decide, not you, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said. "And if you must know, though I was raised from a sparrow to respect the glory of the Valkyrie, I know in my heart that she speaks to me, as she speaks to all of us. I'd not have carried my weight as a Gray Feather if this wasn't the case."
"Yeah, but... y-you were First-Born!" Rainbow exclaimed. "You didn't have a choice!"
"You really believe we're that simple, hmmm?" Fawful asked.
Rainbow blinked. "I don't know what to believe." She glanced down at the trees once again. "Though, it's been my experience that nothing in this world is simple." She sighed. "And I, for one, would really... really like simple."
Fawful gazed quietly at her. "Rainbow, please... don't feel bad for that which you've shown us. I don't believe that it's in your heart to complicate things for anypony."
"Okay—if... like..." Rainbow fidgeted as she spoke. "Say there was some nasty dragon enslaving all of you—and I had the challenge of kicking its tail. That would be a way cooler situation than what's going on right now!" She gulped. "Or if it was a bunch of bullies in airships and managliders, I could deal with that crud before breakfast! But... but this whole legacy of the Valkyrie business..." Rainbow cringed, hugging herself. "It's been a long, long time since I felt like an idiot. And the worst part is I'm sure things would be a lot less messy if I hadn't tried to tell you guys anything in the first place."
"But you couldn't, could you?" Fawful remarked. "You were destined to come here."
"Me being 'Austraeoh' has nothing to do with it—" Rainbow's eyes bulged. She flashed Fawful a nervous look. "Wait... don't tell me that you're starting to believe—"
Fawful giggled. "I only answer to one calling, Rainbow Dash. And she manifests destiny through her own glory. There are many elders already debating whether or not your arrival here may have been prophesied in the scrolls."
"Please..." Rainbow clenched her eyes shut, wincing. "Don't go there. Don't have them go there. I am totally not some... fr-friggin' Valkyrie apostle or something."
"You're an awesome pegasus, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said, then shook her head. "But you're far from worship material."
Rainbow blinked. "Oh..."
"But, it's certainly something worth contemplating." Fawful cocked her head to the side. "Maybe Celestia and Luna play into the Valkyrie's glorious legacy. Maybe they don't. But you?" She took a calm breath and said, "Perhaps... just perhaps... you were meant to arrive here in Durandana by all the powers combined."
"What for?" Rainbow muttered. "You know enough about me. Even Pilate can tell you that I haven't have much left in my system."
"Precisely."
Rainbow flashed Fawful a look.
The Gray-Feather was silent.
Rainbow gulped. "But... but my friends," Rainbow murmured. "Val Roa... my journey..." Her eyes narrowed. "The Midnight Armory and the Harmonic Prism..."
"I..." Fawful winced slightly. "...I know v-very little about the last subject matter, even though you and your striped friend went to great lengths to explain it to us."
"Yeah. My bad. The two of us can be full of words at times."
"But... if the Valkyrie—or 'Commander Hurricane' as you speak of her—could not complete her journey, though she was bound by the same purpose as you, then what's to say that your final resting places lies so far ahead?" Fawful stared intently at Rainbow Dash. "Maybe it's here, Rainbow Dash. Maybe this is where you were meant to arrive... and where you were meant to stay?"
Rainbow's face was stuck in a perpetual grimace, but she couldn't summon the strength to retort. Eventually, she swallowed a lump down her throat and said, "Then just what is the nature of 'Austraeoh?' My friends—Bellesmith, Pilate, Kera—all of this Eljunbyro and Odrsjot gobbily-gook! Was it all for nothing?!"
"You think your Commander Hurricane lacked any of the same things?"
"I... I don't know..."
"It would seem as if her glory was passed on to you." Fawful said. "Like a torch, if you will. Perhaps, then, you have a torch to pass along yourself?"
Rainbow bit her lip. She heard a rattling sound, then glanced down to see that her hoof was grasping her pendant.
Fawful quietly said, "I'm simply saying what has been dwelling on my mind since you and Pilate told us more about you. Perhaps now you can understand why I wish you to tell me everything that you possibly can, Rainbow. You need not be alone in contemplating the nature of your presence here."
Rainbow shuddered. "The reason I stopped to begin with... is because something about this place..." She gazed up at the misty heights. "...keeps me from feeling so alone."
"And what of your friends?" Fawful said.
Rainbow's nostrils flared. She stared out onto the jungle with a melancholic gaze. "No matter what happens—whether I live or die, whether I make it to the ends of the world or not, I am going to have to leave them." She gulped, her voice cracking slightly. "Just like I left m-my other friends..."
Fawful stared at her silently.
"It's been one adventure after another. Constant battles. Ledomaritans this and Xonans that." Rainbow winced. "I've... h-had the luxury of ignoring the problem. But... what's the point? I'm dying, and it's only getting worse. Sure, the flames of the machine world help me a little bit—but even they are getting flimsier... watered down." She gulped. "When I first set off, the flight was just a challenge to myself. I wasn't sure if I would make it or not—but I just didn't care. And now...?"
"Yes?"
Rainbow's ears drooped. "...now I'm starting to think that I should have kept that mindset the whole dang time." She chewed on her lip, eventually turning to glance at Fawful. "What do you think I should do?"
"I only barely know you, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said. "You've done so much... given us so much to think about and be amazed at. But, beneath all of that, I can see a very brave and loyal mare... who's also very weary and exhausted." Fawful smiled gently. "That's the real reason I think you came here. Whether the Valkyrie willed it or Harmony itself."
Rainbow blinked. "A bird to its nest." She clenched her jaw, then stared out.
Silence reigned.
"There... w-was another reason I came out here," Fawful said. "It's to tell you that the elders are still prepared to speak with Celestia, provided you can make such a thing possible with the Sword of Solstice."
"It is..." Rainbow nodded. "And I can. But right now... I-I just can't think of anything."
"Perhaps you would like to retire along with your friend on your vessel?"
"Nah. Too early for that," Rainbow said. Stretching her limbs, she stood up, spread her wings, and hovered up. "I may hate thinking, but it's something I gotta do from time to time. And there's only one way to do it."
Fawful chuckled. "Just be sure to maintain a high altitude. There are lot of herders and foragers gliding back home this time of the evening."
"Yeah... don't wanna blow any more ponies' minds." Rainbow drifted off with a bittersweet grin. "Stay young. You know you can." With a blue hoof salute, she was gone.
Fawful watched her fly off. She gently exhaled, then leaned her chin on her forelimbs with an expression of mute melancholy.
"I'm not even remotely joking," Bellesmith said with a pleasant smile as she and Roarke trotted down the stairwell at the rear of the Jury. "After having just sequenced with Nightshade, I had Rainbow Dash's memories freshly resurfaced in my head. It was like I was born to kick flank in ways that would make a Royal Guardspony jealous!"
"I had heard stories of how you single-hoofedly stole a dozen orphans from the confines of a northern airship," Roarke said, trotting down the steps along with her.
"Oh, and don't forget the time I saved Phoenix from a skyscraper armed to the teeth with Nightshade's personally-hired stormtroopers!"
"Hrmmm... I'm only familiar with your frail exterior." Roarke's lenses retracted. "I had assumed that there wasn't a single drop of warrior's blood to be found in you."
"And just how do you think I made it out of Stratopolis alive, hmmm?" Belle swiveled to a stop, smirking proudly at the metal mare. "I may fancy peace and civility, Roarke, but I'm not exactly a weakling." She winked. "You can ask Pilate that."
"I'm not certain he can judge you for the same qualities that we're talking about."
"Oh, you can ask him about that too." Belle grinned wide. "Then you'll find out just what's black, white, and red all over." Belle giggled merrily, reeling on the platform. At last, she caught her breath—but when she did so she heard a strange, raspy noise. Almost like a faded siren was going off in the distance. She glanced all around, finally discovering the origin of the sound in Roarke's throat.
Roarke silenced herself upon Belle's stare. Her lips melted back to a neutral expression. Silence—save for the whirring of her lenses. "That... was humorous, was it not?"
Belle smirked. "It is now."
"Hmmm..." Roarke's ears twitched, and her lips curved slightly. "So be it." She took one bold step into the hangar—then froze in place.
"Huh?" Belle nearly stumbled into Roarke's flank. "What's the matter, Roarke?"
"Whizzball." Roarke droned. A beat. She winced, gnashing her teeth. "My transport."
"Huh?" Belle leaned her head in. "What about it—?" She blinked curiously.
The hangar was empty, and its rear doors hung open to the red mists of the evening.
Roarke's limb muscles tightened in their metal braces. "Just who would be stupid enough to take it?"
CRASSSSH!
A bulbous black sphere exploded through a wooden wall.
With a shriek, two Durandanan stallions and a mare rolled out of a bed and pressed their shivering, sweating bodies to the far end of the treehouse interior. Their eyes were wide as saucers.
Hisssss! The doors to the sphere groaned open with flickering manalight. An angry, angry mare leapt out and slid to a stop across the tangled bedsheets.
"Featherless gull!" Props barked. "Mud-brown mane streak! Smells like unwashed horseshoes and a bag of potato chips! Where did he go?!"
"Uhhhh... uhhhhhhhh..." The pegasi stammered.
"Hckkkkkkkk-clkkk-clkkk-clkkk!" Props' head forward like a tank turret, her teeth gritting so hard they produced sparks. Blue eyes lit up with nebulous flame.
"Guhhh—Two trees down!" the winged mare stammered, pointing with a shivering hoof out the nearest door. "Lower branches! Red doorstop! You c-can't miss it!"
"Thankies!" Props sang with the briefest of melodic breaths, then swiveled about, once more a living torpedo. "Grrrrrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrrrr!" She galloped out of the building so quickly that the wooden planks beneath her turned briefly red with heated friction.
The stars broke out overhead. Even through the misty haze of the Durandanan Basin, Rainbow Dash could see them—not for very long, though, for she was frequently closing her eyes.
Rainbow glided at a perpetual curve, angling her left wings along the bend in the basin. As the crater ran in a circle, so did she, pivoting at a snail's pace while otherwise majestically soaring over the dense jungle and foliage below. When the wind blew at her feathers, she didn't fight it, allowing herself to drift up and down with whatever whim the weather exhibited. She relished in the chorus of countless crickets alone, in the rustle and dance of trees.
It had been a long time since Rainbow Dash had flown in a circle. In a lot of ways, it almost felt like flying in a straight line. The beginning of the flight mattered little, and there was seemingly no end. So long as she maintained a consistent pace and mastered the wind currents, then she could seemingly fly on forever.
However, Rainbow Dash knew that she couldn't. At any given moment, the flight would end. It could have been in her next breath. It could have been several months later. Ultimately, it mattered little. Despite the immortal strength of her will, the elements would hold sway when all was said and done.
She had always imagined a glorious death. In fact, she had earned herself one. But that wasn't enough, and destiny evidently wouldn't settle for what Rainbow Dash deemed "acceptable." For a moment, Rainbow contemplated that she had never been flying in a straight line at all, but instead several spiraling circles that just got smaller and smaller over time, dragging in various innocent lives into the cyclone until the revolutions eventually ended. Would it culminate in a gentle release or a calamitous implosion? Rainbow couldn't even pretend to guess.
When Rainbow Dash began her journey, she received the blessings of Luna and Celestia. She never expected to experience such grace when her flight ended. But here—in Durandana—Fawful and the other pegasi were extending a blessing of their own. What was the need to fight anymore? She had lost friends and gained some more. She had lived more than one life in a single gust. Despite all of the pain and fighting and struggle, Rainbow began to wonder—perhaps she had a lot to be thankful for? Perhaps she had everything to be thankful for—
The world inexplicably spun.
Rainbow's eyes flashed open, red on yellow. She hissed in pain, clutching her skull as she flew straight towards spiraling trees. "Nnnngh—L-Luna!" A sea of branches hurled towards her from beyond the mist. "Guhh... f-for buck's sake!" Gritting her teeth, Rainbow reached through the numbness and flapped her wings hard. She couldn't feel it, but her eyes told her that she was evening out. She angled her feathers in such a way to pull her vision up and over the rustling tree canopy. There was a flash of stars, then scattering leeves.
Rainbow's body impacted off a tree branch.
"Augh!" She spun twice. She couldn't register enough pain to tell how much damage had been done. She could trust her body to be tough enough, even if she couldn't trust gravity at the moment.
Her head turned to the side. She saw another branch slicing its way towards her.
"Hrghhh!" Rainbow hooked a hoof out, catching the branch with her forelimb. The resulting jolt broke through the dizziness, sending her blood surging through her petite frame. She awakened to enough senses to toss herself upwards. Leaping from the branch, she spread her wings again, slowing her descent with enough grace to come gliding lazily towards a pair of outstretched tree limbs. Once above them, she coiled her feathers, and fell down hard. "Ooomf!"
The tree branches caught her. She nestled her weight against them, relishing in the cold touch of the bark as her body slowly, slowly spun to a stop. She clutched her head, her pained eyes returning to their vibrant ruby hue.
"Mmmnngh... just... pull yourself together..." Rainbow clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes tight. "You've got m-more left in you than this! Focus... focus, Rainbow! For the love of all that's awesome, focus!"
She wasn't aware of it at first, but her breaths were growing more and more evenly spaced. A slick curtain of sweat ran down her neck and chin. Her eyes were shut so tight that tiny lines of color started playing tricks against her retinae. As she felt the blood pumping in her ears, she thought—however fleetingly—that all of the lines morphed together, coalescing to become something. A face? A name? A word?
Rainbow didn't have any chance to concentrate on anything, for a loud rustling sound broke through the numbness, awaking her. Her eyes flashed open, seeing sparks melting against the misty canvas all around. Once more, she heard the sound... the beating sound... like leather wings against the darkness.
"H-huh?!" She tilted her head up, reeling slightly.
The stars broke continuously in a straight line, then shone unimpeded. The beating grew more and more distant.
Rainbow blinked. Rainbow frowned. Rainbow fumed. With a single flap of her wings, she shot skyward like a bullet, piercing the night's sky. Dizziness still clung to her wings, but she fought against the fainting trails of her spell, ascending as rapidly as she could. Her eyes darted everywhere. Out of the corner of her vision, she thougth she made out a black shape against the stars, and she rocketed straight towards it.
Rainbow climbed and climbed and climbed through the air. She ascended so high that she flew beyond the reach of Durandana's weather currents. Here, the air was a turbulent, tempestuous mess, blowing at her with wild winds that rivaled the blizzard gusts of the Wastes.
Nevertheless, Rainbow hovered firmly against the gales, sneering into the howling winds. "Nnnnngh—What is it?!" she hollered, she screamed. "What do you want from me?!" She flung her forelimbs out. "Come back and spill it out, you scaley creep!"
Nothing but darkness and noise.
Rainbow snarled at it all. "Why are you still watching me?! I have n-nothing left for you!" She panted and panted between loud outbursts. "I have nothing left for anypony! So just what in the buck did you see in me, huh?!" She wheezed and yelled, "What does Urohringr want from me?!"
The world grew hazier and hazier. Rainbow's vision was fogging.
"Gnnnghhh!" Rainbow pulled at her hair. "What?! Do I need to kill another one of your sisters to get you to talk to me?! I'm at the end of my rope! Where do I go?!" Shivering. Hyperventilating. "Why am I going th-there?!"
There was no answer. There was never an answer.
Rainbow seethed and seethed. Moisture formed along the edges of her eyes, all too quickly blown away by the slicing wind currents. She hung her head as her wings flapped with looser and looser motions. Her hooves grasped the pendant rattling around her neck.
"So much..." She gulped, her voice wavering. "It j-just... weighs so m-much. It always has. I'm tired. I'm just... s-so tired..."
There was a sniffling sound that was deaffened by the wind, and Rainbow slowly, slowly drifted back down into the welcoming heart of the lost basin.
Eagle Eye lay curled up in his cot, the same fetal position he had been in for hours. There was no sleeping; his moist eyes stared intently into the nearest bulkhead while his lavender ears occasionally flickered. Every so often, a sad breath would escape his nostrils, and his eyes would grow wetter.
Sniffling, the stallion buried his face into his pillow. A tiny whimpering noise escaped his throat, silenced by the shadows around him.
So it was with a curious stirring that Eagle Eye ultimately lifted his head to the repeated sound of a hoof knocking at his cabin door. His eyes blinked blearily across the darkness.
The knocking persisted, louder and more earnest this time.
With stiff legs, Eagle Eye rolled out of bed, stood up, and shuffled towards the door, sighing the whole way. At last, he grabbed the hatch and opened it with a squeaky turn. As soon as he opened the thing to the hallway, his breath left him.
"... ... ...Ebon?!"
The stallion avoided Eagle's gaze, staring down at the floor with folded ears. He was dead silent, though his trembles were more than noticeable.
"May I step inside, Eagle, please?" It was the gentlest of whispers.
Eagle gawked. He nod-nod-nodded and stepped aside, giving Ebon room to shuffle on in. He very slowly, very gently closed the door behind them both.
Ebon stared dead at the wall, his tail hanging limply behind him. With a slight turn of the head, he murmured over his shoulder, "I was t-told that you would be here."
"Uhm..." Eagle Eye gulped the biggest lump ever down his throat. "Yeah. I mean... sure. I guess..."
"I... I was also told that you've been absolutely miserable." Ebon's dry throat cleared. "And from the way he described it, I... st-started to get concerned..."
"Huh?" Eagle blinked. "Who?"
"I know how dramatic you c-can sometimes be, Eagle." Ebon twirled, eyes glossy as they finally found their mark, shaking Eagle to his core. "The l-last thing I'd ever want for you is to hurt yourself!"
"But... b-but I wouldn't! I mean..." Eagle's muzzle scrunched. "Who gave you that idea—?!"
"He loves you very much, you know," Ebon says. "I... I don't blame him."
Eagle blinked. At last, he rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly. "You dirty, dirty old stallion..."
"Eagle Eye, please hear me out—"
"Look." Eagle sighed, trotting forward and waving a forelimb. "Whatever Josho said, I'm sure it's just him trying to—"
"No." Ebon's bergundy hooves gently clasped either side of Eagle's leg and squeezed tight. He gazed up into the other stallion's eyes. "This is about me and you." He gulped. "It's always about me and you."
"Ebon...?"
Ebon sniffled, his eyes tearing up. "You've been so good to me... so loving... so... adoring." Ebon gritted his teeth. "Everything in my being is telling me not to do this. But... b-but I can't help it, Eagle. I have to tell you..."
Eagle took a deep, deep breath. "Tell me what, Ebon?"
"The tr-truth, Eagle," Ebon whimpered, his lips quivering. "The truth about me."
Eagle Eye nodded. He smiled gently, a tear running down his muzzle. He raised his other hoof and clasped it with Ebon's. "I'm all ears..."
"Back in Gray Smoke, I told you that I had no memories," Ebon Mane said as he trotted a tiny circle inside the confined cabin. "I told you that the only thing I remembered was my mother... and the desire to find my mother." He clenched his jaw tight as his hooves shuffled to a stop. "...but that was a lie."
Silence.
Eagle gazed thinly across the dim interior. "What? That... that you were searching for your mother? I mean, who else are you writing to—?"
"Not that. That part is true. What I'm trying to tell you is that I was lying to you because I... I-I was leaving something out." With a gulp, Ebon swiveled around and slowly sat on the edge of the bottom cot. "Something else that I actually remembered... and still do."
Eagle Eye nodded slowly. "Please, Ebon. Do go on."
The stallion avoided Eagle's gaze, staring instead at the metal floor. His ears folded over his head like a guilty foal. "Whatever happened to me... it took away everything I know about where I was born... what I did for a living... where I came from..." He glanced lethargically at his haunches. "How or why I got this stupid cutie mark..."
Eagle Eye patiently listened.
Ebon went on, "But... th-there is one thing I do remember. My first memory, and it's much... much clearer than anything else in my head. I don't even remember my mother's face like I remember this." He gazed up with a quivering lip. His voice cracked, "I remember the pony who found me."
Eagle leaned his head to the side. "The pony who... f-found you?"
"He... h-he was a trader." Ebon gulped. "Or a merchant. He owned a skiff that he used to travel up and down the rivers of eastern Ledomare. While he operated out of a town not that far from most Confederate settlements, his main place of operations was in Gray Smoke. And that's where I was when I first saw him... and his eyes... his warm... comforting eyes..." Ebon's face winced as his pupils shrank suddenly.
Eagle blinked at that.
With a raspy sigh, Ebon continued. "I was so... so confused... and weak." He swallowed. "I felt like an infant. So helpless and frightened... but too frail to sob in fright. But it didn't matter. He was there to protect me... to nurse me back to health. I couldn't understand why or how... but I trusted this stallion. Who else or what else could I trust? I had nothing, Eagle. Nothing. It was like coming out of a thick storm, but he was there to drag me to dry land. I trusted him. I felt blessed to have been found by him."
With a gentle smile, Eagle said, "Sounds like he was a good pony."
"I believe so." Ebon nodded. "Whole heartedly. There is no doubt in my mind." He cleared his throat. "As... uhm... as time wore on, I started feeling healthier and healthier. I couldn't figure out why. The stallion brought me food, but I don't remember ever eating any. It just... d-didn't feel important to me at the time. As each day went by, all I wanted to do was see his face, his smile, his warm, warm eyes. Somehow... that was enough. Eventually, I got healthy enough that I could look around and collect my bearings. He told me all about how he had found me on some river's edge while he was trading between Ledomaritan towns. As soon as he realized how sick I was, he took the first zeppelin transport up to Gray Smoke so he could nurse me back to health with the comforts of his own home. I... I-I just couldn't believe the generosity of such a pony! And such selflessness too! I told him that I couldn't remember anything—much less how I ended up alone and weak on some riverbed. But... but none of that mattered. It was as though his entire aim in life was to make sure I recovered from whatever happened to me."
"Not all Ledomaritans are heartless creatures, Ebon," Eagle said with a hopeful smile. "Most of them are capable of kindness and gentleness. I mean, look at Belle and Pilate!"
"Eagle, you have to understand." Ebon gulped. "This was different."
"In what way?"
Ebon hesitated.
Eagle winced. "Blessed Spark. He didn't... h-he didn't take advantage of you, did he?"
Ebon's nostrils flared. "No." The breath of anger dissipated as soon as it formed, and the stallion instantly winced. "It... it w-was the other way around..."
Eagle stared quizzically.
With a murmur, Ebon continued. "At first, I was incredibly frightened at how little I knew about myself. My life was a complete and utter blank slate. I was even more afraid of the reason for all of this. But... as it turned out, it didn't matter. This stallion—my caretaker—filled the hours by talking to me. He... he talked about his trade routes and how to properly haggle with soot-stained customers and his various brothers and sisters who had been swept up in the war. He was like a living fountain of words and stories and anecdotes. And you know what? I didn't care one bit! I... I loved listening to him... watching him as he sat across from my cot... seeing the little twitches in his ears when he came upon an exciting story or a harrowing tale that he had to share. I..." Ebon's face locked into a cold position.
Eagle waited for it.
"I... I-I loved him, EE," Ebon said. "I trusted him. I depended on him. I enjoyed him. But... but I loved him. Deep down inside... it was the only thing about me that was real. But that wasn't all." He gulped. "He loved me. I don't say that facetiously, for it was true. I knew it was true. I could feel it. He had the deepest... warmest... most sincere love that anypony could have for another. And he chose to bestow it on me... a literal nopony. And it's not like I could give him anything in return! I mean... yes... I listened to his stories. I gave him company and smiles and... all of m-my attention. But..." Ebon gritted his teeth. "It wasn't worth it in the end. He shouldn't have taken me in. He sh-shouldn't have!" A tear ran down Ebon's face.
Sitting down on his haunches across from Ebon, Eagle gathered the courage to ask, "What happened...?"
Ebon sniffed. "I..." He rubbed his cheek, avoiding Eagle's gaze. "I st-started to notice a change as soon as I was strong enough to walk. Suddenly, my caretaker was having to sit down a lot. It's... it's like he couldn't trot straight. I figured at first that he was exhausted. I mean, he didn't sleep much when he was around me. He was... was so dedicated to making sure I felt better. Well, now I was having my strength return... but wh-why was he losing his balance?"
Ebon paused to shudder.
"And it only got worse, EE," he said. "Suddenly, he would collapse without warning. He'd have these fainting spells. Then, as my vision got better, I could see... I-I could see..." A squeaking sob. "Just how thin and diseased he was." He held a hoof over his muzzle as he stammered. "All this t-time that he was taking care of me... h-he was only dying himself!" Eagle choked. "I... I-I tried to get help! I ran out of his shop and begged for help from these strangers all around me that I'd never seen before! Nopony would lend a hoof. I had n-no idea that we were in the Rust District! It never occurred to me that every neighbor would be cold and heartless scumbags! Unlike him! And his gentle laugh and his warm eyes..." He gnashed his teeth and shook his head. "But they weren't warm anymore! The life had left him! Sucked out as if with a funnel!"
Eagle's lips pursed as he watched with quivering eyes. By this time, Ebon was grasping his head, bending over and shuddering from head to tail.
"I... I-I didn't know what else to d-do! The only thing that seemed to make him feel better was when I was around. So... so I stayed by his side. I even held him close, trying to g-get him to tell the stories that he used to, as if it would m-make him feel better as it did me. But... it didn't." He whimpered. "He only got worse! It... it was like we were the opposites now of who and what we were when everything began! There he lay in the same cot I occupied for goddess-knows how long, and no amount of food or water I brought him could nurse him back to health. I... I-I was helpless, EE! I was helpless to heal the caretaker who saved me from certain death!"
Eagle shook his head. "If he truly loved you, Eagle Eye, I'm sure he would have done something to help the situation. He wouldn't have left so much in your hooves! I'm sure of it!" Eagle gestured. "He'd have told you how to find a physician or where to get medicine or—"
"He didn't want any of that, Eagle!" Ebon practically shouted. He looked up with flaring, wet eyes. "Don't you get it?! He wanted nothing! Nothing but... but m-my company..." The stallion's face paled. Tears streamed down to his quivering jaw. "I... I killed him, EE."
Eagle's muzzle contorted. "...what?"
"I did. I killed him," Ebon murmured. "It took me a long time to realize it. But the same thing that got him to salvage my body in the first place is what sapped him of all energy. He loved me... and I loved him..." Ebon's jaw clamped tightly. "And... because of that... he died. Because of me."
Eagle shook his head. "You... you c-can't possibly blame yourself for that! That's absurd!"
"Isn't it?" Ebon's nostrils flared. "Even as his life faded away, I could feel my health reaching its peak. I don't know what it is... but there's something horrible inside of me. A demon. A curse. A magical disease. Something horrible... and it claimed him as his victim. It... it killed the one pony I truly loved..." Ebon shuddered. "And... and as soon as I f-figured out what was happening, I tried to tell him. But... but he was too far g-gone. His cheekbones were hollow and his m-mane... oh goddess... his mane was falling out at the roots. I sobbed like an infant, and with his last breath he silenced me. He had a smile on his withered face and... and..." Ebon nearly hyperventilated. "Do you know want to know what he said, Eagle?"
Eagle simply stared in stunned silence.
Ebon grunted, "He said 'thank you.'" He clenched his eyes shut. "He... th-thanked me for ending h-his life!" A sniffling, and he clamped his hooves over face. "Mrrmmmf... all he knew was the love th-that had enraptured him... not knowing that it killed him as well! What ever happened to his anger and his fear and his s-sadness? Were they sucked away t-too?! That's not a natural way to die! It's not a right way to die!"
The stallion's quiet sobs echoed between the two.
Eagle exhaled with a shudder, his eyes falling to the floor. Ultimately, he gulped and asked, "What h-happened next?"
"Next?" Ebon sniffed and gazed into the corner of the room. "It... w-wasn't long after that the soot-stained weasels who lived next door caught wind of his passing. They didn't know much about what had happened—only that their neighbor was taking care of an invalid... and getting sick himself. Before I could even grieve his passing, they tore into the shop and ransacked the place. I-I tried to fight them off... b-but they were just too many. I..." He grimaced. "I-I couldn't even recover his b-body to bury him, those damned butchers..."
"Ebon..."
He went on. "Suddenly, I was alone in the streets of Gray Smoke. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was afraid to do anything!" He shuddered. "If I got close to another pony... if I fell into the comforting arms of another equine like his..." He looked up. "What more could I do? Haven't I caused enough damage as it was?"
"Let me guess..." Eagle took a deep breath. "You discovered a way to blend in."
Ebon nodded. "I needed to find some method of keeping myself alive. After my caretaker's death, I felt myself growing weak once again. I... I-I thought if I just scrounged up some food, then I might be able to sustain myself. So..." He shifted where he sat. "I-I snuck into the back of a restaurant in the Bronze District, thinking I m-might be able to steal some bread or something. But... I-I was caught in the act. I had to think fast to save myself, so I told them that I was a backup cook sent from the next district over. To my surprise, they bought it. I had to somehow make some convincingly good meals to save my flank. It... w-wasn't easy, but I discovered I was a fast learner. I'm sure my cooking was pretty shoddy when I began, but somehow it didn't matter. Almost everypony who ate my food felt intensely satisfied—more than the other cooks'. Well, if it works, why spit on it... r-right? I moved my way up, advertising my 'cooking skills' from one restaurant to another, and eventually I was able to sustain myself. But... b-but only through serving food."
Eagle leaned his head to the side. "How do you mean?"
"Well, EE..." Ebon glanced up. "Have you ever seen me eat? Ever?"
Eagle's teeth held his tongue in place for a good few seconds. At last, he murmured, "A good chef never indulges—or so I've always figured."
"Eagle Eye..." Ebon slowly, slowly shook his head. "I don't eat."
Eagle was silent.
"Like... ever." Ebon winced. "It's because... for some reason... it's like I don't have to. It's... it's just fulfilling enough to make other ponies happy with the things I serve them. I can get by on that. And, you know what? That's perfectly fine. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way I aim to keep it. Because I haven't brought harm to another pony. Not even Props! Not until..." He stopped in mid-speech, wincing as if a knife was stabbing him in the gut.
Eagle gulped and leaned forward. "Ebon, I know what you're probably thinking. Or, that is, what you're afraid of, but... please... you have to realize—"
"Do you want to know what his name was?" Ebon asked.
Eagle blinked. "Huh?"
"My caretaker." Ebon gulped, his face frowning. "His name."
Eagle simply stared at him.
Ebon sneered, "His name was Ebon... Ebon mane." A tear ran down the stallion's face, though his frown remained resolute. "I took it, EE. I robbed it from him just as I robbed him of his life." He gulped. "It was the f-first thing I thought of wh-when I was nearly caught stealing food from a kitchen. I didn't have an identity of my own. So I took his... because I loved him... or so I th-thought..."
"Thought?"
Ebon's countenance had collapsed, and he was on the virge of sobbing once again. "My love is a poison, Eagle. It sapped all that was good from Ebon. It took the gift that he gave me and turned it inside out... turned it to arsenic. If I knew what was good for everypony around me, I-I would have just thrown myself off of Gray Smoke when I realized what had happened! But I didn't!"
"Ebon..."
"Stop calling me that!!" he shrieked hysterically, then broke down crying. "I'm a c-coward!"
"You're a strong pony! And you've lasted this long through tenacity and wit!" Eagle shook his head with a hopeful smile. "That's not cowardice!"
"But it is, Eagle! Just because I managed to brush past Props and so many other ponies without hurting them doesn't matter! Because I made myself a promise long, long ago! A pr-promise that I feel myself breaking... or about to break! And as much as I want to do otherwise, I-I can't... I can't break that promise!" Ebon panted and panted, his legs going weak beneath him. "I... I don't want... d-don't want..."
"Please..." Eagle drifted forward and placed his hooves on the stallion's shoulders. "Look at me..."
"Nnnngh..." Ebon clenched his moist eyes shut. He sobbed out the side of his muzzle, a whimpering foalish voice: "I-I don't want to h-hurt you! But that's all that's going to happen, Eagle! I swear it!"
"It's not going to happen to me, Ebon."
"Yes it will!" Ebon hid his face in his hooves. "Nnnngh... don't say it, EE. Please, d-don't say it!"
"Ebon..." Eagle yanked the stallion's arms down. "I love you because I choose to. Because you make my life happier when I'm around you..."
"You... y-you can't..." Ebon shook his head, his eyes full of fright. "We c-can't—"
"And what's more, I made a promise, Ebon!" Eagle said. "I promised that I would take care of you! I would bring you home, even if neither of us know what your home is yet!"
Ebon gulped hard. His ragged breaths steadied into a slow shudder. "You can't possibly know that..." He shook his head rapidly. "Nopony can know that!"
"It doesn't matter," Eagle said. "Ebon, I'm so... so sorry for what's happened to you, but you have to stop running! You deserve a healthy, happy life!"
"EE, I have a healthy and happy life! I have the Jury—"
"And you deserve the best that this life has to give you," Eagle said, slowly forming a warm smile. "You don't deserve to feel cold and lonely everynight. What's more... you don't deserve to feel guilty."
Ebon sucked his breath in on that. His gaze locked with Eagle's.
"You don't, Ebon," Eagle said, squeezing the stallion's shoulders. "What happened was not your fault! Do you understand me? None of this is your fault."
Ebon shook and shook. His eyes once again filled with tears. "Eagle... Eagle, I... I..."
Eagle smiled tearfully. He pulled the stallion in for the deepest of hugs.
Ebon hung his neck over the ex-mercenary's shoulder. He whimpered quietly, his body limp in Eagle's embrace. "I'm so sc-scared. I don't want to hurt you... I d-don't ever want to hurt anypony ever again..."
"Shhhh... it's okay," Eagle said, nuzzling the stallion's ear. "You don't have to say it. But it's okay. We can make it work out."
"But h-how, Eagle? How? You have n-no idea what you're getting yourself into!"
Eagle briefly bit his lip. With a deep breath he said, "You're going to have to trust me, Ebon. We will find a way. You have friends. You have a place to stay. And you have love. My love, and that has never... ever been something I give just freely."
Ebon squeaked an indecipherable word or two past Eagle's ears as he clung to him. After sniffling he said, "Are... are you m-mad at me? Are you disappointed at me f-for not telling you?"
Eagle opened his mouth to respond, hesitated, then said. "What do you think?"
Ebon gulped, then stammered, "You are mad... j-just a little..."
Eagle smiled. "But I love you more than for that to be an issue. Is that so hard to believe?"
Ebon sniffled, then formed a weak smile across his face. "No... it isn't..."
Eagle nuzzled him closely. His voice was warm, though his gaze was distant as he said, "We're going to make this work, Ebon. Someway, somehow, you won't have to be alone or distant anymore. And... and n-neither will I."
Ebon shuddered. "Th-thank you, EE. I... I-I'm so sorry for abandoning you the other day... for leaving you alone and confused..."
Eagle took a deep breath. "One st-step at a time... you feel me?"
"Yes... I-I feel you..." A nervous giggle, then a quiet sob.
The two remained seated together in each other's embrace, until their mutual exhaustion carried them into a mellow slumber.
"Zaidy Waidy!" Props hollered before the door to a rickety treehouse high above an array of swaying branches. The torch dangling from the exterior flickered with each heavy slam of her rear hooves against the front entrance. "I know you're in there! You have some explaining to do, ya fuzzhead!"
From the neighboring platform, several pegasi gathered in droves, clutching each other and murmuring in fright.
"I mean it! I've got pliers and I'm not afraid to use 'em!" Props spat. With a growl, she kicked and kicked at the door. "Grrrrnnngh! What's this made out of? Space Wood?" The frazzled mare spun about, forcing the Durandanans around her to flinch. Her eyes fell on the closest household on a platform. "Excuse me, ma'am?" she spoke in a charming, melodic tone. Her smile matched. "May I borrow that?" She pointed at a large wooden rake leaning against the structure's outer wall.
The pegasus gulped and tossed the heavy beam towards her. "B-be my guest, outsider!"
Thap! Props easily caught it. "Thankiessss!" She smiled. She curtsied. She spun and slammed the hulking weight of the thing against the door. "Raaaaaaaaaugh!"
Smassssssssh! The entrance was reduced to splinters.
The Noble Jury's engineer stuck her grinning, twitching face in through the door. "Heeeeeeeeere's Propsy!" Reaching her hoof in, she unlatched the frame from the inside and opened it with a creaking sound. It promptly collapsed to dust about two seconds after the gesture. Trotting inside, Props' goggles glinted like an arachnid's pair of eyes above her skull. "Now, Zaid... what do you have to say for yourself...?"
A voice trembled from the shadows. "Please... you h-have to understand..."
"Understand what?!" Props sneered, seething. "That's you're a two-timing hussy who can't stand on four legs and four legs alone?!"
"I... I-I didn't want anypony else around for this! It... it wouldn't be right!"
"Around for what?!" Props squinted. She lifted the outside lantern with her pole and held it forward. "Just where are you...?"
A swath of amber light swam over the interior. At last, the stallion was exposed, lying on a pile of velvety cushions. He had a plate full of toasted bread crumbs right beside him, and his chin was stained with the unmistakable yellow signs of cheese, cheese, and more cheese.
Props blinked... then blinked again. "Buh...?"
"Okay, confession time." Zaid squirmed in the spotlight. "I l-love this stuff more than life itself. Enough to forget about... about..." His eyelids twitched.
The sound of a miniature foghorn echoed across the chamber.
Zaid blushed. "...lactose intolerance." He bit his lip.
Props blinked. She blinked again. "Snkkkt..." Her whole body flinched, struck back by an invisible stone. Her golden mane curtained around her skull like a deflated balloon, and soon she was laughing, giggling, guffawing.
"Eh heh heh..." Zaid gulped. "K-Keep that open flame away, blondie."
"Heeheeheehee!"
"Sorry about... erm..." Zaid winced as his body jolted again. "Guh... the sm-smell..."
"You kidding?!" Props tossed the pole behind her and hopped in place. "I love it!" She pounced. "Smells like victory!"
"Gaaaah!" He gasped as she plowed into him and the two rolled over the rattling plate and breadcrumbs. "Oh jeez! Oh jeez! It's like wrestling living f-fuzz!"
"I knew it! I knew it all along!"
"H-hey! Uh... me too! So... you're not going to murder me, still, are you?"
"Depends on if you can live through it."
"Live through what—Mmmfmmmff!" His eyes bulged in the darkness as the two rolled even harder into the shadows.
The room turned into an echo chamber of giggles, chuckles, and low moans—all accompanied by a nebulous horn section.
Outside, a few pegasi nervously peaked in. One or two blinked, their wingfeathers slowly stretching out. At last, a First-Born cleared her throat, yanked the welcome mat off the wooden balcony, and draped it securely over the door, sealing off the interior of the treehouse.
The next morning, amber dawnlight wafted through the portholes of the Noble Jury's mess hall.
Shuffling by himself, a bleary Eagle Eye made his way to a chair and slid in. He slapped down a plate of apple slices and began nibbling tiredly. His nostrils flared as he gazed ahead of him in thought.
Slowly, another set of hoofsteps entered the room. A large figure came to a stop, glanced at Eagle and his plate, then back towards the kitchen.
"Hrrrmmm..." Josho took a deep breath. "From the looks of your table setting, I'm guessing that our cook isn't up and about to make breakfast yet."
"Mmmmf... no..." Eagle Eye gulped some apple mush down and shook his head. "And he won't for a while."
"Is that so?" Josho leaned against the table with a smirk across his top chin. "I take it things went swimmingly."
Eagle gulped again. "It's not like that."
"Ah. Righto." Josho nodded. He stood there in awkward silence.
Eagle continued eating.
"Erm... uhhh..." Josho scratched the side of his head. "I'm guessing that... since you haven't tried to kill me yet... you're not mad for laying the spurs on the little burgundy bit purse?"
"If you're wanting me to say thank you... 'Thank you.'" Eagle muttered.
"Well, you don't sound very happy."
"It's not unhappiness, old stallion. It's..." Eagle dropped his latest apple slice and sighed, closing his eyes. After a meditative pause, he murmured, "Ebon slept like a doll all night."
"Is that a fact?"
"I held him close the whole time."
"Is that all you did?"
"Josho?!"
"Hey..." Josho waved a forelimb, smirking. "Sorry! Sometimes I get surrogate 'dad' mixed up with surrogate 'bro.'"
"Surrogate flankhole is more like it."
"Heh... fine." Josho waddled off. "Try girl-chatting with the space reindeer and see if you have any better luck."
"Josho... no, please, wait." Eagle clenched his teeth, giving the stallion a light tug with his telekinesis. "Really. I'm sorry. I'm just... worried."
"About what?" Josho shrugged. "You and the sailboat are back together, aren't you?"
"Yes. And that's wonderful. It's just that... that..." Eagle hesitated.
Josho gazed quietly at him. Finally, he trotted over, pulled a chair out, and sat across from the ex-mercenary.
Eagle Eye looked up.
Josho waited patiently.
At last, Eagle Eye murmured, "Let's say you love somepony... like... genuinely... truly love somepony. And... and you w-want what is best for them, that which will make them happy." Eagle gulped, then fidgeted with his forelimbs. "And to make this pony happy, you go all out. You expose them to your feelings. You show them everything you're afraid of... and everything you hope for." He winced. "But... like... what if that's not enough?"
"Is there something you're holding back from the guy, guy?"
"Josho..."
"It's an h-honest question!"
Eagle gulped. "I want Ebon to be happy. But... but I know something... something that's the truth... but I know--or at least I'm pretty sure that such a truth wpuld only make him miserable." He ran a hoof through his frazzled mane. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it will crush him. I'll be by his side, of course, but... but maybe th-that won't be enough."
Silence.
Josho scratched his chins again. "Hrmmmmm... Kiddo, I'm no expert on romances. I couldn't stick with anypony long enough to make anything out of it back in Ledomare--much less a friggin' baby. Heh." He smirked bitterly. "And I'm certainly no expert on the locking of colt-bolts."
"Uh huh..."
"I mean... hah... seems rather redundant to play a ballgame with two sticks where I come from--"
"Will you get to the point?!" Eagle barked.
"Ahem... the point is, Eagle Eye..." Josho took a quiet breath, then stared squarely at him. "If what you do is give your all to make one pony happy, and yet you don't tell him the truth, then you're not really giving your all, now are ya?" He leaned forward, eyes narrow. "And what would that be, then? Real love? Or just a cardboard cut-out of the real thing?"
Eagle stared at the sunlit windows past Josho.
"The way I see it, nothing's worth goo-gooing on about if only one of you is happy, 'cuz the other one's struggling so hard to keep some stageplay goin' on constantly. You may be together... but is that something that'll be real?"
Eagle shuddered. In a weak voice, he eventually said, "I want Ebon to feel like what he has is real."
Josho blinked once. "Can't it be real enough on its own?"
Eagle chewed on his lip.
Josho glanced down. He sighed, then smiled faintly as he stood up. "Again... not the expert, talking." He shuffled two steps, paused, then looked back at the petite unicorn. "But, for what it's worth... I'm glad you two are back together. I mean... kind of a lonely basket with just one fruit in it. You know what I'm saying?"
"Buck me sideways, old stallion."
"Heh. Somepony else has that job now, the way I see it." Josho waddled towards the kitchen. "And then there's friggin' Blondie and Sir Cults-a-Lot. Ledo's buttfunk! Did somepony spike this crater or what?! Meh... I'm making an omelet."
With Josho gone, Eagle leaned forward, resting his chin on crossed forelimbs. He stared into the dawnlight, breathing in slow, contemplative motions.
"Rainbow?" Bellesmith squinted into the morning sunlight from where she and Pilate stood on the Noble Jury's top deck. "What... what do you mean?"
"Just what it sounds like." Rainbow finished sliding the Sword of Solstice into her saddlebag. Fastening it tight, she turned to face her friends. "Tell Floydien to bring the ship close to the crater's southern edge. I want you guys to be ready to glide over the Sky Stabs at a moment's notice."
Belle gawked at Pilate, then leaned forward with an expression of disbelief. "Surely it isn't that dire of a situation!"
"I... I really don't know," Rainbow muttered. "Fawful's giving me plenty of good vibes, but most of these Gray Feather guys?" She shuddered. "They're so secretive, it's not even funny. Kind of gives me the willies, if you know what I mean."
"And because of that, you're expecting the worst?"
"I don't know what to expect, Belle," Rainbow said. "For all I know, maybe they'll all giggle with glee and demand that Sivrem and Kitsune fashion a whole bunch of Celestia plushies. I just... I just want you all to be safe, no matter what." Rainbow gulped. "It's the least I can do."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that... that I'm not exactly 'leader' material these days," Rainbow murmured. "I can't protect you guys so well anymore." She winced. "I can't even fly straight for too long before I just friggin' collapse. I found that out the hard way last night."
"Rainbow, all you've done for these Durandanans has been very noble," Pilate said. "But I'd hate to think that this entire time you've been neglecting your own health."
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked bitterly. "What's there to neglect, dude?" She inhaled softly. "We all know it was bound to get worse eventually. Might as well be now..." Her eyes scraped the orange mists above. "...in this place."
"Don't talk like that, Rainbow," Belle said. "I know your dizzy spells have been more frequent lately, but that's not to suggest that you're at the end of your rope!"
"Frankly, Ding Dong." Belle glanced up at her. "None of us know that for certain."
Belle chewed on the edge of her lips.
Rainbow sighed. She turned to face the east side of the ship... but stopped in her hooves. Her wings didn't even bother to flap.
Pilate tilted his head aside. "Is there something you're wishing to tell us, Rainbow?"
Belle craned her ears patiently.
Rainbow fidgeted. Ultimately, she muttered, "Last night... when I had my dizzy spell... I could have sworn that... that I saw her."
"Who, Rainbow?"
Rainbow clenched her teeth. "Axan."
"She's..." Belle blinked. "She's in Durandana?"
"Or above Durandana. Or outside Durandana. Pffft. Whatever. Goddess only knows how that freaky dragon queen manages to stalk me the way she does." Rainbow swiveled around. "I only caught a glimpse of her... and even then... mmmfff... g-guess it could have been my imagination."
"If she's actually flying overhead and watching you from afar in a place like this..." Pilate reached up and scratched his chin. "...I can only wonder what it means."
"Righto." Rainbow nodded. "That's why I asked her."
The pegasus' two friends froze in place.
"And..." Belle blinked. "Did she answer?"
Rainbow slowly, slowly shook her head.
Belle sighed. "Well, Rainbow, maybe she didn't have a reason to—"
"Doesn't she?" Rainbow squinted. "Hasn't she always?" She raised a forelimb, squinting at it while it trembled ever so slightly. "Why kill me... and then drop me off somewhere so I could come back?" She gulped. "Why take down Nevlamas when she was about to crush me to a pulp like Axan once did?"
"You told us yourself that she called you 'Austraeoh.'"
"Yeah, well, if she knows so flippin' much about who or what I am, she's not being that big of a help," Rainbow grumbled. "Unless, perhaps..."
"Perhaps what, Rainbow?" Belle asked.
Rainbow's eyes were thin, contemplative. "...she knows where I'm supposed to end, and how the next flame gets quenched." She gazed up at the platinum sky over the basin. "After all, the Divine's got a lotta years left. If another Austraeoh comes along, she could totally do the stalker thing with him or her in my place."
"I can't see how that's an actual strategy," Belle remarked.
"Why not?" Rainbow turned to look at the mare. "If Axan wanted me to get to the Midnight Armory, wouldn't she have just flown my flank to the world's edge on her bigass wings?"
"Then, it seems to me, that she expects you to do something else, Rainbow," Pilate said. "Something more than just reaching the dark side of the world."
Rainbow slowly shook her head, nostrils flaring. "There are times when I think I would have better off if she just left me dead back in Silvadel."
Belle sighed, ears folded. "Rainbow..."
"I... I-I don't mean that I'd rather not have met you guys," Rainbow said, gazing thoughtfully at them. "You and Kera and EE and the rest are the best things I could have asked for." She gulped. "And yet the worse. Because—some way or another—I'm going to have to leave you." She fidgeted. "I just... I just didn't think it would happen so soon. I sorta figured that I would have t-time to think it over."
Belle and Pilate leaned against each other. Pilate whispered something in a low breath. Clearing her throat, Belle the spoke up, "Rainbow, Pilate and I... well... we were talking..."
"Talking?" Rainbow smirked goofily, her eyes soft. "That's new."
"You've done so much for us," Belle said. "But, aside from saving our lives and giving us all a new future, you've taught us so much as well. And between what we've learned... and what the likes of Josho and Roarke have to lend..."
"Hmmm?" Rainbow blinked, curious. "What are you getting at?"
Belle bit her lip, so Pilate spoke up. "Whatever we encounter in Val Roa will inevitably involve a great deal of drama and conflict. It could be quite... stressful."
"Yeah? So?" Rainbow chuckled. "I'm used to stress. It's my bread and butter, next to cider and and a cracking voice."
"The Rainbow we met in Blue Shelf could undoubtedly handle it," Pilate said. "Same with the Rainbow who fought Nevlamas... and the mare I adventured with in Stratopolis..."
"But now..." Belle sighed. "Well... d-do we need to rub it in anymore?"
Rainbow's eyes darted between them. "... you don't think I have what it takes to make it to Val Roa."
"You could make it to Val Roa, Rainbow," Pilate said. "For all we know, you could even see the Grand Choke. But..." He clenched and unclenched his jaw. "Should you?"
Rainbow gulped. "Wh-what are you guys saying?" Rainbow asked in a raspy tone.
"You asked a question of Axan," Pilate said. "And she never answered you. But... for all of her guile and miraculous intervention, Axan is not your friend, Rainbow." His ears folded. "We are. We wish that we could somehow repay you for all of the things you've done for us, but all of us know that it isn't quite possible. The least we can do is make sure that... that your last days aren't fraught with pain and stress."
"And you think that not being around you guys is somehow gonna assure that?"
Pilate opened his mouth to reply, but he had no words. He hung his head.
Belle hiccuped on a sob.
Rainbow turned to look at her.
"We..." Belle covered her muzzle with a forelimb, shivering. "We j-just want you to be happy, Rainbow. And... and if we dr-drag you into another escapade... if you're finding yourself having to risk your already fragile neck for us wh-when you should just be at peace—"
"Hey... hey." Rainbow trotted up close, pressing her head against Belle's. "Shhhh... look at me, girl."
Belle quivered, her eyes clenched shut.
Rainbow tilted the mare's chin up. "Look at me."
Belle forced her teary eyes open.
Rainbow smiled warmly. "I am happy." A giggle. "I'm awesome." She leaned in and nuzzled the mare. "And so are you." She exhaled, staring painfully over the mare's shoulder. "Who needs peace, anyways?"
"You d-do, Rainbow Dash..."
"Yeah, well, I'm not alone." Rainbow leaned back, shaking the weight of the Sword of Solstice in her bag. "I gotta make sure these Durandanans get a healthy helping of it too."
"But Rainbow—"
"I brought Harmony to Darkstine, Silvadel, and Chrysalis's brood." Rainbow tossed her mane. "Heck, if you wanna get super technical about it, I guess you could say I brought Harmony to Luxmare as well.." A devilish smirk. "Now... I gotta bring it to these guys. Austraeoh or not, this is what I'm here to do. And I'm not gonna let any stupid dizzy spells stop me from doing what comes natural. And as for Val Roa..." Her smirk dissolved.
Pilate and Belle stared her way.
Rainbow exhaled. "Yeah, well, one wing flap at a time." She gulped. "That's how I've always looked at it. Guess it's not worth ditching now." That said, she turned around, spread her feathers, and glided off the Noble Jury's bow without another word.
Belle and Pilate leaned against each other, watching as their friend tore off for the Central Tower. The golden beam of First Light pierced the high mists, and Rainbow flew along it, heading east, against the wind.
Central Durandana was abuzz with winged bodies, most of them gray. A flock of elders streamed up along the stalk of the tower, collecting thickly around its summit. Various onlookers flew in wide circles below, gazing up at the top of the Tower and murmuring among themselves. Diligent First-Born guards held the general populous at a distance, keeping them to the lower platforms as the early morning waxed past First Light.
The summit of the Central Tower itself was a hollow granite block, dislodged from the rest of the structure that made up the bulk of the Inner Sanctum underground. The unmistakable signs of ancient impact fractures formed the jagged edges of the enclosure, and a thick wooden framework acted as the floor to the chamber. Round hollows had been painstakingly carved out of the walls of the building, allowing for sunlight to beam through at a precise angle to highlight an elaborate lamp made out of gold metals and shiny glass. Through this lamp, the sun's glow was narrowed into a thin platinum thread forever pulsating westward where it would ultimately make contact with a similar structure built into the summit of the Western Tower.
Next to one of the round windows, Fawful perched, her wings twitching as she glanced all around. An anxious expression hung off her features.
Fwoosh! Several nearby elders gasped, for Rainbow had just landed from a greath height. As the wind settled, she tossed her mane back and smiled at Fawful. "Whew! Sorry if I'm late. I was out like a light last evening."
Fawful blinked at her.
Rainbow winked. "Even if you don't get the pun, the least you can do is laugh."
Almost instantly, the tension left Fawful's head and shoulders. She exhaled through a winded chuckle.
"Hah..." Rainbow coiled her wings and sat on her haunches within the window frame. "I knew you still had a giggle left somewhere inside that body of yours." She exhaled heavily, then fanned herself with her own wing. "Yeesh... it's pretty stifling up here, huh?"
"That's the heat generated by the Light's glory."
"You could have just said 'it's the vapors,' girl."
Fawful chuckled again. "You're rather jocular this morning."
"Why shouldn't I be?" Rainbow squinted. "Can you give me a reason why I should fret?"
Fawful gulped, then slowly shook her head.
"Awesome sauce." Rainbow took a deep breath, glancing all around at the elders gathered in their murmuring flocks. "Then let's keep it that way, huh? Frankly, I'm happy to get this over with."
"I believe many of the Valkyrie's foals would share the same sentiment."
"Are we gonna have... y'know..." Rainbow waved a forelimb, shrugging. "...what we agreed to?"
Fawful turned and pointed up at the sky. "See for yourself."
Rainbow pivoted, squinting.
From a high altitude, several multi-colored bodies descended, led by Sivrem. One by one, they landed within the window frames of the Tower's top structure. Dozens of First-Borns stood at attention, their eyes locked on the outsider. Rainbow could spot Kitsune and Jerrio from among them, the latter of whom she let her gaze linger on.
"Just as you requested, elder." Sivrem bowed before Fawful, smiling. "The First-Borns of West and East D."
"Very well done, Sivrem," Fawful said with a nod. "And you have briefed them on what is about to transpire here?"
Sivrem looked up. Slowly, his smile faded. "Ahem." For once, the athletic stallion fumbled. "Yes, elder. That I have."
Rainbow gulped.
"Then I believe we can proceed," said an old stallion trotting up until he stood alongside the glowing lamp. He turned his wrinkled head towards Fawful. "Elder? Is the outsider ready?"
"You may ask the same of her," Fawful said, gesturing towards Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing..." She reached back with three wingfeathers and unlatched her satchel. Without thinking, she slid the sword out with nimble swiftness. Schiiiiiing!
Several First-Borns flinched, their backs arching as they responded with instinctual shrieks and chirps. Even Fawful cringed slightly.
Rainbow gulped. "Eheh... my bad..." She sweated, only partially because of the heat. "I've had to use this baby quite a few times for combat. But, really, you've got nothing to worry about unless you're... undead... p-pegasi..."
All of the Durandanans stared at Rainbow blankly.
"Ahem... Rainbow..." Fawful hoarsely whispered.
"Er, right." Rainbow stepped forward, balanced herself with her wings, and rested the Sword of Solstice down hilt-first so that its blade leaned against the elaborate lamp, basking in the glow of the refracted sunlight.
Almost immediately, the multi-colored rubies down the center flashed one by one, followed by the gold metal of the blade itself. The hollow chamber around them shone with a golden brilliance, more luminescent than all three Durandanan towers combined. Several First-Borns gasped in shock, and a lot of them instantly bowed. Sivrem and Kitsune hovered around in a tight circle, quietly urging them to stand at attention.
"Uhm..." Fawful murmured, "Just how long does it usually take to summon—"
"Greetings, Rainbow Dash," a majestic female voice resonated across the heavens.
"Mmmm!" Fawful squeaked inwardly, stepping back with a flounce of her bleached bangs.
Other elders whispered in shock, their jaded eyes suddenly wide and bright.
Rainbow smiled warmly, proudly. "'Hey' yourself, your Highness. We're not alone, y'know."
"Indeed..." Celestia's words undulated in booming strength and clarity. "We have been waiting eagerly for this moment."
"W-we?" Fawful whispered aside.
Rainbow leaned in. "Where Celestia is, Luna's bound to follow."
Fawful mouthed "Oh," her eyes wide as she nodded and nodded.
"From the heart of Equestria, we—the Royal Alicorn Sisters of Harmony—greet you with great respect and boundless joy. I am Princess Celestia, Steward of the Sun and Ruler of Equestria."
"And I am Princess Luna," a second voice chimed in, no less eloquent than the first. "The Keeper of the Moon and Eternal Watcher of Dreams."
The chamber was aflood with gasping voices, but Celestia's presence drowned it all out.
"For over ten millennia have we kept faithful vigil over the center of this plane, the land of Rainbow Dash's foaling, Equestria," Celestia continued gracefully. "My sister and I have been blessed with long lives and intense magical prowess. For this reason, we have taken it upon ourselves to oversee the lives of the mortal ponies who dwell within our dominion. It has been a glorious responsibility—but seldom a simple one. We have had great victories over chaos over the eons, and yet we are not without our mistakes and shortcomings. And yet, despite all of our struggles, we have successfully maintained a peaceful kingdom in the center of the world, a bastion of Harmony that we hope to someday spread to the furthest reaches of the known realm. And, if you are so willing, we would love to extend such peace, tranquility, and understanding to you, the pegasi of Durandana."
There was no response. Ponies—First-Borns and Gray Feathers alike—simply stared at one anothers in stunned silence.
From across the way, Rainbow caught Kitsune's eyes. They looked frightened, jittery. Rainbow stared at her. Slowly, she smiled. After a few breaths, Kitsune calmed down somewhat, and her lips began to curve ever so slightly.
Then Luna's voice made her and everypony else jolt: "Perhaps the best way to proceed is not for us to lecture you on our cosmological view of the world, but to encourage the lot of you to perform a formal inquiry."
Sivrem's brow furrowed at that, as did many ponies beside him.
"I... I do believe that what my sister means to say is that we are open to all of your questions," Celestia's voice said with a hint of amusement. "Please, do not hesitate to come forth. I cannot promise that we will have all the answers that you seek, but we will certainly endeavor to bring you whatever clarity we can muster."
Ponies exchanged glances. At last, an elder mare trotted up. All eyes were on her as she approached the sword and bravely spoke, "Princess... Celestia...?"
"Yes, my little pony?"
The elder's eyes narrowed. "Did you know the Valkyrie?"
Everypony's breaths were collectively held. Rainbow glanced at the sword, waiting calmly.
"I cannot with full certainty say that I have," Celestia's voice said. Before a commotion could rise, she continued: "As you may have already heard, Rainbow Dash has proposed that the Valkyrie could be the same as Commander Hurricane, a military pegasus from Pegasopolis who departed for eastern skies long ago, rifht after the Kingdom of Equestria was just newly formed. If this is the case, then—yes, conceivably—I knew her, and I cherished her. Commander Hurricane was a fiery and inspirational pegasus, a mare who did not back down from any threat—no matter how large. We bequeathed her this sword that you see before you as a means to keep in contact, as well as to bolster Hurricane's already proficient strength and warrior talents. Alas, as we have discovered through Rainbow, Hurricane's journey came to a heroic end in a floating city called Stratopolis. We have yet to determine the fate of other ponies in Hurricane's charge—such as the one you call Duranda."
Before any other elders could react, Luna's voice spoke up. "However, it is not an inconceivable concept to us that somepony like the Valkyrie could exist. All throughout Equestria's history, we have witnessed ponies who have exhibited great power and intense magic, rivaling even that of an alicorn such as myself and my sister. Several of them, like Starswirl the Bearded, were dear comrades to us in the pursuit of Harmony. Others—like King Sombra—were ponies cut from a different cloth, but nevertheless impressive in the manner in which they wielded mana and elemental sorcery."
Fawful stepped up. "Another question, if I may, Celestia and Luna."
Rainbow glanced at her.
The sword pulsed with golden brilliance. "By all means."
"Where did you and your sister come from?"
"Ah. That is a very good question. My sister and I—as stated before—are Alicorns. We come from a realm located far, far away. It is a place situated on the far end of the cosmos, where chaos doesn't run quite so rampant. Our collective memories of our origin is relatively foggy at best, for on top of being tens of thousands of years ago, the both of us were quite young when we first arrived on this plane."
Luna spoke up: "We weren't alone. There were hundreds of us—all alicorns. As soon as we discovered this plane—floating lonesomely through the ether—we felt pity for the living creatures suffering in darkness. We sought for a way to illuminate this world and give them harmony, not to mention peace of mind. To do this, we had to emulate the natural cycle of a planet born from stardust. Thus, we constructed this plane's Sun and Moon, but it took the better portion of all of our magical resources. Most of the alicorns were elders like you, only with lifetimes so vast that they defy explanation. For them, creating the elements to cover this plane exhausted their remaining strength, and they left Equestria to die quietly among the stars."
"The youngest alicorns, including myself and Luna, stayed behind to govern the spirit of Harmony that was planted here in this land. It has been anything but an easy task, and even at the peak of our power we can only illuminate one side of the plane. However, the civilization that we have established in Equestria and abroad gives us hope for an entire plane of uniformed Harmony someday. That will be a time when the likes of alicorns may no longer be needed whatsoever—"
"You control the Sun and Moon?!" Kitsune blurted. "How?!"
Others stammered while a few elders frowned at the flinching mare.
Fawful trotted over and rested a hoof on the First-Born's shoulder. "She has a good question." She smiled, then turned towards the sword. "If it's possible to elaborate."
"It is," Celestia said. "The Sun—as stated before—was conjured by the alicorns and harnessed to abide by natural elements. That said, we exist on a fairly unnatural plane, a place that we incidentally discovered to house life. To that end, the Sun requires a well-timed spell in order to induce a proper orbit. I perform this regularly—every day—at dawn."
"And I raise the Moon to light up the night every evenng," Luna's voice said. "Also regularly. As natural realms abide, so must this one. This is the promise that we made to our late brothers and sisters several millennia ago, for the sake of maintaining Harmony."
"If that is true..." An elder stallion approached the sword, his eyes narrow. "Then that means your powers hold sway over the Sun and Moon at any given time?"
"Indeed."
Another mare spoke up. "Then could you lower the Sun now? Or raise the Moon now? To demonstrate your power?"
The room filled with breathy commotion. Sivrem leaned forward curiously. Jerrio was glancing fitfully to his left and right.
Celestia eventually spoke, her voice full of reluctance. "I'm afraid... that simply isn't possible."
"And why isn't it?" an elder asked. "If you are what you claim to be, then it all falls under your control."
"It is as we said," Luna spoke up. "While we raise the Sun and Moon, we must abide by the natural mechanisms that are put in place for them. Once dawn or evening has transpired, we have completed our separate labors."
Celestia joined in. "You must realize that the Sun and Moon do not shine on Durandana alone, nor just Equestria for that matter. They shine upon this plane equally, rising and falling at the same time for equines everywhere—relative to their placement upon the surface of earth. To alter their movements may be explainable to Equestrians, and they might surve a purpose in educating you."
"But there is no telling what overwhelmingly tragic effects it may have on all of the distant civilizations that populate this world," Luna explained. "Almost all of whom we cannot afford contact with, much less in the way in which we're blessed to communicate with you."
"But..." Sivrem flapped his wings, hovering boldly towards the blade. Jerrio watched him with a jerk as he flew by. "... the Lights From Above did go dark at one point." His eyes narrowed. "Several seasons ago. Were you abiding by your own rules then?"
Rainbow bit her lip.
Eventually, it was Luna who replied: "Indeed, we were not, but not for lack of trying. You see, there was... the culmination of a long struggle, leading to over twenty-four hours of night. I take full responsibility for it. I have... only recently been restored to my station, you see. For a thousand years, Celestia was in charge of both the Sun and Moon."
"For... them both?" a stallion remarked while the First-Borns behind him murmured in awe.
"And now, it is I who controls them both," Luna said. "Though Celestia's glory holds fast over the Sun, she is currently encumbered with suppressing a well of chaos energy, preventing it from consuming Equestria from the inside out."
Rainbow exhaled hard through her nostrils, bowing her head. Fawful glanced curiously at her.
"It pains me to admit that we are far from perfect, my friends," Celestia said. "We have only ever endeavored to bring order to this plane. It has not been without its fair share of tribulation and regrettable mistakes. One such mistake is having lost track of Hurricane's expedition for so many years."
Luna spoke: "We weren't there to see what happened to the Commander's remnant, but from what we have learned through the Sword of Solstice's recovery, we have every reason to believe that you—each and every one of you—are descendants of ancient Equestrians. You are like long lost family to us, and while we aren't proud of having broken contact, we are indescribably jubilant to be in conference with you now."
Elders and First-Borns alike exchanged glances. Several of them bore contented expressions.
Rainbow's eyes scanned the crowd—but lingered on a twitching sight. Jerrio was shivering to the point of convulsions. His ears folded back.
"Please understand that we have no intention of denouncing the Valkyrie or what she stands for. As we have much to tell you, we do hope you'll have much to tell us. That way, we might be able to make a better connection, and dwell together—not as missing fragments—but as one flock, united in peace and Harmony—"
Snarling, Jerrio galloped up suddenly.
Rainbow winced, jolting forward.
"Jerrio—!" Sivrem shouted too late.
"Grnnngh!" Jerrio leapt with gliding wings and struck the blade with a heavy forelimb.
Cl-Clang! The sword ricocheted across the wooden frame, settling to a loud stop at the hooves of flinching pegasi. Luna's and Celestia's voice instantly faded, giving way to gasping, whispering Durandanans.
Rainbow's eyes closed. She exhaled long and hard, her wings drooping.
"First-Born!" an angry elder barked from the other side of the chamber. "You were brought here and allowed to give audience to the outsider's patron matriarchs! And this is how you show your gratitude?"
"Gratitude...?!" Jerrio seethed and winced. Blood trickled down his fetlock from where he had punched the tip of the golden blade. "And not eggshells?!"
"Jerrio..." Kitsune trotted up to him, raising a trembling hoof to his wound. "Y-your leg...!"
"Hnnngh!" Jerrio shoved the mare off so that she fell into Sivrem's embrace. Spinning about, he pointed his bleeding hoof at the blade and spat, "It's evil sorcery! Meant to deceive us!"
"Jerrio," Fawful droned, her eyes like daggers. "You're not helping."
"And you are?!" Jerrio balked at her. "Fawful, you were once First-Born... but now you are a Gray Feather! You are meant to protect the scrolls! Not allow for an invasion of lies and treachery!" He spun and snarled at the crowd. "Conjuring an unnatural Sun and Moon?! Illuminating a plane floating pointlessly through chaos?! Do you even hear what these creatures are saying?! How they malign the Lights from Above and insult the Valkyrie's glory?!"
"Dude... come on..." Rainbow sighed, trotting forward. "If you just listened to what they had to—"
"I did listen!" Jerrio hollered. "And it's blasphemous! All of it!" He shoved his bleeding hoof into Rainbow's chest. "Now you listen! You do not carry the blood of our glorious Valkyrie! I don't know how you caused the Gold Lights—but you and your talking sword and your flying Silver can go just gust! We do not need your infernal devices defacing the glory of our Mother any longer! There is only one Source of the Light! Not two! Not hundreds!" He limped off, grimacing. "And th-those of you foolish enough to lend ear to this nonsense... you... you..." He panted, his eyes tearing as he gnashed his teeth. "You are no Durandanans! You have n-no respect for the scrolls!"
With that, he took off on heavy wings.
Kitsune clung to Sivrem, watching breathlessly while the stallion frowned.
Several Gray Feathers exchanged quiet looks.
Multiple First-Borns—visibly shaken—turned tail and flapped off, gliding after Jerrio.
The whole group lingered in muddled silence.
Rainbow slumped back on her haunches, sighing. She toyed with her pendant, staring down at the floor. After hearing a scraping sound, she looked aside to see Fawful stepping up, dragging the Sword of Solstice after her.
"Please... don't be a sad sparrow," she said through a quiet smile, then hoofed the sword over. "Place it back up. Most of us wish to hear more."
Rainbow gulped. "You... you r-really think so?"
Fawful's eyes narrowed. "I wish to hear more."
Rainbow blinked, then slowly nodded. With everypony watching, she shuffled back to the lamp and calmly placed the blade back. As the gold glow returned, it caused the trailing puddle of crimson blood to evaporate into the heated air, becoming nothing.
A sore lump formed in Rainbow's throat. She turned around and trotted towards the edge of the structure, remaining there in meditative silence while the rest of the Durandanans continued their conversation with Luna and Celestia.
Rainbow Dash slid the Sword of Solstice all the way inside her saddlebag, then proceeded to tighten the satchel shut with a jerk of her teeth to the outer flap. Releasing her grip, she exhaled calmly, turned around, and stared over the misty treetops stretching west from the platform along Central D.
An orange sun was setting along the horizon, casting jagged shadows across the basin as it lowered beyond the reach of the western Sky Stabs.
Rainbow took a deep breath, her eyes falling towards the foliage below. The treehouses lingered in sleepy silence. Lights flickered on one by one as the various Durandanans settled in for the night. The serenity of the moment stole something out of Rainbow's inner being, and she trembled ever so slightly as she gazed on.
A slight jolt ran through her body at the sound of Fawful shuffling up from behind.
"I thought you had flown off already," the Gray Feather said. She trotted up and stood alongside Rainbow. "You look troubled. Is there something you're looking for out there?"
Rainbow's nostrils flared. "Yeah," she muttered. "Flame, smoke, and looting."
Fawful raised an eyebrow. "Why, whatever do you mean?"
With a groan, Rainbow muttered, "You can't pretend to tell me that everything's hunky-dorey." She gulped. "There were tons less ponies hanging out around the end of the conversation as there were in the beginning."
"It was hardly a complete disaster, Rainbow."
"Fawful, a lot of Durandanans are clearly unhappy with the stuff that Celestia and Luna had to say!"
Fawful gulped and said, "And I honestly can't blame them. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't shooken up myself."
Rainbow squinted at her. "Then why did you stick around for the whole thing?"
"The same reason that you did."
"Huh?"
Fawful smiled contentedly. "I may not fully grasp all of the things that your Princesses said. In fact, from what I can tell, they're not entirely sure of all the things they're saying themselves."
Rainbow winced and said, "But we're on the ball with most of it."
"I can tell that," Fawful said with a nod. "And, what's more, I find your sincerity palpable. What you've chosen to do today was very, very brave, Rainbow Dash. Furthermore, I'm touched that you would express such concern for the welfare of all Durandanans."
"Yeah... but... more to the point..." Rainbow clenched and unclenched her jaw. "...do you guys believe any of it?"
Slowly, Fawful's smile faded. She trotted towards the edge of the platform.
Rainbow gazed at her in silence.
At last, Fawful said, "It has always been the job of the elders to protect the scrolls. But, our task goes even beyond that. Every so often, there's an issue that arises concerning the interpretation of the words of Duranda. Usually, wise counsel falls within picking one of two or three different stances on the scripture in question. Once the Gray Feathers have deliberated, they announce their decision to the Three Towers, and the flock of Durandana agree whole-heartedly to follow the interpretation without question. We've no other choice. The decision of the Gray Feathers is absolute. It has to be, or else the strength of the Valkyrie's legacy threatens to dissolve within our hearts."
Fidgeting where she stood, Rainbow said, "Do you... uhm... h-have any idea what sort a decision the majority of elders are gonna make about what happened today?"
Fawful tensed slightly. Her eyes moistened while remaining locked upon the red horizon. "All I know is... f-for the first time in my entire life... I can feel that my heart may—in fact—not agree with the decision that the Gray Feathers ultimately make."
Rainbow bit her teeth as her ears folded.
Fawful noticed it. She turned towards Rainbow Dash and sniffled, forcing a smile. "If you hadn't stumbled our way to give us the knowledge that you most recently have, Rainbow, then I'm certain somepony eventually would, be it in this age or the next. The basin of Durandana couldn't remain a lonely nest forever..."
Rainbow grimaced as she said, "So much about me and destiny, huh?"
Fawful had no immediate response. She faltered slightly. After a timid shiver, she quietly said, "Go and be with your friends, Rainbow Dash. It's been a long day, and you've earned a respite." She gulped and turned about, trotting away. "We all deserve to be at peace with the world..."
Rainbow watched her trot along. After a few moments, she spread her wings and flew west, coasting along the currents of her own sighs.
As Rainbow lifted herself over another row of tall trees, she spotted the stalk of West D stretching against the darkening horizon. Before her eyes, the giant wooden tower retracted, slowly lowering towards the earth while clattering echoes of wooden gears sounded across the basin.
With the last beams of Final Light diminished, the landscape was engulfed in a dark shadow, and even the distant twinkle of treehouses resembled dying stars amidst the perpetual haze.
The momentary desolation was strangely calming. Rainbow exhaled softly—only to realize that she couldn't use her lungs.
The pegasus' eyes bulged. The world spun, thrown aloft by an impermeable wave of dizziness. A frail squeak escaped her lips, and her hooves thrashed at the world as it spun and spun harder around her.
"Gnnngh... C-Celestia!" she wheezed into the cyclonic blur. The trees were flying towards her at dozens of feet per second. This time, there was nothing to broadcast a command from her head to her feathers. She hissed, feeling the taste of bile rising up in her throat. Soon, the frantic world darkened—turning cold and numb. She gave into the deathly kiss of gravity, closing her eyes, rolling over as if to sleep.
And just like that, the spinning stop. She heard flapping wings pierce the air, and she felt the blood shifting in her body until she was plummeting no more.
"Nnnngh... g-guh..." It took some violent effort, but she was finally able to wrench one of her eyes open. The dizziness was still there, but she could see the treetops slowly lowering around her. She was coasting towards the forest floor, draped in a body's firm grip. "Mmmff... A... Axan...?"
There was no response. Rainbow felt herself being gently rolled to a stop in the soft grass. As her body slumped still, she caught a pony's bandaged leg in the starlight.
The mare sputtered. "J-Jerrio...?"
The glint of his green eyes was unmistakable. His serious face tilted down towards her. Jerrio bent low, feeling her muzzle and neck with his hooves. In a neutral tone, he murmured, "Breathe evenly. Try to relax."
She struggled with that.
"I said breathe," he hissed. "You're like a sparrow taking her first plunge from the tree branches."
Rainbow twitched less and less. Her eyes settled on the sway of leaves overhead. At last, the shivers dissipated, and she once again felt her forelimbs through the fog of the moment. "Nnnngh... whew..." She sighed heavily. "Jerrio... Jerrio, thank you. I... I c-couldn't stop what was happening. If you hadn't flown by, I would have been a goner for sure." Silence. Rainbow blinked. "Jerrio?"
He was nowhere to be seen. As a matter of fact, he was nowhere to be heard.
Rainbow blinked nervously. As her senses continued to coalesce, she felt remarkably lighter. She rolled to her side, gasping—for Luna's saddlebag was no longer clinging to her flanks. "The Sword! Where—?"
A length of metal glinted in the starlight.
Rainbow's blood ran cold. She glanced up weakly. Gulping, she muttered, "Jerrio... wh-what are you doing?"
From where she lay, she could see the stallion standing at an angle. The length of the Sword lay in his grasp, and he stared at it intently with thin eyes. "What gives you the right to control the Lights From Above?" he murmured in a dry voice.
Rainbow swallowed hard and said, "Celestia can't talk to you right now, Jerrio. It's nighttime."
"I wasn't asking her." A piercing green gaze pivoted and fell on Rainbow. With a furrowed brow, the stallion gripped the sword tighter and said, "This is just an object. I could carry this to the highest mists over Durandana and drop it to its doom. I could hide it where nopony would ever see it. I could even smash it to bits against the rocks that surround my home."
"Jerrio..." Rainbow's teeth showed. "Listen to me! Whatever you're th-thinking..." She shivered and sputtered, "Don't go through with it! If you think that you can just—" Her words trailed off as her eyes twitched.
Jerrio was gently laying the sword down in the grass before Rainbow Dash. "But it wouldn't do any good, would it?" the stallion murmured in a melancholic tone. "The damage is done. The scrolls have been maligned. And even if I actually did do away with the sword, the outside world would still come crashing in on us, one way or another." A deep breath. "Carried in on strange... frightening winds..."
Rainbow shuddered. "For a m-moment there, I thought you were g-gonna do something stupid."
"Hrmmm..." He sighed out his nostrils, gazing at his bandaged forelimb. "I already did."
"Hey..." Rainbow smiled awkwardly. "We all do crazy th—"
"But I do not apologizefor it!" he leaned forward and spat, teeth showing. "Do you have any idea what this means?! Do you have any idea what you have done to me and every pony I hold dear?!"
Rainbow stared at him. Her muzzle quivered. "I-I'm starting to," she murmured.
Jerrio fumed, fumed, then ultimately leaned back with a sigh. "All my life, I've abided by the word of the Gray Feathers. And here you come with a... sword of sorcery, claiming that there's some word that exists higher than the elders!"
"Now nopony ever said that Celestia and Luna have greater authority than—"
"Do not lie!" Jerrio snarled. "It does not suit you!" A heavy breath. "Nor does fear..."
Rainbow blinked, then frowned. "Fine. Fine. You want the truth? Gnnngh..." With struggling muscles, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Friggin' get over yourself! So what if I rained on your damn parade?! There's a huge world out there, Jerrio... a world that's huge and scary and violent—I know. But get used to it! That's what I had to do! I thought I could take on the world beyond Equestria all lickety-split with nothing to care for but myself, but I realized it was all way... way bigger than me! And the only thing that keeps me going is the hope that Harmony will win out for all of the ponies whose lives I've struggled to help! And the same goes for you! Even if you are being a stupid little jerk about it!"
"How does any of this help me? Help us?!" Jerrio snarled. "I spent the entire afternoon arguing with my brothers and sisters! Every breath was full of heat and eggshells! Some are talking about exploring the world beyond the green! Others are thinking that a terrible sickness has befallen the Gray Feathers! And all of this because of you!"
"Look, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news!" Rainbow grunted. "But some day or another you dudes are going to have to own up to the fact that you're not alone in this world! I know it's simple and easy to just dwell on the Gold Lights and the Valkyrie and nothing else, but you just can't stop reality!"
Jerrio took several fuming breaths. "Do you th-think that it is easy?" He gulped. "To g-give up flight, to give up love, to g-give up freedom and the color of one's m-mane... just to b-become a Gray Feather himself?" His face paled slightly in the starlight, and his breath became ragged. "To commit one's entire life to the scrolls... to forsake all levity and joy for the pursuit of the same scripture that h-has defined you from foaling 'til death?"
Rainbow gazed at him softly. She blinked and said, "Seems like somepony's been struggling with the truth before I even came here..."
Jerrio's eyes glistened. He sat back and shiver slightly. At last, he said, "I've struggled with my own selfish emotions for a long... long time. I did not ask to be First-Born, but I dared not question it. My only solace was that a life of commitment to the scrolls would provide me the answers I've sweated over for so long. I would have solace... b-but now?" He winced. "I... I no longer have a center. What kind of a world is this where the Lights shine on strangers and siblings alike? And even the creatures who empower those Lights are fallible themselves?" He sniffled and ran a hoof through his mane. "It's just... too ugly... too frightening to comprehend. I... I-I do not know how to even trust myself in this world you've painted for all of us..."
Rainbow nodded slowly. "Welcome to the club, pal," she said in a soft tone. "It ain't all that fun at first. But believe me..." She smiled. "It isn't all ugly."
Jerrio narrowed his gaze on her. "How do you cope? How do you spend the rest of your days knowing that the enormity of everything dwarves you?"
"Easy," Rainbow said. "By being better than everything."
"But that's impossible."
"Doesn't mean I'm not gonna give it all I'm worth," she said, wheezing slightly at an aftershock of dizziness. "Nnnngh... used to be that all I hated in life was losing. But now?" She gulped. "The one thing that freaks me out is being a bad example, despite everything I've ever done. I'd hate to fail Harmony now..."
Jerrio trotted over. He used his hoof to coil Rainbow's wings at her side. "...this illness... this sickness that you have...?"
"What about it?"
"It is killing you, isn't it?"
Rainbow bit her lip, and ultimately nodded.
Jerrio's brow furrowed. "Then just what does a pony like you have to gain from all of this?"
At last, Rainbow wheezed, "I-I just want us all to get together as one flock."
Jerrio squinted at her. "And you think the Gray Feathers will actually allow this?"
She gazed straight back. "You think it's gonna matter?"
He had no response.
Rainbow took several deep breaths. On wobbly legs, she stood up, exhaling in relief. "I... I-I think I'm good to go..." She slid the sword back into her saddlebag and limply slipped it on. "Mrmmmf... just... j-just gotta get back to the Noble Jury. Thanks, Jerrio... I-I think I can fly back now."
"No." The stallion shook his head before trotting over to help even her balance. He spread his wings over the both of them. "Not on your own, you can't..."
"Rainbow Dash!" Bellesmith exclaimed, galloping up to the Noble Jury's edge alongside Eagle Eye and Pilate. "There you are! We were so worried!"
"Heh... wh-why should you be?" Rainbow Dash said with a slight smirk. She nevertheless winced as she unhooked a forelimb from around Jerrio's neck. The stallion helped her down to the ship's top deck with gently flapping wings. "I just t-took a detour on the way back. That's all—whoah." She teetered as soon as her hooves touched down.
Eagle Eye steadied her with expert telekinesis. "Yeesh. You're really out of it, aren't you?"
"Some of us have better luck staying out than in, Eagle..."
"Hardy har har." Eagle glanced over his shoulder. "Belle?"
"Right." The mare nodded and reached in to support Rainbow's shoulder. "Hammock time."
"Hooo boy..." Rainbow wheezed, hobbling alongside Belle. "I certainly won't argue with that."
"You've had a long day," Belle said with a smile. "No shame in retiring early."
"Ugh. Really, Belle. Don't use the 'r' word."
"S-sorry..."
"Is the Sword of Solstice in one piece?" Pilate asked.
"I'm fine, Stripesy. Thanks for asking," Rainbow muttered.
"The sword is undamaged," Jerrio said, hovering in place. "I made sure of that."
Pilate tilted his head towards the stallion. "Is that so?"
Jerrio didn't respond. He watched as Eagle Eye and Belle helped Rainbow into the cockpit and down the vertical crawlspace of the Noble Jury. "Just how long has she been dying?"
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. He said, "Always."
"You knew this when you befriended her?"
Pilate nodded.
"And yet... you stuck by her side?"
"She stuck by our side," Pilate said. "When all we had in our lives was lost and when everything we once trusted had turned on us, Rainbow clung to us like our own fur and led us out of a land of pure destruction."
"Is that so...?"
"Have the two of you been talking?"
"Yes. But not about her past," Jerrio said.
"It's quite an epic tale," Pilate remarked. "With abundant heartache... but great triumph as well."
"Have you ever once considered..." Jerrio hovered lower, gazing intently at the blind zebra. "...that your lives would have been better off if she had never crossed paths with you to begin with?"
Pilate was silent.
"That perhaps all of the things that you're grateful to her for are simply coincidences?" Jerrio leaned his head to the side. "And your lives have actually been sacrificed by her own intervention?"
After a deep breath, Pilate said, "Do I regret leaving our quiet cabin back in Blue Shelf? Do I regret having become enemies of the Ledomaritan Confederacy and having to live life on the run?" He slowly nodded. "Not a day goes by when I don't wish things had been easier on us. But I wouldn't have it any other way."
Jerrio squinted. "And just why is that?"
"Because I would prefer to die in my beloved's arms as a free and righteous pony rather than suffer a life where I submitted one more day to a manipulative regime built on lies and deceit," Pilate said. He took a step forward, speaking in the Durandanan's direction. "Complacency is one of the blackest sins ever, and it can adapt itself to any life and any environment. But just because one feels comfortable with a way of life doesn't make it a good one."
Jerrio frowned. "Every time I hear about the lands beyond the greens, I am disgusted. As far as I'm concerned, it's a disgusting world."
"But it is also a good world."
"How do you know that?"
Pilate's lips curved. "Because there are ponies like Rainbow Dash in it." A pause, and then he added, "And ponies like you."
Jerrio blinked awkwardly. "I don't understand..."
Pilate turned his head towards the cockpit. "It's no mere miracle that Rainbow Dash arrived here safely so late..." He turned back towards Jerrio. "And with the Sword of Solstice... is it?"
Jerrio was dead silent.
"Rainbow has immense respect and faith in you pegasi," Pilate said, then shuffled towards the stern as he felt his way to the stairwell. "For a while, I didn't quite understand why... until now."
The stallion's wings went slack. He perched on the ship's railing, gazing off in silence.
"Have a blessed First Light, friend," Pilate said from a distance.
Jerrio cleared his throat and nodded. "Likewise..."
Hours passed.
Rainbow tossed and turned in her hammock.
She winced, her lips murmuring indecipherable words.
At last, with a gasp, she jerked up in the swinging bed.
"Gnngh! Discord! Guys, h-he...!"
Silence.
Rainbow panted and panted. Her eyes twitched as her body went limp. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow covered her face with her forelimbs. She sat there for a while, combating shivers.
At last, stretching one wing after another, she hovered off the cockpit and landed on the floor of the observation room. She almost stumbled upon a warm body. Squinting in the starlight, she spotted Bellesmith lying on a mess of gathered blankets. The mare had chosen to stay close to Rainbow overnight.
Glancing towards the doorway, Rainbow saw Pilate—likewise asleep—lying with his haunches propped up against the doorframe. She gazed at the couple in silence.
Belle's breaths shuddered slightly. She curled up, hugging her exposed body.
Rainbow gently grasped the edge of a blanket in her teeth and laid it over Belle's figure. The mare relaxed in mid-sleep, her breaths growing softer, quieter.
Without saying a word, Rainbow drifted out of the observation room altogether.
Ascending the crawlspace to the second floor, Rainbow evened out then hovered down the thin hallway full of sleeping cabins. Halfway towards the mess hall, she stopped, levitating in place.
She leaned her head towards one cabin door. Inside, she could hear Eagle Eye's even breaths. They weren't alone. Another stallion was sleeping peacefully alongside him.
Rainbow inched from the doorway without a word. After a contemplative breath, she glided into the mess hall and through the kitchen beyond.
With a quiet squeak, Rainbow twisted open the rear hatch to the engine room. Her ruby eyes squinted against the lavender glow coming from the tome in the very center of the compartment.
Beyond a glossy sea of consoles, Rainbow spotted a cot lying just beside Props' workbench and communications array. Two figures were fast asleep on the bed. A blonde pony nestled in the limbs of a lanky stallion while his forelimbs gently wrapped around her.
Even from afar, Rainbow could see soft smiles on Props' and Zaid's muzzles. She gazed at them for a little while, then made a quiet exit, closing the engine room door as quietly as she could behind her.
Rainbow lingered. She hesitated.
Her limbs fidgeted beneath her, and she was biting her lip to the point of bleeding.
At last, after one or two deep breaths, she found the nerve to knock on the door in front of her.
There was no response.
She knocked again.
Still, dead silence.
At last, holding her breath, Rainbow went on ahead and opened the door to the lower hangar.
She peered her head into the compartment, glancing left and right. As the shadowed interior came into focus, she realized that there was no sign of Roarke. There was no sign of the Lounge transport either. The place was completely empty.
A very familiar feeling.
Rainbow Dash sighed.
"She's out, in case you're wondering."
Rainbow Dash spun around. "Huh?"
Kera stood against the doorframe, rubbing her tired eyes with a little hoof. "Mmmff... you're looking for Roarke, aren't you?"
Rainbow Dash squinted. "Shouldn't you be in bed, kid?" she whispered.
Kera frowned. "Why's that always the first thing that comes out of adults' mouths these days?"
"Because it's the easiest thing," Rainbow droned. "You'll use it when you're my age. Trust me."
"You'll be a lot older by then," Kera said with a smirk. "Like... wrinkly old. So wouldn't I be saying the same thing to you?"
"I doubt you'll have to worry about that."
"Huh?"
Rainbow sighed and flew past her, ascending the stairwell. "Go to bed, kid."
Rainbow Dash sat along the port side of the Noble Jury. Waves of crickets echoed from the treetops below. She kept facing the east horizon, watching as a thin glow of gold light formed along the distant Sky Stabs.
Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes and spread her wings, focusing on the brief currents of warm wind that blew her bangs in intermittent waves.
From behind her: "She'll be back eventually, y'know. I'm sure if you hung around long enough, you could talk to her then."
Rainbow sighed and opened her eyes. "What part of 'go to bed' don't you understand?"
"Oh, I understand it," Kera said in a warm voice as she waddled closer. "I just don't give a flying feather."
"Hah. Cute," Rainbow blurted in a neutral tone. "You can make a pegasus pun."
"I knew you'd like it."
"Kera, what are—?" Rainbow stopped in mid speech, clenched her teeth, and sighed in defeat. "Mmmmf... I-I haven't been very awesome, lately."
"Huh?"
She turned to look over her shoulder with a tired smile. "I haven't been keeping track of you. I'm sorry for that, kid."
"You... uh..." Kera squirmed where she stood. "You've been very busy n'stuff."
"Still, it's no excuse. You guys are like family to me." Rainbow stood up and shuffled around until she faced her. "How are you doing, girl?"
"You mean... you're not gonna keep grinding my gears over being up?"
"That'd be like... uhm... the pot holder drawing the corn kernel black... or something."
Kera giggled. "How about we both stick to stuff we understand saying?"
"Pffft. Agreed." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I'm no Belle or Pilate."
"You could say that again."
Rainbow tilted her head aside. "You don't like them? I figured they were basically your folks by now."
"Please... I love 'em to death!" Kera trotted over to Rainbow's side. "But you wouldn't be you if you just repeated them all the time." Her emerald eyes narrowed like daggers. "Especially around me."
Rainbow gulped. "Gotya."
"You've been sick or something?"
"Huh?"
"Everypony on the Jury keeps talking about how you keep getting dizzier and dizzier," Kera said. "A lot of them are worried sick, but I don't think they've got the guts to talk about it."
Rainbow gulped. "Even Roarke?"
Kera blinked. "Why you so bent out of shape over Roarke?"
Rainbow bit her lip and looked away. "Forget I ever said anything."
"Why?"
"Because... it's n-not important..."
"Why?"
"Because it's true!" Rainbow suddenly barked. "I am sick and it's not getting any better!"
Kera leaned back, blinking awkwardly.
Rainbow winced. "I... I-I'm sorry, kid... I..." She ran a hoof through her hair and shuddered. "Enough about me." She gulped. "How are you holding up? For real, though?"
"I... uhm... I'm getting along, I guess." Kera squatted down on folded legs. "At least I think so..."
"Oh yeah?"
Kera sighed out her nostrils. "Yeah." She gulped. "But, like, everytime I think I'm A-Okay... something rears its ugly head and I'm a shivering mess." She rolled her eyes. "I can't stand it. And, if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."
"Heh... fair enough," Rainbow said. "But, for what it's worth, you're doing super-well in my book."
"Since when did you read books?"
"I mean it, kid," Rainbow said. "An adoracute little smartass is a stone's throw from a drooling ragdoll anyday."
"Heeheehee..." Kera smirked. "I wasn't that bad."
"Yeah." Rainbow nodded firmly. "You were."
"Mrmmmff..." Kera rested a pouting chin on her forelimbs and stared off. "Whatever. At least Belle, Pilate, and Roarke have been super supportive."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Roarke?"
"Mmmmhmmmm."
"What did Roarke do?"
"She let me throw a huge boulder at her."
Rainbow blinked. "Oh..." She blinked again. "...really?"
"Yeah. I nearly killed her. It was cool."
"Sounds like it."
"Apparently I've got a lot of super powerful mana juice inside me or something," Kera said. "I mean, I knew I always had what it took to make major sparkles happen, but apparently it's all real earth-shattering stuff." Kera shrugged. "I used to think having that much power would be cool. But now that I'm owning up to it..."
"It weighs on you a lot more than you had hoped, huh?"
"Yeah. Kinda sorta." Kera tilted her chin up. "How did you know?"
"Because I've lived it, girl," Rainbow murmured with a nod. "Through in through."
Silence.
Kera asked, "So... are these ponies your brothers and sisters or something?"
"Hmmm?"
"You keep spending long days outside of the ship, hanging with these pegasi."
"Yeah. I guess I have."
"The others are saying that it's because they're related to you or something."
"More or less. I mean... they're descendants of ancient Equestrians."
"That's where you came from, though, right?" Kera asked. "Equestria?"
"Heh. You know your stuff, kid."
"So... are you going to point them west so that they could fly home or something?"
Rainbow gulped. "It's not that simple. And even if it were, I wouldn't have them leave this place."
"Why not?"
"Just because they're descendants of ancient Equestrians doesn't mean that they absolutely belong in Equestria." Rainbow took a deep breath. "However... they do deserve to know about where they came from."
"If they've been living here for so long, I can't imagine they'd give a crap."
"Yeah, well, there's no sense in letting them live on without knowing the truth."
"Sounds like something Pilate would say."
"And lemme guess," Rainbow murmured. "Not what Belle would say."
Kera shrugged. She tapped her chin, then looked up. "What do you think?"
"I... I think..." Rainbow lingered. "...I think that I can only do so much for these guys. I've done too much as it is to leave them on their own."
"Huh?" Kera blinked. "What do you mean?"
Rainbow was silent.
"Rainbow...?"
"Can... can you k-keep a secret, kid?" Rainbow murmured. "If it meant a lot to me?"
Kera silently nodded and nodded.
After a deep breath, Rainbow gazed off the ship's side and said, "I don't think we'll be having many future conversations like this. Face it. We're out of Ledomare. Stratopolis is a bunch of burning ashes. Elma got dropped off someplace where she'll be happy. On top of that, you guys have what it takes to deal with Val Roa. But as for me..."
"You're... y-you're staying?"
"Please..." Rainbow gritted her teeth. "I... I-I still gotta figure out a way to break it to Pilate and Belle. But... it's the only thing that makes sense at this point."
"How does this m-make sense?!" Kera stammered. "I mean... you're the whole reason the Noble Jury sticks together!"
"We stick together because we're a damn good team," Rainbow said. "And it'll do well even with one member short."
"You're not just a member, Rainbow Dash!" Kera stood up, shaking slightly. "You're the most awesome pegasus there is!"
"Kera..."
"Are you crazy?!" Kera frowned. "We can't do crap in Val Roa without you!"
"That's something you're going to have to deal with one way or another!" Rainbow hissed back. Then, her ears drooped as she spoke in a calmer tone. "I... I-I don't have much in me left, Kera."
Kera blinked. "Your illness," she murmured.
"If I stick with you guys, I'm just dead weight," Rainbow said. "It's time I faced the music. I've had my tailwind, Kera, and it gave me some good distance. But now?" She shook her head. "I'll be lucky if I make it out of this crater alive. And even then... what good would I do? If I'm gonna kerplunk, I'd best do it in a place where I don't have to slow anypony down."
"So, you'd rather die here instead?"
"I... I'm of some use here," Rainbow said. "These pegasi can learn a lot from me, and I'm sure I could learn a lot from them. I mean... all this 'Austraeoh' crap has been about fate this and destiny that. Doesn't seem like no small coincidence that Durandana would exist here of all places, at the end of my journey."
Kera's eyes narrowed. "It's only your end if you make it, Dash."
"I'm no more a fan of it than you are, kid. But a strong mare knows when her number's up." Rainbow gulped, her voice hoarse. "It's been awesome, but... I-I just can't do it any longer."
Kera shivered slightly, hanging her head. "Why'd you tell me, then? Before the others, I mean."
"'Cuz you're a lot stronger than everypony gives you credit for, Kera," Rainbow said with a slight smirk. "Perhaps Roarke has been the first to help you see your own potential. If that's so, good for her. But sooner than you know it, you'll have to step up and prove yourself to everypony else. They'll try and treat you with foal's gloves, only because they love you. But you can't let that stop you from pulling your own weight and saving their skin when the moment demands it."
"You mean Belle and Pilate?"
"Especially Belle and Pilate. They're a good pair, those ponies, but they can be real sissies every once and a while. Countless times, I'ved had to ignore all of their whimpering and just kick flank for them anyways. I figure the same thing's gonna be true with you, kid, because you're getting old and they're not getting any younger and who knows what's in store for the Jury in Val Roa."
"The way you talk about us..." Kera tried not to sniffle, but failed. "It's like you know us inside and out."
"I can't help it, kiddo," Rainbow said. "We're like family. And I'm sorry if it hurts to hear me say all this, but there's no sense in padding it up any." She gulped. "Back where I come from, there was a little foal with a lot of spunk... kind of like you. And I discovered too late how important it was to sh-share with her a piece of my mind... to tell her how much I believed in her." Rainbow gulped. "And I believe in you, Kera. You've got what it takes to go places... even longer distances than me."
Kera's head was bowed. She shook and shivered.
"Kid... come on..." Rainbow trotted softly towards her. "Look at me..."
"If you say th-that we're like f-family..." Kera looked up, her eyes glossy. "Then why are you leaving us, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow froze in her tracks.
Kera frowned as a tear ran down her tattooed face. "What do these winged freaks got that we haven't?"
"They... th-they aren't freaks, Kera. They're Equestrians at heart and—"
"So what?!" Kera stomped her hooves. "They don't know how awesome you are! They haven't had their skin saved ten times over by you in the past!"
"Kera—"
"They haven't survived dragons and chaos creeps and Xonans and zombies with you!" Kera's voice cracked. "And you're gonna ditch us just to cuddle up with them?!"
"You think I like making this decision?!"
"Then don't do it!" Kera barked. "You're awesome! You can do whatever you want!"
"Kera, I'm dying. Don't you get it?"
"And don't you?!" Kera frowned even harder. "When has that ever stopped you? When in your entire friggin' life has that stopped you from chasing the sun and going the distance?!"
Rainbow was suddenly speechless.
Kera took a shuddering breath. "I know you care about these guys. They mean a lot to you. But—like—more than Belle and Pilate?! More than Eagle Eye and Josho and Propsy and Zaid and Ebon and Floydien?!" She gulped. "More than me?"
"You... guys mean everything to me, Kera," Rainbow stammered. "You... you know that..."
Kera hung her head again. She muttered bitterly, "I once made a decision to stay someplace and leave you guys. I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought it was best for everypony. But I was wrong."
"Oh Kera..."
"I should have made a decision based on my heart. And look where it got me!"
Rainbow reached in and scooped Kera towards her in a hug. "It's... it's not the same, Kera. Don't think like that..."
"Isn't it, though?" Kera buried her face in Rainbow's chest. "You belong here, Rainbow Dash. You belong with your family."
"Kera, I... I-I just can't stick around forever," Rainbow stammered. "I'm in a race where I cannot win."
"And since when did that st-stop you?" Kera looked up with wet eyes. "I thought you hated losing."
"I know, it's j-just that..." Rainbow blinked awkwardly in mid speech. She held Kera closer as she gazed off towards the western horizon. "... I-I suppose I gave up that hate." She gulped. "I gave it up for ignorance. I knew my lease would be up eventually. I chose to keep on flying anyways. But you gotta understand, Kera. That's not a triumph. That's—"
"You're alive, Rainbow," Kera said. "You're all that's left of your friends, your home. And yet you've carried it all this far." Kera sniffled. "Isn't that triumphant enough?"
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "You're something bigger than the legacy of Lerris, kid. Don't you ever think different."
Kera snarled, "And I intend to prove it. Can you say the same?"
Rainbow's ears folded.
"Don't ever stop flying, Rainbow," Kera said. "It's what makes you you."
Rainbow breathed and breathed harder. Her eyes moistened as she murmured, "I-I can't just leave these ponies." She gulped. "Not after what they've learned. They need guidance. They need answers..."
"And is that your job to do?"
"Of course, I have to—"
"Is it something you can do?"
Rainbow's muzzle hung open. She eventually sighed. "No." A cold shudder. "No, it's not..."
Kera stared at her.
Rainbow blinked. Slowly, like a sunrise, a warm smile crept across her lips. "But it's somepony else's..." She grinned. She beamed. "Yeah..." Her wings fluttered. "Yeah..." A giggle; a chuckle. "No friggin' duh! Why haven't I thought of it before?"
Kera stuck her tongue out. "'Cuz you're a damned idiot?"
"And a lucky one!" Rainbow spiraled up into the air, tossing Kera in her forelimbs. "Woohoo! Kera, you're the best foal this damned idiot could ever ask for!"
"Uhhhhh..." Kera winced into Rainbow's chest as the pegasus hugged her. "You're welcome? Also... ew?"
At Second Light, Fawful stood with her muzzle agape. She turned to glance back at the other Gray Feathers of Central D, all of which looked no less shocked. She pivoted back to face Rainbow. "You wish to do what?"
"It's not something I wish to do," Rainbow said. "It's something I'm going to do." She unsheathed the Sword of Solstice from her saddlebag. As the golden glow illuminated her face and the Durandanans around her, she held it out towards Fawful. "Take it. Keep it. It was a gift from Princess Celestia to Commander Hurricane. You already have at least one artifact of the Valkyrie's. It's fitting you get the blade that matches that armor."
"But... but..." Fawful glanced at the sword, squirmed, and gawked at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, your travels. Surely you need this to speak with your rulers back home!"
"I've got Luna's moon spell to do that," Rainbow said. "And... heh... let's face it. Havin' this sexy sword was a little too convenient. Even a magical talking space elk can't top that."
"But... but..."
"Believe me, it ain't easy," Rainbow said. "Not just giving this thing up, but the whole 'Austraeoh' business that defines me as well." She looked at the elders who were gathered atop the platform. "For so long, I've been trying to figure out if my life is something made from destiny or made from choice. And I'm starting to think that maybe it's both. It doesn't make sense to me that I'd be dying before I finish my travels, but it does make sense that this sword belongs to you..." She finally dropped it in Fawful's hooves. "And so do the words of Princess Celestia. You can't rightfully make a decision concerning the knowledge you've learned overnight. Let Equestria's ruler guide you... slowly... faithfully... over time and at a pace that you deem fit."
"And... your Princess agrees to this?" another elder asked.
Rainbow nodded. "I already had a long, long talk with her and Luna about it," she said. "It's why I showed up so late today. They think it's poetic justice at it's finest. I couldn't agree more." She bore a bittersweet grin. "Face it. As awesome as this place is, I really don't belong here." She shook her head. "I'm a different kind of awesome. And if I stuck around... I-I just wouldn't be home."
"Then just what is your home, Rainbow?" Fawful asked.
"Something I gave up a long, long time ago," Rainbow said. She gulped. "My crew... my family needs me, even if for just a little while longer. Dying or not, I'll take each sunrise as it comes. That's how I've always done it, and I wouldn't be myself if I didn't do that which I do best. It's how I win at things, after all."
Fawful nodded... then nodded again. She held the sword close to her body. "Since the first time we talked, I knew you were capable of great wisdom, though you hide it with great humility."
"You're not too shabby yourself, babe," Rainbow said with a wink.
She smiled, but another elder trotted up with a worried expression. "I only wish it was this simple, outsider."
"What do you mean?"
"Since yesterday's conversation with your princesses, there's been a great deal of anxiety and worrisome debate among the Towers."
"In what way?"
"Despite the Gray Feathers' insistence, there's a small group of Durandanans who feel passionately about seeing the world beyond the Greens. Though we're certain they haven't turned their backs on the scrolls, we fear that they will not be at rest until they see for themselves the world that your rulers have spoken of."
"Like..." Rainbow leaned her head to the side. "They wanna ditch this place?"
"Whatever they want, they will still be stuck here," another elder said. "We simply do not have the means of leaving this basin. Only you and your fellow outsiders have the technology to depart."
Fawful spoke up, "Rainbow, not to put a great burden on you, but I fear for Durandana's future." She gulped. "It may be a small group now, but if other youths catch wind of the passion that these gusters have, then what may have started as an intense curiosity could turn into an unsettling rebellion."
"Haven't you considered giving them the freedom to—y'know—leave this place?"
"Don't you understand?!" an elder exclaimed. "We don't even know how! Nopony does!"
To that, Rainbow smirked devilishly. "Well, you're in luck. Because I can totally show you how..."
Roarke trotted through the jungle until she had a break in the forest's ceiling. She tilted her head up, her eye-lenses focusing on a cluster of clouds above. Several winged figures were congregating around the wisps of moisture, and one prismatic pony in particular was zipping speedily through the mess, causing the clouds to cluster tighter and thicker together.
With flaring nostrils, Roarke muttered something to herself, turned her back to the scene, and marched to where her experimental weapons lay in wait.
"Yah! Haah!Zaat! And loop the loop around and—" Rainbow came down from one last spiraling glide and kicked a final cluster of mists into the main cloud gathered before her. "—yeah!" Panting, she nestled down atop one cloud, sitting with a smug face. "What'd I tell you?"
"I dunno..." Kitsune folded her forelimbs from where she hovered alongside Sivrem. "Felt like more than ten seconds to me."
"Pffft. That's not the point." Rainbow rolled her eyes, then pointed at the large cloud again. "Do you see this or don't ya?"
"Indeed we do." Sivrem smiled. "It's a cloud."
"Not just any cloud... but one that I've compacted using pegasus weather flying skills!" Rainbow smirked at the First-Borns. "You do know how to weather fly, don't you?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"Didn't think so." Rainbow reclined on her side, pressing her hoof into a plushy cloud. "You ever sit on a cloud before, dude?"
"Absolutely." Sivrem nodded. "Plenty of times."
"Yes, all Durandanans can," Kitsune remarked. "Even from a sparrow's age. We've always considered it a gift from the Valkyrie."
"But we can't sit on a cloud for too long," Sivrem said. "Eventually, the mists dissipate, carried off beyond the greens."
"Is that so?" Rainbow gestured at the cloud. "Try flying through it now."
Sivrem simply squinted at her.
"Come on!" Rainbow grinned brightly. "Do it!"
"Hrmmm..." Sivrem cracked his neck joints as he flapped his wings harder. "Hate to mess up your hard work."
"Don't worry." Rainbow yawned. "You won't."
"Hrnnnnngh...!" Sivrem backflipped, picked up speed, and hurled himself at the cloud.
"Errrr..." Rainbow was already wincing. "Maybe not quite so fast—!"
WHAM! Sivrem's body pinballed off the cloud like it was a solid brick wall.
"Sivrem!" Kitsune gasped. In a blink, her body had darted down below in time to catch his dizzied figure. "Are you alright?!"
"Guhhhhh..." Sivrem's eyes rolled until he shook the cobwebs clear. "Feather my insides!" He rubbed his head as he glanced up at the cloud. "Been a long time since I've been whalloped that hard."
"Heh..." Kitsune smirked. "Like that last fight you had with Drenner before he became a Gray-Feather."
"Rainbow, care to explain?" Sivrem hovered upright, squinting at the cloud. "I've never seen a cloud stay put like that before."
"Because you've never compacted it with weather flying skills before!" Rainbow said with a proud smirk. "And—for your information—it doesn't have to 'stay put.'"
"Huh?"
"This is the kind of stuff that cities like Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus are made out of!" Rainbow Dash said. "Pegasopolis was the same thing. You see..." Rainbow trotted briskly across the cloud top. "...Harmony empowers the pegasus body to walk on clouds—as well as manipulate the weather. If I wanted, I could turn this into a thunderstorm, make it produce lightning, and even generate hail!" She turned about and winked. "And, no, it's not because I'm related to the Valkyrie or some noise. Every pegasus can do this. All it takes is knowing how nature works and learning how to bend the rules... just a teeeeeeeny bit."
"Then how come we've never been able to do it before?" Kitsune said.
"Probably because you were never taught the tools of the trade," Rainbow explained. "All you've known or cared about these past few millennia is looking after the scrolls of Duranda. That's all good n'all, but—at the same time—the ability to fly your sexy flanks out of here has been hiding right under your muzzles!" Rainbow blinked. "Or, y'know, above them." She giggled.
"So... what you're saying..." Sivrem pointed, fumbling for words. "...is that this cloud can take us out of the basin?"
"You wanna find out for yourself?"
"Uhhhh... when?"
Rainbow's ruby eyes lit up. "Now."
"Color wheel boomer is certain Floydien shouldn't follow her mist glimmer?" the elk asked from the starboard side of the hovering Jury. "To protect from gravity's spit?"
"If you wanna have Eagle keep his snazzy eye on us, that's fine, Floydien," Rainbow said as she stood on the cloud drifting slowly past West D's tower. "But, if I'm gonna prove that this thing can work, it's gotta work on its own ya feel me?"
"Hrmmf..." Floydien's nostrils flared. "If the boomer insists." He turned and trotted inside the Jury's cockpit. "Floydien will think up a touching eulogy."
"Yeah. That may not be such a bad idea." Rainbow gulped. "Generally speaking, I mean." She nevertheless threw on a happy smile and turned towards her winged partners. "We all ready to go?"
"Just about." Sivrem turned about from where he stood atop the bulky cloud. "Smythe! Jagold! Hurry it up!"
"We're c-coming!" Jagold glided down, but stopped just inches from the crowd. "Mmmmmm..." She whimpered to herself, squirming at the sight of the coagulated mists. "Is... is it g-gonna hurt me?"
"Come on, girl!" Smythe swatted her on the back with his wing. "Every gull knows you like it fluffy!"
"Aack!" Jagold landed, sprawled across the cloudbed. She blinked, her ears perking up. "Hey! It is fluffy!"
"Story of my life," Rayvinne droned. She turned towards Rainbow Dash. "So, you 'built' this yourself, huh?"
"Yup!" Rainbow nodded. "And for the return trip, I'm gonna show you how to build you your own!"
"That's assuming we don't get dashed to meaty ribbons across the mountaintops," Rayvinne said.
"Hey. You volunteered to come along."
"Mmmmhmmm..." Rayvinne's eyes went thin above a warm smile. "And I can't think of another pony whose arms I'd rather die in."
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh huh..." Rainbow pivoted about. "On that note, we ready to go or what?"
Sivrem opened his mouth—
"Not quite yet."
Everypony turned and looked up.
"Jerrio...?" Kitsune blinked akwardly.
The First-Born in question touched down with a canvas bag bulging with items. "There's no telling how long this venture will take," he said, settling down on the cloud. "We're going to need food and water for the trip beyond the greens."
"What do you mean we?" Smythe asked.
Jagold gasped. "You're coming along too?!"
Jerrio glanced calmly aside. "But of course. You're going to need somepony responsible to make sure this goes off without any problems."
Sivrem squinted. "You mean we're going to need somepony to report every damn detail to the Gray Feathers like the pigeon-tailed sissy he is."
"Mmmmm... yes." Jerrio's muzzle curved ever so slightly. "Something to that extent."
"I thought as much." Sivrem turned to Rainbow Dash, sighing with a tired smile. "I believe we're a go."
"Groovy!"
"Erm..." Smythe fidgeted. "Just how is this going to work?"
"The key is not to think that the cloud is an object," Rainbow said. "But—instead—a piece of ourselves. I mean... we built it."
"You built it," Kitsune said.
Rainbow stuck her tongue out. "A maiden voyage is best led by the maiden herself."
"Do you seriously believe that?" Rayvinne asked.
"I do now. Alright, everypony. Spread out."
"In what way...?"
"There's only seven of us, and we need to get this cloud moving against the wind. So... four in the back. two in the center. I'll take point."
"Huh?"
"What I mean is that I'll be up front. Now—for the ponies in the back—we want the outside wingponies to be the strongest."
"Guess that means Sivrem and Kitsune."
"Hrmmm..." Jerrio murmured to himself.
Sivrem smirked. "Would you like to say something, First-Born?"
"I'll take the middle with Smythe."
"Hey!" Jagold frowned. "I'm not that weak!"
Rayvinne glided past her, murmuring in her ear. "Yes you are."
"Ohhhh..." Jagold melodically sighed, following the other mare. "I guess you're right."
"Alright!" Kitsune sounded off from the rear of the cloud. "We're in position!"
"Are we doing what I think we're doing?!" Smythe remarked.
"Yup!" Rainbow took her spot at the very front of the cloud. The group formed a triangular "V" that fanned out towards the rear. "On my mark, you're going to start beating your wings. I'll get our position started, and then when I shout 'left,' I want Smythe and Kitsune to angle us towards the right. When I shout 'right,' I want Jerrio and Sivrem to angle us to the left! Got it?"
"I... th-think so?"
"Once we get enough momentum, the cloud will pretty much carry itself!"
"What about ascending—"
"I'll take care of it! What's more, I'll show you how it's done when the time comes! Just trust me!"
"Uh... sure thing..."
"Alright, everypony!" Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. "Southbound Express for Beyond the Greens! Let's roll!"
Across the deck of the Noble Jury, several ponies stood, watching with baited breath. Before their eyes, the angular cloud picked up speed and started cruising its way south.
"It's moving!" Kera squeaked, hopping up and down across Bellesmith's back. "It's moving!"
"Absolutely remarkable," Belle murmured, a soft grin plastered across her muzzle. She brushed shoulders with Pilate. "Beloved, I wish you could see this."
"Hmmm..." The zebra smiled. "I can hear it just fine."
Belle squinted at him. "But... it's not making any noise."
"I know, and that's the beauty of it." He chuckled. "Imagine, a vehicle built by clouds... powered by ponies alone."
"Winged ponies, you mean," Propsy said.
"Well, true."
"I wonder why we've never seen Rainbow do something like this before," Eagle murmured from where he stood with Ebon.
"Maybe you haven't, EE," Belle said with a smile. "But Pilate and I have witnessed Rainbow do some cloudplay in our day."
"I've seen her do it," Zaid said with a proud smirk.
Props blinked up at him. "You have?"
"Heck yeah!" He hung a forelimb around her shoulder. "It's how the Terrific Trio snuck aboard the Lightning Bearer! Pegasus Cloud Power! Yeah!"
Josho raised an eyebrow. "'Terrific Trio?'"
"Yup! Me, Rainbow Kickass, and Roarke Most Rawwwwr."
"Hmmm..." Josho smirked. "'More like Damnable Duo Plus One Jackass.'"
"Hey!" Zaid frowned at the fat stallion. "I provided charisma!"
"I bet you provided plenty of urine too, from how much you flew."
"Meh. At that height, it would have frozen as it came out. I know. This one time, I tried taking a leak off the side of Khao's skystone ship." He shivered. "Last time I drank applejuice over a mile high."
Props giggled.
"Say..." Ebon spoke up. "Just where is Roarke, anyway?"
Belle sighed. "I wish I could say. Just a day or two ago, she was opening up. We actually got the chance to talk about things like normal friends."
"Then what happened?" Ebon asked.
"I... I'm not certain."
"I'm sure it had nothing to do with Blondie commandeering Roarke's only piece of moving property!" Zaid said with a grin.
"Errrm..." Props squirmed. "I think I'll b-be sleeping with my wrench close beside me this month."
"Would I make a good substitute?"
"I dunno. Can you twist a pipe loose with your teeth?"
"Heeheehee!" Ebon giggled.
Eagle turned to smirk at him. "Having fun?"
"Hmmm..." Ebon smiled calmly, leaning his neck against Eagle's mane. "Something like that..."
Eagle reciprocated, nuzzling him gently.
Kera smiled at the two, then tilted her head up to gaze proudly at the cloud floating slowly away.
"There they go!" a pegasus shouted.
Several Durandanans along the upper platforms of West D chirped and shrieked in an avian melody.
Ice paused in mid-air, gathering the colts and fillies around them as they all whooped and cheered from the lower skies.
Standing along a platform, several Gray Feathers watched in dead silence. The younger ones with less-bleached manes stood on the very wooden edge, chewing on their lips as they struggled with mute anticipation.
Fawful hovered slightly above them. She glanced down at her fellow elders, then looked up at the cloud as it began to pass over the mountains of the southern crater. She closed her eyes and murmured a whispery prayer.
"Righteous Valkyrie, may your Light shine favorably on your First-Borns." She took a shuddering breath, a tear or two clinging to her lashes. "...as well as Rainbow Dash."
"This isn't going to work..." Smythe trembled, clinging to his side of the cloud as winds along the mountain peaks began picking up. "This isn't going to work. This isn't going to work!"
"Hey! Sivrem!" Rainbow hollered back as she guided the misty bed upwards and into the tempestuous currents. "You or one of the other First-Borns tell him to put a sock in it!"
"Erm..." Sivrem's brow furrowed. "I feel ya, Rainbow, but what's a sock?"
"Holy crud." Rainbow chuckled dryly. "We have got to get you out of this crater!"
"I share Smythe's concerns!" Kitsune spoke up. "You certain we can manage the winds?"
"Girl, we're pegasi," Rainbow said. "We are the winds!"
"But wh-what good is a cloud against a bunch of heavy gales?!" Smythe stammered.
"Equestrian pegasi have been building cloud structures that can resist natural typhoons for centuries, Smythe!" Rainbow glanced back briefly. "This isn't some crazy trick that I learned on a whim! This is eons of history being put to the test!"
Jagold gulped. "I-I just wish it wasn't such a fr-freaky scary test!"
"Calm yourselves, gulls," Jerrio grunted. "Rainbow Dash, is there a method to this madness?"
"Things are about to get really bumpy really quick!" Rainbow exclaimed. "The key thing is to keep the bottom of the cloud facing the winds and taking the brunt of the air currents being thrown at us! I promise you that it won't dissipate like any normal cloud! I've compacted this thing tight! It'll act like a surfboard going over a wave!"
"Surfboard?"
"Wave?"
"Look—just flap your wings when I tell you to! We gotta keep this thing at just the right angle, or else we'll be knocked back to the basin like loose coconuts! Can you understand that?!"
"Loud and clear, Rainbow!" Rayvinne stammered, wincing against the rising winds. "Things are about to g-get real, aren't they?"
"Way ahead of yourself, girl!" Rainbow gripped the front of the cloud tighter. "Okay! Sivrem, beat your wings hard!"
"Rrrgghhhh—like... so...?!"
"Harder! Kitsune, get ready to compensate! Rayvinne and Jagold! Keep up the pace! Everypony hold tight, now! Things are about to get jumpy—"
A rising gust of air send the cloud flouncing skyward in a savage jolt.
"Guhh!" Smythe wheezed, nearly slipping.
"We're good! We're good!" Rainbow exclaimed. "That's just the start!"
"Just the st-start?!" Jagold chirped.
"Concentrate on beating your wings!" Kitsune shouted. "Rainbow, I feel us teetering to the left!"
"I know! I'm guiding us along an air pocket! Just wait for my command!"
"Valkyrie's Shout..." Smythe stammered. "This was a bad idea..."
"Listen for Rainbow Dash," Jerrio said.
"Okay! Kitsune! Beat your wings harder! Sivrem, give some slack!"
"Aack!" Jagold yelped. "We're falling!"
"It's called gliding, girl," Rayvinne hissed through a smirk. "Just relax!"
"Heheheheheheh..." Sivrem grinned wide as the entire cloud shook and flounced.
Kitsune squinted across the bed. "You're enjoying this waaay too much."
"If only you knew how many times I tried this on my own," Sivrem said, smirking.
"I do."
"This is incredible..."
"Keep your head in the game, guys!" Rainbow shouted, squinting over the front of the cloud. "Okay! Here c-comes the rough part! Jerrio! Smythe! Beat your wings, give us lift!"
"On it!"
"Rggggghhh!"
"Everypony in the rear, angle your wings out! And hang on! This is about to get kaizo!"
As Rainbow said that, the cloud lifted up, almost mimicking the jutting angles of the sky stabs below. The compacted mists ascended rapidly, swaying left and right as it surfed an air current. Then, just as the cloud settled still in mid-air...
"And... Stop, Smythe and Jerrio!" Rainbow glance over her shoulder. "Kitsune! Sivrem! Give us lift!"
The First-Borns did so, forcing the rear of the cloud to raise while the tip tilted downward.
"Jagold! Rayvinne! Now you guys!"
The cloud tilted even more.
"Everypony... hold!"
All of the wings stopped beating. The air howled as the cloud sliced its way forward, shook slightly, then began a maddening plunge.
"Eggshells—" Smythe began.
"Everyone!" Rainbow shouted, clutching the front of the cloud as she angled her wings back. "Wings spread! Glide! Glide!"
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww crud!" Rayvinne squeaked while she and the rest complied.
The cloud began a rapid descent, soaring down the southern faces of the Sky Stabs. Waves of mist and fog parted ways as the ponies slid on through them. They could hear the pounding of blood in their ears as they approached maximum velocity.
"This is faaa-aaaa-aaast!" Jagold whimpered.
"Woooooo-hooooo!" Sivrem grinned. "Ha haaa!"
"It's not over yet!" Rainbow hollered. "We need more lift on the left side! Smythe...!" Silence. She glanced back. "Smythe?!"
"Nnnngh... c-can't..." The stallion wheezed, slipping. "C-can't hang on!"
Rainbow gasped. "Smythe!"
"Gaaaaaah!" The stallion lost his grip. He toppeled backwards like a loose boulder—
"Hnntttt!" Jerrio lunged out, grasping the loose stallion by his tail.
The Durandanans in the back gasped.
Gritting his teeth, Jerrio strained against the murderous winds and body-pressed Smythe back into the cloud bed, holding him down with his weight.
Rainbow lunged in reverse, planted herself in the middle of the cloud, and spread her wings high. "Gnnnrrnnnghhh-guhhhh!" Compensating for Jerrio and Smythe, she managed to catch enough air in her feathers to force the cloud into an upward tilt. The bottom of the cloudbed absorbed the friction, and the compacted mist thinned all throughout. The cloud stretched broader, wider.
"It's... it's breaking apart!" Kitsune stammered.
"That's... all... p-part of the plan!" Rainbow hissed. She glanced outward. Through thin eyes, she caught treetops and a glinting sun. "On my mark, everypony jump off and fly!"
"But... b-but...!"
"We'll be slowed down enough to make it work! Trust me!"
"Listen to her, gulls!" Sivrem shouted.
"Get ready..." Rainbow hissed above the sound of howling winds. "Get set..." A deep breath. "Now!"
Rayvinne and Jagold lunged forward.
Kitsune and Sivrem flapped their wings.
Jerrio carried a breathless Smythe as they flew off the cloud.
At last, Rainbow dove after them. She flapped her wings, gliding southward with the greatest of ease.
Soon, all seven ponies hovered together in a flock. They turned and looked behind them, watching as the cloud plummeted, elongated, turned into a translucent cyclone for the space of three seconds, then dissipated into nothing.
"Whoah..." Rayvinne murmured, panting for breath. "Did we actually ride that thing?"
"And how, girl." Sivrem said with a flushed grin.
"Uhhhhh..." Jagold blinked from where she hovered. "Guys? It's not so crazy windy anymore!"
"There's a reason for that," Rainbow said with a smile. She pointed straight up. "Look."
All six Durandanans turned and stared up... up... up. A veritable wall of rock towered above them, scraping the sky with their lacerated peaks. Kitsune gasped, her hooves clamped over her muzzle. Jerrio and Smythe stared in dumbfounded shock, their mouths agape.
"We..." Sivrem blinked. "We scaled the walls..."
"I know it was a wild ride," Rainbow said, wiping the sweat off her brow. She smiled. "But the bigger the cloud beds are, the less crazy, because they can withstand the punishment better, ya feel me?" She caught her breath and continued, "Just imagine how easy it'd be to scale the Sky stabs if you had forty Durandanans making the cloud bed instead of just—y'know—one."
"Then..." Rayvinne gulped. "Then this means..."
Rainbow Dash pivoted about and pointed in the opposite direction. "Check it out, guys..."
The six pegasi twirled about. They immediately gasped.
A sloping valley chock full with fir trees stretched as far as the eye could see. Glistening lakes ran south, snaking their way into a large body of water flanked by waterfalls and verdant cliffsides. In the far distance, the forest broke briefly, exposing patches of golden farmland nestled between emerald green canopies.
"Valkyrie's shout..." Kitsune stammered.
Sivrem stared intently, his eyes glazed.
Jerrio blinked several times, practically hugging Smythe at this point.
"There's..." Rayvinne murmured. "...there's just so much of it."
"Have you ever seen so much water?" Smythe remarked.
"There are no mists... or mountains," Jagold said. "You can see forever."
Jerrio felt something stabbing his eyes. He looked straight up, having to squint. An unimpeded orb of golden light hovered at the top of the sky, illuminating anything and everything.
"Even the Lights From Above do not hide here," Kitsune managed.
"You think it looks big now?" Rainbow slowly shook her head. "You have no idea."
Jagold bit her lip, her eyes glistening with tears. She turned towards Rayvinne and squeaked inwardly with a girlish smile.
"Those... those fields," Sivrem said, pointing to the patch of farmland. "It appears to have... structures of some sort." He glanced aside at Rainbow. "Who or what lives there."
"I have no friggin' clue." Rainbow gave them a bright grin, then motioned with her head. "Come on. Let's find out!"
Several foals ran down a small town's main street while a group of earth ponies unloaded a wagon's worth of wares in front of a thrift store.
"Nnngh!" One stallion sweated and rubbed his brow. "Guh... you th-think Green Holler's gonna want to buy a rusty old plow?"
"Pffft. He'd better," the other said. "If nothing else, he can get Smoke Trails to smelt this thing down."
"And turn it into what? Teeth fillings? Face it, Bronze. This crud is useless. Why are we wasting our time?"
"You'd rather spend the day removing the stump from Granny's yard?"
"Ennnngh..."
"Look, we at least gotta try." One stallion smiled to another. "We need the money! And it's not like anything special is just going to come falling from the sky—"
Plop! Rainbow Dash landed on the store's wooden porch right in front of them. "Hello hello!"
"Gaaah!" both stallions fell back in the dirt, hugging each other.
Several ponies rushed out of the store fronts, gasping.
One by one, the other six pegasi landed, coiling their wings at their side. They pivoted, looking all around and blinking.
The two stallions stood up, gawking at the feathery group.
Jagold and Smythe fidgeted.
Curious mares gazed from nearby alleyways, clinging to each other apprehensively.
Rainbow cleared her throat, then trotted into the center of the street. "Uhhhh... hey, everypony!" She waved a bright blue hoof. "What's up?"
An old stallion trotted up, squinting. "You are, apparently."
Rainbow giggled. "Ain't that the truth..."
"Uhm... Bronze?" one stallion murmured to the other. "Did I drink too much moonshine last night, or are a bunch of winged ponies standing in the middle of our town?"
The other gulped. "I-I think I had one too many sips myself..."
Sivrem turned about, his bird bone necklace rattling. He saw the old stallion who had trotted up. He spotted a metal "star" adorning the earth pony's leather vest. "Hrmmm... Valkyrie Silver."
"I beg your pardon?"
Sivrem smiled proudly. "The Valkyrie's Light shines upon you!" He trotted forward and stretched his wings out. "Tell me, what is this place called?"
The earth ponies simply stared at him.
Sivrem blinked. He let loose a falcon shriek, causing several of the ponies to jolt. Turning, he got Jerrio's attention. "Psssst!" He whistled, chirped. "Jerrio! The bag!"
"Huh?" Jerrio glanced down at his satchel. "Oh... uhm..." He reached a hoof in, grabbed the first thing he saw, and tossed it Sivrem's way.
Sivrem caught a stack of bananas with his wings, twirled gracefully, and held it out before the old stallion in his strong wingfeathers. "An offering. Hmmm?"
The stallion raised an eyebrow. He grasped the bananas, then examined him in his grasp. A bunch of villagers galloped up, crowding around the sheriff as they gazed and gawked at the fruit.
"Are th-those real?"
"No way!"
"But the eastern trade doesn't come by here this time of year!"
"I can't believe what I'm saying..."
"Ahem..." The sheriff glanced back up. "Son, do you mind explaining to me just where in the hay you stumbled upon bananas this side of the world?"
"Why, are they of value to you?"
"Fruit of this kind sells for a high price in the valley," the earth pony said. "I'd say they're about as rare a sight as those wings you're sporting."
"I p-picked them myself!" Jagold said.
"Huh?"
"Eeep!" Jagold hid behind Kitsune while the First-Born rolled her eyes.
"Nnnngh..." The sheriff rubbed his brow. "I'm getting too old for this." He squinted at the lead pegasus. "Just where in the heck are you all from, anyways?"
"Hmmm..." Sivrem turned, glancing at the epic sight of the southern Sky Stabs to the north. "I suppose..." He turned and smiled proudly. "I suppose you could say that we're your next door neighbors."
The townsfolk chattered in awe. Slowly, fearlessly, they slipped out of hiding and congregated around the seven visitors. Mares trotted up, grinning as they began asking questions of Kitsune and Jagold.
Smythe blushed while a few teenage equines began poking and prodding curiously at his wings.
Rayvinne waggled her eyes at a few red-faced stallions before trotting up to join Sivrem in his conversation with the town sheriff.
All the while, Rainbow Dash hovered at a humble altitude. She glanced across the suddenly bustling village. At last, she spotted Jerrio.
The First-Born fidgeted as a veritable flood of foals encircled him like adoracute sharks. They tugged at his dyed tail hairs and giggled, asking a flood of questions. A filly or two smiled as they nuzzled his fetlocks.
He gawked at them all, shivering slightly. His head raised and he made eye contact with Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow simply smiled.
With a calm breath, Jerrio finally relaxed. He reached into his satchel and hoofed out a few apples. The foals clamored for them, shrieking and laughing amongst each other before taking hearty bites of the delicious fruit.
Rainbow giggled breathily. Flapping her wings, she lifted up, flying a low orbit around the town as she left the Durandanans alone for a space in time.
Most Gray-Feathers sat quietly on the upper platforms of West D. Some paced in tense little circles. Whatever the case, the atmosphere had become decently tense by the time the seven pegasi returned. Fawful was one of the first to see them. Upon hearing the loud osprey shriek of a First-Born, she turned and tilted her head up, shading her eyes as she gazed at the southern mountain tops.
Seven shapes pierced the mists, rapidly descending under a dissipating vortex of clouds. Rainbow Dash's bright colors stood out in the evening glow. However, she pulled back, hovering in place while the six Durandanans descended past her.
Sivrem arrived first. Several Gray-Feathers gathered around, eyeing the heavy weight of his precarious landing. As soon as he coiled his wing feathers, they saw an immense satchel hanging from his muzzle. Without saying a word, the First-Born reached deep into the bag, pulled out something slender, and tossed it before the Gray-Feathers' hooves.
The elders stammered nervously. One old stallion finally picked the object up, squinting at its leafy green exterior and its dense yellow core. "What... is this?"
"It's called corn, elder," Sivrem said. "One of the tastiest things I've ever enjoyed in my life." He turned towards other Gray-Feathers and pulled something else out of the bag. "And this..." He grunted, having to use two forelimbs to roll the large object onto the wooden platform. "...is a watermelon."
An elder mare murmured, "Have you seen anything so big?"
"Yes, I have." Sivrem smirked. "Pumpkins. And don't get me started on the metal tools they build in something called a forge. Or the clothes they make out of 'wool,' body hair lent from the western territories."
Fawful leaned forward, squinting. "Sivrem, who are 'they?'"
The First-Born grinned. "The ponies of Sandstone. Our neighbors to the south." He turned and glanced at the other equines. "There's an entire village of them. And roadways built towards other villages beyond the forests and lakes."
"Lakes?" another elder remarked.
Kitsune trotted up and nodded. "There's a whole world out there, elder. A world that can be ours to explore. Rainbow Dash showed us how. We can show others."
Sivrem gestured. "And we can get more of these amazing things, so long as we trade for them."
"Trade what?"
"Bananas. Apples. The glorious bounty that the Valkyrie has blessed us with here!" Sivrem smiled. Then he chuckled. "I'm guessing these Sandstone ponies have never drank milk before, much less something as glorious as what we all get from the leatherbacks."
The elders stared at one another, murmuring in deep thought.
Jerrio touched down behind the other two. He shuddered slightly.
Fawful saw it. "Jerrio?" she asked. "Was there something you wish to say?"
Jerrio took a deep breath. "There is, elder." Everypony went silent as he gulped and said, "The ponies of Sand Stone are... without a doubt... some of the n-nicest and friendliest souls that I've met."
Kitsune and Sivrem exchanged smiles.
Jerrio stared at the thick line of elders standing before him. "We can only benefit from establishing a relationship with them. I'm certain that they have many things to teach us. And no doubt we can share with them the blissful legacy of the Valkyrie."
The commotion reached a new pitch, warm and charismatic.
Fawful blinked. She glanced up at Rainbow Dash.
The whole time, Rainbow hovered with her forelimbs folded. She had a knowing smirk on her face, and her eyes remained affixed to Fawful.
The mare blinked, and she smiled, her cheeks turning rosy.
"It is settled, then?" Celestia's voice echoed across the topmost chamber of Central D.
"Yes, Princess," an elder said as he paced across the crowded compartment. Several Durandanans watched and listened intently. "Your presence shall be kept here at the request of Rainbow Dash. You will be a guest of the Valkyrie's flock, much like Rainbow and her fellow outsiders have been."
"That sounds perfectly reasonable to me."
"We understand that you are very busy with royal duties over in Equestria—"
"I shall always find time to heed your words and give you the advice that you seek," Celestia's voice said. "Even if you may not be our royal subjects, you are nonetheless kindred spirits, and you deserve every gift of Harmony that I have to bestow."
Another elder spoke up. "If it's true that you and your sister live exceedingly long lives, then I suspect that your longevity shall be put to the test. Durandana sits on the precipice of unfathomable change. We Gray-Feathers are used to dealing with the scrolls of the past, not so much the mysteries of the future."
"We are prepared to assist you for as long as it takes," Celestia said. "If you have a question for us... or our grandfoals' grandfoals, we will gladly answer them to the best of our ability. You shall not be alone in this."
Luna's voice spoke up. "And it will not just be us. Already, we have established a royal council of Equestrian hearts and minds to bestow you a boundless bank of knowledge. The esteemed pegasi of Cloudsdale shall be eager to teach you knew manners of weather control. What's more, the earth ponies of Ponyville will be more than happy to lend you advice in planting and growing crops of all kinds."
"And our finest unicorn delegates will be more than happy to provide consultation on diplomacy," Celestia said in a pleasant tone. "Should you need it."
Fawful smiled and spoke up. "Humbly speaking, we very well might. Although..." She pivoted about and glanced up. "...we have learned quite a bit already from Rainbow Dash's example."
"Awwwww shucks..." Rainbow waved a forelimb from where she hovered. "I only did what any other chaos-cursed east-throttling sunrise pony with a loyalty pendant around her scrawny neck woulda done."
"Rainbow Dash, please..." Fawful squirmed where she stood. "It... it doesn't take skills in empathy to realize how hard it must be to give up something like this..."
"Hey! We've been over this!" Rainbow Dash touched down, eyeing her reflection in the blade's golden surface. "I've got Princess Luna's spell connecting us through-and-through! Sword or no sword, I'll still be able to chat with her once a month! Ain't that right, Moonbutt?"
"... ... ...indubitably."
"Heehee!" Rainbow smiled. "Face it. The sword's yours. It's always been yours. From the moment it was entombed alongside Commander Hurricane, history had made its decision. Besides... I've already gotten out of it what I needed to."
"It's strange to realize that it was your tool of salvation inside Stratopolis," Fawful said.
"What got me out of Stratopolis was a bunch of different things," Rainbow Dash said. "Most of which wait for me back in the Jury. My friends." She smiled. "So long as I have them, I'm golden."
"And how long do you intend to have them, Rainbow Dash?" Fawful quietly asked.
Rainbow took a deep breath. One s-sunrise at a time, Fawful," she murmured. A bittersweet smile as she shivered slightly. "That's how I've always dealt with things, and that's how I intend to keep doing it."
Fawful bit her lip while her eyes grew misty.
"Look, girl, you haven't been a Gray-Feather for long," Rainbow muttered. "It won't be a crime to—"
Fawful lunged forward and wrapped her forelimbs around Rainbow's neck. She hugged the pegasus deeply, sniffling. "Valkyrie's Light be upon you, Rainbow Dash. I trust that she will give you peace. A part of me is sad... and selfishly regretful... that she hasn't decided to give you such serenity here."
"Hey hey..." Rainbow patted Fawful's shoulder and pushed the two of them apart so that they were gazing at each other. "Face it. I've never been all that big on 'serenity.' If that was Hurricane's groove up until the bitter end, then good for her. She's got a lot of gulls to be proud of, after all." Rainbow Dash nuzzled Fawful and stepped back. "But there ain't no room in this crater for more two Austraeohs. The Valkyrie's got it goin' on, and this girl knows when it's time to take flight."
"Still..." Fawful swallowed a lump down her throat and smiled gently. "It has been a righteous honor..."
"Whew... if I had a bit for every time I heard that." A few elders chuckled as Rainbow Dash pivoted around. "The sword is yours, guys! So long as you don't use it for chopping branches, de-clawing leatherbacks, or dicing up fish berries, then I think we're golden! And so's the sword. Heh."
"Rainbow Dash, you have done a marvelous job here," Celestia's voice said. "I would tell you how proud I am, but I fear the time it would take would carry us well beyond sunset."
"Hey. My time in the spotlight in Durandana here is over." Rainbow winked at the flickering gold metal of the blade. "The stage is all yours, Princess. Just make sure you don't... y'know... accidentally start a totalitarian fascist state or something."
"'Totalitarian... fascist st-state?'" an elder muttered in total confusion.
"See?!" Rainbow pointed with a grin. "That's a good sign right there!" She blinked. "...I think."
Rainbow nodded, trotting closer to the sword. "Yup. As the natives would say, 'I gotta gust my eggshells out.'"
Fawful giggled and rolled her eyes.
"What?" Rainbow turned, grinning wide. "That's good enough, isn't it? Sorry, girl! You couldn't get me to gobble like a turkey even if you paid me!"
"I trust your friends will be close by your side."
Rainbow turned back to the blade. She blinked. "Why... yeah, Luna. Why wouldn't they?"
A pause. Then, in a faintly melancholic tone: "We wouldn't wish it any other way."
Rainbow bit her lip. Quietly, she stepped up to the Sword of Solstice. "How long is it until the next full moon, Your Highness?"
"We regret to inform you that one cycle culminated during your stay here in Durandana. It will easily be a four week wait at the soonest."
"Huh... is that so?" Rainbow Dash chuckled breathily, though her ears folded back in a limp fashion. "Guess time flies when you're... h-having fun..."
"We certainly wish so, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow bit her lip, staring down at the wooden floor of the compartment.
"Rainbow," Luna's voice softly echoed. "We... I very much wish for you to know just how intensely proud I am of you. Never doubt your talents for a single moment. You are a shining beacon of Harmony, and your friends would jave been quite pleased—"
"Luna..." Rainbow stood so close to the blade that her breath fogged the golden surface. "My friends are pleased with me." She gulped, then smiled gently. "Aren't you?"
Silence.
At last, Luna said, "Indeed."
"See you next full moon?"
Quiet. Then, in a shuddering tone, "Most certainly. The next full moon it is, Rainbow Dash."
"Then it's a date." Rainbow sniffled. She then kissed her hoof and planted it against the shimmering gold surface. "...stay awesome, MoonButt."
"Duaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah..." Zaid twitched and twitched, his legs buckling from underneath him.
Jagold and Smythe blinked at him, then exchanged glances from where they stood atop the Noble Jury.
"Hello?" Props leaned in and waved her hoof across Zaid's spiraling eyeballs. "Zaidy Waidy...?"
"I don't get it!" Jagold stammered, then gestured at the stack of yellow and white cheese wheels. "Isn't this something he's always wanted? Why is he having a seizure?"
"Uhm..." Props gulped and smiled bashfully at the two pegasi. "Don't worry. That's his way of saying 'thank you.'"
Smythe squinted. "He says 'thank you' by foaming at the mouth?"
"Yeah! Hehe!" Props nuzzled the twitching stallion's neck. "At least, I like to think so! It explains why he falls out of the bed so much."
"Eeep!" Jagold blushed furiously. "Eggshells! Whelp... enjoy your cheese wheels!" She flapped towards the other side of the Noble Jury.
Ebon Mane trotted up, poked Zaid once, and watched as the stallion tipped over. He rolled his eyes and smirked at Smythe. "I'll take it from here. I just hope I've got enough bread to go with this gift."
"Good luck with that." Smythe said and flew after Jagold.
Ebon stared at the cheese wheels, rubbing his chin in thought. Eagle Eye trotted up from behind. "Looks like you have your work cut out for you."
"Hmmm..." Ebon nodded with a smile. "It's all good, though. I'm always at my best when I'm tackling a culinary challenge."
"Yes..." Eagle nodded, then stared down at his fidgeting hooves. "Yes, I know."
Ebon blinked. He turned around and immediately nuzzled the stallion. "At least... that's how it used to be."
Eagle gulped.
"Hehe... what?" Ebon gazed at him. "Afraid I'll cary the stink of cheese into the cabin?"
"I dunno. I guess..." Eagle bit his lip. "I-I sorta regret having to leave this place."
"Why's that?"
"Because..." Eagle gulped and spoke in a quiet tone, "It feels like the first place where I actually f-found myself."
Ebon leaned in, kissed Eagle on the lips, and murmured in his ears. "Me too. But, wherever we're going, I doubt either of us will be lost. Now, will we?"
Eagle smiled, his eyes misty. He brushed his cheek with Ebon's and murmured, "Ebon? I... I..."
"Heehee... Yes, EE?" Ebon gazed at him warmly. "What's on your mind?"
Eagle stared back. At last, he gulped, then spoke in a quivering tone, "It's not m-my mind..." He had stealthily clasped Ebon's hoof so that it rested over his chest.
Ebon chuckled breathily. "You sap." A wink. "I love you too."
Eagle smiled.
"And later..." Ebon leaned in and whispered in Eagle's ear.
Eagle's lavender coat turned two shades rosier. "Guhhh!" He looked nervously over his shoulder. "Ebonnnn!"
"What?" Ebon chuckled. "Don't worry! Belle's and Pilate's cabin are three rows down and on the other side!"
"Uggggh..." Eagle rolled his eyes. "What am I going to do with you?"
"...I can think of many things."
"Ahem. The cheese, Ebon?"
"Hmm? Oh! Right. Could you lend me a hoof?"
"Sure. While they're still clean."
"Hehehehe..."
As the stallions trotted across the deck, they passed Josho as he was cornered by a pink-eyed mare.
"You know... I've been meaning to ask you something since you and your friends arrived here, outsider." Rayvinne smiled, thin-eyed, as she flicked the very tip of the aging unicorn's horn with her wingfeathers. "Is that the only part of you that glows?"
"Yeesh, lady..." Josho glared at her lethargically. "No wonder Rainbow's been gone all hours of the day."
"Oh, please. She may have the colors of the Valkyrie, but deep inside she's all blue."
"Yeah. Probably from punching herself in the face so long."
"You've got at least an hour before you sail away on your Valkyrie Silver." Rayvinne waggled her eyebrows. "Feel like losing some weight?"
"Y'know, I didn't have the courage to say it until now." Josho stifled a belch. "But—like—if this whole entire crater was actually one bigass elevator, it still wouldn't lift even half as much as your friggin' tail, girl."
"Pffft." Rayvinne rolled her eyes and giggled. "Suit yourself, chief." She trotted off with a flounce to her feathers. "I swear, is there something in this ship's water?"
"Yeah. It's called cynicism," Josho grumbled. "I down two cups of it a night before going to bed." He cracked his neck joints, sighed, then glanced aside. He caught a pair of red eyes staring at him. "What are you looking at, Space Elk?"
Floydien grunted, "Rotund boomer is sad in the sad sack."
"Yeah... well..." Josho waddled off, grumbling. "Go hump a manaconduit or something."
"Nancy Jane does not like the chafe chafe." Floydien glanced up at the sky, his eyes catching numerous Durandanans as they hovered in close proximity to the craft. "Hrmmmm... will the winged boomers ever give Floydien and friends their space?"
"Rest easy, Mr. Floydien," Pilate said as he and Belle trotted gently towards the bow of the ship. "I suspect we'll be departing soon."
Belle cleared her throat. "Rainbow? Darling, are we in the clear?"
"Err... yeah!" Rainbow waved at them. "Just about!" She turned to directly face Kitsune and Sivrem. "So... uh... you've already made plans, huh?"
"Don't worry, Rainbow," Kitsune said with a smile. "We're taking our time with it. Still, assuming Luna's and Celestia's contacts at Cloudsdale can give us a way to write down the instructions, it'll probably be a month or two from now when we decide to make our first cloud-raft."
"How many ponies are you going to string along for the trip?"
"Whew..." Rainbow grinned. "It depends! With that many ponies, you could probably make a permanent cloud base!"
Kitsune blinked in awe. "A... permanent base?"
"Yeah, girl! A city in the sky!" Rainbow beamed. "Like Cloudsdale!"
"I... I-I wasn't aware we could do that."
"Pfft. You're pegasi. You're awesome enough to do anything!" Rainbow nudged Kitsune's shoulder and winked. "Don't forget that."
Kitsune smiled, blushing sweetly. "Now I'm starting to understand what Rayvinne sees in you."
"Guh!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I swear! Does everypony know about her and me?"
"Hey..." Sivrem shrugged and chuckled. "It's a small crater." He gulped. "At least it is now."
"You'll deal," Rainbow said with a smirk. "We all do. Besides..." She turned and glanced towards the stern of the Jury. "...there's a whole bunch of stuff beyond... to explore."
The tell-tale twin glints of Roarke's eye-lenses shimmered across the top deck.
Rainbow blinked.
Without saying a word, Roarke quietly turned around and trotted down the dark stairwell.
Rainbow's lips pursed. Suddenly, she heard a giggling sound, and she glanced in Kera's direction.
Jerrio glided down to the Noble Jury's surface. Kera was perched on his back, waving her forelimbs in the air and cheering. The First-Born landed neatly beside Pilate and Belle. He squatted low enough so that Kera could hop onto Belle's backside.
"Thanks, Mr. Jerrio!" Kera said with a devilish smirk. "It's been a while since I got an air ride like that! Heeheehee... Rainbow barely has time to do it anymore."
"Yes, well, it seems as though Rainbow has done a lot for you, just as she has for all of us." He stood up and stared Kera in the eyes. "But, if you ask me, she's going to be needing your help from now on."
"Yeah..." Kera shuddered slightly. "I-I know..."
"It's nothing too strange," Jerrio said. His eyes wandered across the deck, and for a brief moment he seemed to make eye contact with a certain petite pegasus. "The Valkyrie had her friends, and Duranda wrote about it often. You see... those of us who look and act the strongest actually need the most help. Sometimes it takes a while to realize that."
Kera smiled. "I think I'm gonna miss this place."
Jerrio breathed calmly and said, "I think I will too." A pause. He stretched a wing forward, clasped his teeth over the tips, and plucked one feather loose. He rested the thing behind Kera's ear and patted her head. "You have a spirit like unto the Valkyrie. Trust in your elders, for they will someday depend on you as well."
"Sure thing, Mr. Jerrio."
Belle and Pilate smiled, leaning side by side.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.
"Rainbow?"
She turned and blinked.
"This place..." Sivrem's eyes narrowed. "This... Val Roa... is it anything like Stratopolis or any of the challenges you've faced before."
"Heh... come on, big guy..." Rainbow smirked. "If I could answer that, it'd spoil the fun."
Sivrem merely blinked.
"Ahem..." Rainbow trotted closer and spoke in a quiet tone. "I don't know what Val Roa has in store for my friends and I... or..." She gulped. "...or if I will even make it there. But that's not going to stop me from flying there anyways."
"You could have had it so much more peaceful if you stayed here, Rainbow," Kitsune said. "I'm sure your friends wouldn't have minded."
Rainbow's nostrils flared. "I would have," she said. "Never—not even for one second—fail to push yourself beyond your limits. Otherwise, you won't be living. You'll just be drifting, and I've never been all that big of a fan of flying with the wind." She smirked. "Too boring."
Sivrem and Kitsune exchanged glances. They smiled, then turned back to Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash," Kitsune said. "We wanted to give you something before you left."
"Is it a hug?" Rainbow smirked. "Cuz I think I gave all of mine to Fawful earlier in one heavy dose."
"Don't you worry, girl," Rayvinne said, sneaking up suddenly from behind. Smythe and Jagold stood next to her. "This won't hurt one bit," the mare said with a wink.
"Uhm..." Rainbow gulped. "What—?" Then, to her surprise, all five pegasi were crouching low, their wings outstretched so that the feathertips barely touched her sky-blue coat.
Sivrem spoke loudly, boldly. "Most Righteous Valkyrie, with the glory contained within your Gold Lights, guide Rainbow's path beyond the greens. Let the Lights From Above Shine on her forevermore, so that her legacy will live on—as yours does—in the hearts of ponies everywhere..."
Although breathless, Rainbow felt like she should say something. This thought was shattered the moment Jerrio suddenly joined in, crouching low with wings outstretched.
"Our gusts will follow her from now until Windlessness," Jerrio said. He looked up, his eyes moist above a proud smile. "So promise the foals of the Valkyrie forever..."
"From First-Born to Last," the six pegasi said in one accord, and it was only until the resounding echo had finished reverberating that Rainbow realized that every Durandana within earshot of the Jury had been chanting the same thing.
Kera gazed in wonder. Pilate smiled while Belle wiped her muzzle dry beside him.
Rainbow glanced at them, then at the wings stretched towards her. She smiled nervously and let loose the tiniest of giggles. "Eheheh," her voice cracked. "Play ball!"
It took minutes to clear the rest of the crater of Durandana. East D was an intricate, spiraling marvel of wooden architecture. Rainbow was amazed that she had never given herself the chance to lay her eyes on it before. There was no telling what things, creatures, and sights were left to be seen in that misty crater. Rainbow Dash briskly trotted below deck and didn't come out until the ship had cleared the Sky Stabs.
The world transformed into something frighteningly brighter by the time the Jurists had cleared the crater. With the mists and jagged topography gone, the continent appeared in all of its crystal clear glory. The landscape stretched green and beautiful as far as the horizon could reach. The air grew chillier, and the earth sloped down into sloping valleys dotted all over with fir trees and lush pine.
Floydien never looked so awake. Several crew members gave him double-glances, surprised at the bright luster in his eyes. When questioned, the elk conveyed in so few words that he was at his best when allowed to "glide, free from glimmer shimmer." Pilate sat by his side and the two discussed the finer mechanics of aeronautics for hours, until a melting sunset painted their healthy bodies amber.
Ebon Mane had a feast prepared for this latest leg of their flight. He sliced apart one whole cheese wheel for the occasion, which left Zaid an anxious, drooling mess. Props dragged the stallion into the mess hall where they joined Bellesmith, Eagle Eye, and Josho in felicitous conversation. Kera galloped all around, levitating Jerrio's feather over her head and pretending she was a pegasus. There was no shortage of giggles and warm breaths. As night poured darkness outside the portholes, the ship began to wind down as well. Soon, Floydien switched on autopilot and came trotting downstairs along with Pilate to enjoy the meal Ebon had prepared.
This was the scene that Rainbow Dash stumbled upon when she shuffled in from a nap in the observation room.
She waited in the crook of the doorway to the infirmary, catching her breath. Rainbow's teeth chattered loudly as she fought the last few waves of dizziness rocketing through her system. Then, with several solid breaths, she stood straight, feeling the blood rushing to the far extremes of her body. She flexed both forelimbs, and once she felt that she had completely recovered, she trotted bravely out into the hallway and marched into the mess hall beyond.
"...never go back to eating any other kind of sandwiches! I'm telling you!" Zaid rambled from where he sat at the long table, smiling. "The Durandanans were good cooks and all, but they didn't have the culinary skills of Sailbooty here." He pointed at the burgundy stallion hoofing sandwiches out one plate at a time. "I'm telling you, our mouths are gonna implode with cheesy goodness!"
"Jee, thanks, Zaid. I'm flattered." Ebon blinked. "I think."
"Heehee!" Props giggled. "No need for the preview, Zaidy Waidy! I had some grilled cheese the other night, remember?"
"Yeah. But this one will have considerably less of my hairs in it."
"Nnnnngh..." Josho grumbled, eyes rolling. "Must you ruin this before my colon does?"
"Sorry, Chins," Zaid said. "Whew! No offense to birds of a feather, but I'm super glad to be out of that giant stone bowl! It was starting to feel a little cramped, y'know?"
"No offense taken, Zaid," Rainbow said as she hovered to a chair beside Pilate and Bellesmith. "I know we all have things to do. It was... uhm..." She fidgeted, then took a deep breath. "It was really swell of you guys to let us stay in Durandana for as long as we did." She gulped. "It... really meant a lot to me."
"Awwwwwww..." Props cooed, blue eyes sparkling. "It's okies, Dashie!"
"Absolutely," Eagle said with a grin. "I enjoyed every moment of our stay." He glanced up with a smile. "And I'm not the only one." He winked.
Ebon blushed, biting his lip as he blindly placed down another piping-hot slice of grilled cheese.
"Gaaaah!" Zaid flinched, batting the cheesy mess out of his crotch. "Hot hot hot!"
"D'oh! Sorry! I'm s-so sorry!"
"It's okay..." Zaid hissed, eyes tearing slightly. He nevertheless sported a brave smile. "It's already been through a lot this week."
"Snkkkt—Heeheeheehee!" Props slapped the table, giggling.
Ebon gulped. "Okaaaaaaaaay..." He side-trotted. "I'm going to serve Floydien now..."
"Not too much of the yellow drip drip, sailboat."
"Yeah, yeah. Most of this is going to Josho anyways."
"Dayum straight."
"Mmmm!" Kera hopped into her stool beside Belle and Pilate. "Smells good!" She blinked, then glanced up at her guardians. "We're not gonna run out of good eats, are we?"
"Hmmmm..." Belle smiled. She reached over, straightening the filly's green bangs. "I doubt it, darling. Between Abinadi's generosity and the Durandanans', I think we're set."
"A welcome reprieve, if there ever was one," Pilate said.
"I gotta say..." Eagle smirked. "I'm liking this continent more and more with each passing day!"
"Enjoy it while it lasts, sissy saddles," Josho muttered, rubbing his hooves together greedily as Ebon reached his plate and started dishing out a solid stack of bread-and-cheese. "I'm sure the ugliness is waiting for us just a shout away."
"Ungh!" Props rolled her blue eyes. "Why is everypony on board this ship so paranoid?"
"Mrmmmfff..." Zaid gulped down a tasty morsel and murmured, "You seem to be doing just fine."
"I guess Nancy's womb shields me."
"Yes yes yes."
"Really, though, Rainbow..." Josho glanced across the table. "Shouldn't we be starting a game plan?"
"Hmmm?" She looked back at him.
"For Val Roa. I'm glad you got to peck it with the birds and all, but we've inadvertently given her one hell of a head start."
"Perhaps," Pilate said. "Perhaps not."
"Come on, stripes," Josho sighed. "You can't always be so dayum optimistic."
"Optimism doesn't necessarily signify ignorance." Pilate smirked slightly. "Chrysalis lost a great deal of power the last time we encountered her. I doubt that in all her eons of existence she's ever dealt with such a handicap."
"Yeah, but she's still got eons of existence. That's enough to make her a major threat. Never mind the ability to fart into whatever she wants to."
"Yeah!" Props blinked. "How will we ever find her!"
"We'd lose our heads from spinning if we even try," Eagle Eye said. "Best thing to do is approach Val Roa and seek audience with the royalty there."
"Heehee!" Kera giggled. "Yeah, that'll be rich!"
"For real!" Eagle Eye shrugged. "Every pony and turtle has been super friendly here! Is it too silly to expect the monarchs of Val Roa to be open to conversation with weary travelers seeking peace?"
"And just how is that going to go?" Kera stood up on her stool and cleared her throat. In a ridiculously eloquent tone she murmured, "'Allo Governor of Val Roa! Right fancy day for a stroll around the royal gardens! My name is Duchess Eagle Eye! Ya fancy helping us hunt down a bloody sod of a changeling!'"
"Oka-a-a-ay," Belle chided, nevertheless chuckling. She smiled through a blushing muzzle as she patted Kera's shoulders. "No standing at the table, darling."
"Ya see what I mean?" Kera sat back, smirking devilishly. "It's just stupid to expect the absolute best!"
Eagle Eye, meanwhile, slunked in his seat with a pout. "Only a duchess...?"
Ebon sat down beside him, leaned in, and kissed his cheek. "Muah. Just relax and eat, EE."
"Meh..."
"What about you, Rainbow Dash?" Kera asked. "What do you think we should do?"
"Mmmmrnngh..." Rainbow squirmed in her chair. Her wings were coiled tight as she stared a hole through the tabletop. "Really, it's just the first day of flight. Do we have to talk about it now?"
"Rainbow Dash..." Josho sighed.
"Less spit is fine for Floydien," the elk said, already halfway through his grilled cheese. "Mmmm... slime sublime..."
"It's not that I wanna overstress the issue," Josho said. He gulped and added, "I guess it's just the stubborn old soldier who refuses to die inside of me."
"And that's fine, Josho," Rainbow said. "I appreciate your focus. Really. It's just..." She sighed, clutching her head as she slumped against the dinner table. "My head's still spinning. It's hard to even sleep..." She felt a golden hoof on her shoulder. She looked up.
Belle was smiling sweetly. "It couldn't have been easy, Rainbow," she said. "Giving up what you did."
"Heh... yeah, well..." Rainbow shrugged. "I didn't have the sword for that long anyways, and it's not like I'm totally loss on the princess front—"
"Rainbow..." Belle squeezed her shoulder. "We all know that you sacrificed more than that."
Rainbow bit her lip. At last, her voice cracked, "I-I would have given up more if I stayed."
Pilate and Kera smiled.
Eagle and Ebon stared, rosy-cheeked.
"Unnngh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "When it rains, it pours." She leaned in and nuzzled Belle dearly.
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwww," Props cooed again.
"Eep! C-careful, Rainbow!" Belle shuddered as the plate before them rattled. "The cheese!"
"I always have my eye out for cheese."
"Heeheehee!"
"It's so great to have you with us, Rainbow," Pilate said. "It wouldn't be the same Jury otherwise."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow leaned back with a somber breath. "The you-know-what is still out on that one."
"Cute."
"Mrmmmfff..." Zaid muttered in mid-scarf, gesturing. "You know, Awesome Sauce... mmmfff... I was thinking..." He gulped a bite down. "There's no reason why you can't have another sword made for you!"
"Buh?"
"I've been told just how badflank you were with all the goonie slaying back in Stratopolis! Maybe—like—we can land in a town around here that has a blacksmith!"
"Unnngh... Zaid..."
"For real!" He grinned. "I've got experience in making some steel! We'll give you something new to bite between your teeth! Maybe something with a snazzier hilt. I mean, no offense to the righteously enchanted beacon connecting Durandana to Equestria, but that damn blade always looked a bit too plain to me."
"Really?" Pilate cocked his head innocently to the side.
"That's it! I'll get you one with a snazzier hilt! Bird wings and all that crap! It'll even match your eyes—"
"Look, Zaid, you want my opinion on that?" Rainbow droned. "Do whatever. For real. Knock yourself out."
"Pffft. Don't you care?"
"Not really, no." Rainbow sighed. "I'm just... through with fighting for a while." She slumped back in her chair. "I don't even feel up to kicking clouds at the moment."
"Nopony's going to force you to do any of the sort, Rainbow," Belle said.
"Yes, well, give it time," Rainbow said with a tired smirk.
"Now that's more like it," Josho uttered.
"Hrmmph... I think differently!" Eagle Eye stood up. "Let's enjoy this moment of peace and togetherness!"
"Ugh..." Josho rolled his eyes. "Somepony shoot me. Roarke?!"
"No! I mean it!" Eagle grinned wide. "How about a toast?"
"Erm..." Ebon fidgeted. "I-I didn't pour drinks yet."
Eagle tapped his chin, glanced down, and grinned wide. He raised a slice of grilled cheese. "Ahem...To peace! And Rainbow Dash living the dream!"
"Spkkkt... Ha ha ha ha!" Rainbow hugged herself, grinning. "You for real?"
"As real as I've ever been!" Eagle beamed.
"Snazzatron!" Kera hopped up on the table before Belle could stop her, levitating her own slice of cheese sandwhich. "To Rainbow Dash!"
"Heeheeehee!" Props hopped up and raised her slice. "To keeping things breezy!"
Pilate stood up, holding a plate out. "To continued civility..."
"Spark alive, beloved..." Belle stealthily replaced Pilate's plate with a sandwich slice and stood up beside him. "Hrmmm... To a warm reception in Val Roa."
"To panties!" Zaid shot up, grinning.
"Hrmmmf..." Floydien rolled his eyes and stood up. "To less of this boomer pooper pile."
Eagle Eye giggled.
Ebon glanced at his barren place setting. He hurriedly scooped up a slice from Eagle's plate and stood up.
"Heh... you guys are impossible..." Rainbow grabbed a slice and hovered up. "Just how do we do this?"
"We just do it!"
"To the Jury!" Ebon squeaked proudly.
"To getting this over with!" Rainbow shoved her sliced forward.
Everypony followed suit. With a loud squish, their cheesy sandwiches collided above the table... and stuck together.
"Whoopsies!" Props blushed.
"You've got to be kidding Floydien..."
"You didn't think this out, glitterbutt!" Josho grumbled.
"Sorr-rr-rr-yyyy!" Eagle Eye managed amidst a giggle-snort.
As the group struggled to unstick the sandwiches, Props suddenly glanced aside.
"Uhhh... Zaidy Waidy?"
"Rrrgh... Yeah, Blondie?"
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"... ... ..." Zaid's ears folded back. "Megacrud!" He dropped his sandwich altogether and galloped out of the room. "Gang way!" He shot into the tunnel, took a sharp left, and slammed the lavatory door behind him. Seconds later, everypony could almost feel the airship rocking.
"Hrmmmf..." The elk frowned. "What did Floydien just say?"
"Oh goddess..." Ebon rolled his eyes and giggled.
"Hoo boy..." Josho slumped back in his seat with a dumb smirk. "How the tables have turned."
"And the seats, for that matter," Pilate added.
The whole mess room filled with chuckles and laughter.
Roarke heard it from afar. She stared, unseen, from the kitchen door. Chewing on her lip, the Searonese mare almost stepped out to join the group. She lurched in place, wincing. Her lenses reflected the colors of the rainbow—then nothing as they retracted.
With a seething expression, Roarke turned from the group. She brushed her scarlet braids back, sighed, and trotted lonesomely across the kitchen and into the stairwell beyond.
"Trouble?" An earth pony shrugged, resting casually against the railing of his wooden tree platform. "Can't say I've heard of any trouble from Val Roa! That place is as peaceful as peaceful can get!"
Bellesmith, Pilate, and Rainbow Dash leaned over the Noble Jury's side. A bright afternoon sky loomed above where the skystone ship gently hovered.
"So, you do hear from the heart of the kingdom often?" Pilate asked.
"Heh... you kidding?" The earth pony glanced back, smiling down at the quaint village resting in the shadow of the alpine forest. "This place wouldn't exist without the Val Roan trade routes!" He turned back. "We exchange metals and spices every week!"
"When was the last time you heard from them?" Belle asked.
"By 'them,' who do you mean exactly?" the villager asked.
"Uhm... anypony, I guess," Rainbow said. "The government... the monarchy..."
The villager laughed, slapping his knee. "Whew boy! You ponies really aren't from around here, are ya?"
"Uhhh..." Rainbow glanced at Pilate's metal plate, Belle's broken horn, then stretched her wings with a smirk. "You think?"
The stallion blinked. "Holy smokes, that's fancy..."
"We were... uhm... hoping to seek audience with the Val Roan Monarchy," Belle said. "Is... that even possible?"
"Ma'am, I've never been so much as within a stone's throw of the glittering capitol!" The stallion said. "I don't think I could even afford to sneeze east of the mountains! But, who knows? You ponies probably could, judging from the shine of that skystone!"
Two of the three glanced up at the ship's crimson propulsion.
"Why?" Rainbow asked. "Is that a good thing?"
"You have to be really rich to afford a flying machine around here."
"You mean you don't have an abundance of zeppelins in these parts?" Pilate remarked.
"Hey. I'm doing jumping jacks inside this handsome shell, pal." The stallion chuckled. "I've been on forest watch for over twenty years! Last time I saw an air vehicle was back when I was just a little colt! And that was because some important Duke was visiting the therapeutic springs north of here!"
"Oh... uhm..." Belle smiled awkwardly. "I do hope we haven't alarmed anypony."
"Pffft. Don't worry about it," the stallion said with a wave. "Besides, you seem like an awfully nice bunch. Just what are you looking to do in Val Roa?"
"Call us ambassadors," Pilate explained. "We have reason to believe that some nefarious force wishes to encroach upon the monarchy's fortunes."
"Heh... 'some nefarious force?' Like who?"
"That's what we were hoping you would tell us."
"Yes, well... hmmmm..." The stallion rubbed his chin in thought. "There are some dirty mean reptiles who live on some islands to the far south."
"The Lounge?" Rainbow blurted.
The villager did a double-take. "You know them?"
"All too well," Rainbow droned with a frown. "What have they been up to lately?"
"Oh. The Lounge are just fine!"
Belle blinked. "They are?"
"Heh... it's just a few lizards who broke off from them that give the race a bad name. Isn't it terrible?" He shook his head with a smirk. "They've got it good down south. Warm waters. Abundant fruit. Great shipping routes."
"You seem to have it quite good here," Belle said.
"Hah. Not when winter hits, believe me. I think I'd rather be in the Grand Choke when that happens."
"Do any lizard groups venture far east?"
"Heck if I know. I doubt it. 'Cuz then they'd be dealing with goblins."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Goblins."
"Yup. Nasty little buggers. Not all of them—though, just the ones that cause the biggest explosions."
"Uhhh..."
"What, you've never met goblins before?"
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "Not outside of old mares' tales."
"They love to build guns, bombs, and crazy contraptions. They're big on mining, and they supply lots of the metals to places as far as Alafreo. Ambitious little leather-necks, and some of them can be downright dirty."
"Some of them?" Rainbow asked. "Or enough of them to be a threat to Val Roa?"
"Hah! Not likely. Val Roa squashed them centuries ago."
"Is that so?" Pilate asked.
The villager nodded. "It was a pretty nasty war—if you could call it one. The goblins were no match for the Val Roans from the beginning, even though the little imps started it. They began attacking many of the southern villages that belonged to the northern kingdom. The Val Roans drove them back and then defended their cities without contest for over two decades. Finally, when the monarchy switched hooves, the newly appointed king realized he was sick of the goblins' crap and invaded the southern reaches. Hah! The half-pints gave up within three days! Since then, the goblins have been strictly policed. They're mostly harmless—save of course for the Green Bandits."
"Green Bandits?"
"Pfft. Bunch of thugs and would-be pirates. They attack villages like ours at least once a year. The imps would probably get somewhere if their explosives didn't blow up in their wrinkled faces half of the time. Last summer, we felt so bad for them we just gave them half of what was in our storehouse. We've started trading amicably with the gang ever since."
"That's... uhm... very interesting," Rainbow Dash said.
"Heh, sorry to disappoint you!" The villager said with a smirk. "Unless a bunch of reptiles and Green Bandits have joined together to make some devilish army of darkness—heheh—I'd say you're in for some smooth sailing!"
Rainbow glanced aside at Belle. "Why's this continent so squeaky clean?"
"Getting homesick?" Belle smirked.
"Please..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "We just finished that arc."
"Heeheehee..."
"Is that all you dropped by for? Just to ask a bunch of questions?" The villager pouted slightly. "For a minute there, you all got my hopes up."
"I do apologize," Pilate said. "But we were simply passing through."
"Perhaps..." Belle tapped her chin and smiled. "We could trade something!"
"Now you're talkin'!" The pony leaned up against the railing. "What have you got in mind?"
"That depends." Rainbow smiled nervously. "Any of you guys in the mood for cheese?" She gulped. "Lots and lots of cheese?"
Hours later, as the afternoon bled into a rosy sunset, the Noble Jury found itself cruising slowly over densely forested hills.
"Just what the heck is this?" Josho asked, turning a sliver of reflective silver around.
"Apparently it's called a strip," Belle said from where she sat with Kera and Pilate on the other side of the Jury's top deck. "It's the centerpiece of the Val Roan currency."
"Are these ponies idiots or what?" Josho frowned.
"Josho..."
"No, seriously! If you don't use round coins, then you stand to risk cheapscapes shaving the metal in ways that are harder to catch!" He glanced up. "Shave enough metal off, and you can smelt your own counterfeit!"
"I didn't know you were an economy major, old stallion," Eagle Eye said.
"Don't push it, dainty tush," Josho grumbled. "It was either be an accountant or kill Xonans. I ended up choosing the profession that got me more exercise."
"Pffft. If you say so."
Ebon giggled from where he sat beside Eagle.
"I gotta admit..." Rainbow murmured as she paced in circles above the group. "...I'm a little bit freaked out."
"I'm sure gold bits is the standard back in Equestria as well," Pilate said.
"No, it's not that." Rainbow glanced at the treetops slowly drifting by them. "Things around here are... a little t-too good to be true."
"I'd say bask in it," Ebon said. "We've got enough as it is to worry about."
"But I just don't know what I should be worrying about," Rainbow groaned. "Not until we get into Val Roa!"
"And once we do, I don't think we'll be able to find out overnight," Pilate said. "Seems as though the monarchy is tightly reserved."
"As well as they should be," Belle said. "From the history of things, they've encountered there fair share of nasties from the south."
"Really, though!" Kera squeaked. "Why is it that all the bad guys tend to come from the south?"
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked. "She makes a good point."
"The Lounge! Diamond dogs! Foxes! The Searonese..."
"Now now, Kera..." Belle patted the filly's head. "Not all Searonese are evil."
"Hrmmmmmmm..." Rainbow folded her forelimbs, frowning.
Belle squinted upat her. "Right, Rainbow Dash...?"
"Right..." Rainbow paced and paced. "They're just damn annoying."
Kera giggled.
"Grnnnnngh!" Roarke gritted her teeth, struggling to file a metal bar in half. "Come on... come on...!" She hunched tightly over a metal crate inside the hangar where she was attempting to craft the frame to a new piece of armor. "Come off... Searo damn you... come off!"
SNAP! The end broke loose, but it cracked the rest of the bar down the middle.
Roarke's lenses retracted. She hissed and kicked the crate altogether. "Hnnngh!"
The bar ricocheted off and smacked her fetlock.
"Augggh! Ass!" Roarke hopped up and down in one place. "Ass! Ass! Ass!" She leaned against a wall and suckled her hoof for a few seconds. Suddenly, she froze. She glanced at the black manasphere. The glossy surface of the Lounge's hovercraft reflected Roarke in the middle of her curiously foalish gesture.
Wincing heavily, Raorke stood straight... or at least she tried to. Gulping, she glanced down at her hooves, noticing how intensely her legs were shivering.
The mare began pacing... then pacing even faster. Her breaths came in quick spurts. She fought it, but where there had once been a growl—there was instead a nervous squeaking, a pitiable murmur. She slumped to her haunches, pulling at her braids.
"Rrrrrrrrgh... can't st-stand it... I hate this... I loathe this!"
She hugged herself, panting. She glanced over her shoulder. The door to the stairwell lingered, cracked open. From a distance, she could make out the giggling breaths of Props and Zaid. Maybe other voices. Each one of them shook her to the core.
"Gnnnnngh!" She clutched her head, seethed, and looked up with a heavy frown. In a blur, she dashed to the far corners of the hangar, snatching up whatever weapon, axe, or spear she could find. Then, without ceremony, she tossed them inside the hovercraft, leapt in, and closed the doors with a hiss.
"...and so the moral of the story," Ebon said. "...is never to serve venison to live deer." He raised his eyebrows.
"... ... ... ..." Belle, Pilate, Eagle, and Josho stared dully at the stallion.
At last, from the cockpit: "Floydien gets it!"
"Ha HA!" Ebon pointed towards the bow with a bright grin. "How about that! Heheheh..." He glanced down at his fidgeting hooves. "Whewwwwwwwwwwwwww—I'm so glad I got out of that restaurant in Gray Smoke alive."
"Yeah, well, so's my stomach," Josho said.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. Just then, the entire Jury lunged.
Everypony blinked.
"What the spit?!" The elk in the cockpit twirled about, his antlers flashing. "Did Nancy give birth?!"
"We do feel a lot lighter," Pilate said.
Eagle squinted at him. "How do you know?"
"A mystical zebra never shares his secrets."
"You picked a bad time to be cheeky."
"Would you rather go back to the venison story?"
"Everypony... quiet!" Rainbow hissed, raising her hooves. "Ya hear that?"
"Sounds like manaengines," Josho said.
"Rainbow! Look!" Kera chirped, pointing over the ship's port side. The group twirled about and watched in awe as a small black sphere shot over the forested landscape, coasting northeast.
"Roarke?!" Rainbow stammered. "What in the buck is she doing?"
"Something awesome, I bet!" Kera grinned.
Rainbow frowned. "I'll be the friggin' judge of that."
"Rainbow?" Belle blinked worriedly. "What are you doing—?"
"What else?" Rainbow flapped her wings. "I'm going after her!"
"But—"
"No, this stupid charade ends now! Either she's gonna tell me what's got her saddle in a twist or I'm not coming back at all!" Rainbow took a sharp right and breezed by the cockpit's dashboard. "Floydien, bring her to a stop! This shouldn't take long."
"Yes yes yes, paint bucket."
"Oh great..." Josho lumbered about, groaning. "Another delay. Val Roa's going to be a cemetery by the time we get there."
"Rest easy, Josho," Pilate said in a calm tone. "Something tells me this is the most important thing to happen today..."
Eagle Eye and Ebon watched nervously as Rainbow blurred after the black sphere in the distance.
Rainbow Dash didn't have to fly for long. She was only crusing over the treetops for half-a-minute before she discovered the black Lounge transport parked in a tiny clearing between fir trees. Muttering to herself, she angled her wings and dove down swiftly.
Landing on exposed rock, she trotted around the dormant sphere. The doors were left wide open.
"Getting sloppy, Roarke..." Rainbow turned and looked into the treeline. "What in Celestia's name has gotten into your head?"
Thick shadows formed just beyond the crimson swath of sunsetlight against the tree barks. Rainbow squinted and squinted, and still she couldn't catch any sign of movement. So, she held her breath, craning her ear towards the dense wilderness. At last, she heard a steady train of rustling leaves and crackling pine cones. Without a moment's hesitation, she darted into the forest, threading neatly through trees as she zeroed in on the sound.
Soon enough, she caught the unmistakable glint of Roarke's metal braces in the broken afternoon glow. The mare was scurrying swiftly—on hoof—straight into nothingness.
"Roarke?!" Rainbow called out.
No response.
"Roarke!" At this point, Rainbow was frowning. She flapped her wings harder, gliding at a distance parallel to Roarke's trudging gait. "Roarke, for crying out loud! Will you slow down?!"
"I can't, Rainbow Dash," Roarke barked back, her voice uncharacteristically shaky as it ricocheted off the tree trunks. "I... I-I just need some fresh air!"
"Some fresh air?!"
"I need to hunt!" Roarke snarled. "You realize just how damn long it's been since I've reeled in some decent prey?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"Exactly! I can't recall either!" Roarke panted and seethed, dragging heavy equipment along with her. "I'm getting stiff! If I'm out of my element, I can't be expected to protect the Jury when the situation calls!"
"Roarke..."
"If I can't be expected to protect the Jury, then I'm about as useful as a dead breeder full of cysts!"
"Roarke!" Rainbow Dash slammed down in front of her, knocking loose leaves and pine needles. "This ends now!"
Roarke gnashed her teeth, then slumped with a sigh. "Rainbow—"
"No more running! No more wallflowering!" Rainbow snarled, marching into Roarke with each bombastic utterance. "No more 'mystery girl routine!' No more silent treatment!" She stomped her hooves again. "Talk to me, dang it! What's gotten into you!"
"I... I..." Roarke frowned, her eye-lenses pistoning as she glance to the left. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do!" Rainbow moved to the left, hissing, "You're not acting normal!"
"Normal?" Roarke looked to the right. "This is the way I always am."
Rainbow darted right. "Not lately, it hasn't!"
"Nnnngh..." Roarke spun about and began dragging her weapons in the opposite direction. "Please, don't lecture me..."
"Who's lecturing, Roarke?! It's a fact!" Rainbow flapped after her. "You've been opening up! You've dined with us in the mess hall! You've reached out to Kera! You've girl-talked with Bellesmith for Celestia's sake!"
"It wasn't girl-talk," Roarke muttered. "She talked about Pilate's sleeping habits and I gave a detailed synopsis of how Searonese warriors properly groomed before retiring with a slave."
"Uhhhh... I hate to break it to ya, Roarke, but that's pretty much 'girl-talk.'"
Roarke stopped in her tracks. "Oh. Well..." She gritted her teeth. "Now I'm going hunting!"
"For what?!" Rainbow cackled.
"For whatever presents itself!"
"You can't just go hunting at random, Roarke!"
"I most certainly can."
"And what if you accidentally shoot and bag yourself a sentient ceature, huh?!"
"If it screams in more than four syllables, then I'll hold fire."
"Dammit, Roarke!" Rainbow hovered in her face, frowning. "Will you just stop and listen to me?!" She pointed. "I know for a fact that you've been opening up lately, and it's been awesome! But now you're doing a total one-eighty out of nowhere and I want to know why!"
Roarke took a deep, deep breath. Next, she frowned venomously at the pegasus. "I don't see how you could possibly be a judge on how my behavior's been."
"Buh?"
"Seeing as you were too busy flocking with your bird-chirping friends all of last week."
Rainbow blinked. "Is that what this is about?!" She grimaced. "Our stay in Durandana?"
"Tell me, Rainbow Dash, did you even miss your hammock on board the Jury while you were busy lying around with the pegasi that time forgot?!"
"What...?!" Rainbow slowly shook her head, muzzle agape. "Roarke, you got it all wrong! All I was doing was simply getting the Durandanans to connect with Equestria! They were distant relatives of mine and I c-couldn't just leave them in ignorance!"
"Uh huh..."
Rainbow folded her forelimbs, frowning. "If you found a group of Searonese living out here—cut off from the rest of the world—wouldn't you give your all to make sure they knew about the legacies and the follies of the rest of their sisters?"
"... ... ..." Roarke fidgeted where she stood.
"Well?!" Rainbow leaned forward. "Roarke Most Rare?! I want an intelligent, logical answer to that!"
Roarke spun about. She huffed, dropped her equipment, and trotted aimlessly forward. "I'm not in the mood."
"M... Mood?!" Rainbow almost went cross-eyed. "Roarke, I didn't know that word could even compute for you!"
"Go away, Rainbow..." Roarke stammered, her breaths labored as she trudged through thick bales of pine needles. "I-I mean it..."
"I don't think this has anything to do with me or the Durandanans!" Rainbow said, flying after her.
"I just... j-just need some time alone—"
"I think this has everything to do with you!"
Roarke spun, her eye-lenses instantly pistoning outward. "Me?"
"Beneath all that metal crap, you're still a pony, Roarke!" Rainbow said. "Believe it! And, y'know what? It's sometimes okay to admit to being selfish!"
"Rainbow..."
"So just admit it!"
Roarke gazed at Rainbow. Slowly, she shook her head. "Even after all these months I've known you... all the heroic acts you've performed... all the lengths you've flown... you can be this blind?"
Rainbow touched down in front of Roarke, coiling her wings. "Then talk to me, Roarke! Tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
"What would it matter?" Roarke's nostrils flared. "No matter what, you'll still be the same stubborn, selfless, suicidal east horse."
"Care to break that sentence down, bit by bit?"
"No." Roarke seethed. "I don't care to! Because nothing is going to change who and what you are!"
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"You know what would have been a good thing?!" Roarke's teeth gritted hard. "You should have stayed, Rainbow."
"Stayed? Stayed where?"
"In Durandana!"
"Roarke, you really think I'm going to abandon my friends and—"
"Your friends were in good hooves!" Roarke hollered. "But now they are in sick, dying hooves!"
"But—"
"You could have been at peace, Rainbow!" Roarke barked. "You could have had a piece of home!"
"I can't paint anyplace in the rest of the world and call it 'Equestria,' Roarke! You know that!"
"No..." Roarke slowly shook her head. "All I know is that you prefer dying in a frenzied blaze of glory over anything that you deserve!"
"It's not about what I deserve!" Rainbow grunted and kicked a loose pine cone. "Dammit, Roarke! What's gotten into your head!"
"Val Roa can crumble in ashes," Roarke moaned. "The Dark Side of the world and rust for eternity! There's nothing out there that can give you what you want..." Roarke fidgeted where she stood. "Nopony who can give you what you need..."
"I have my fr-friends, Roarke!" Rainbow exclaimed, red in the face. "Isn't that enough?!"
"It's..." Roarke glanced down at her trembling hooves. "It's not..."
"Well?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Isn't it?" Her eyes widened, for they were reflecting off of Roarke's lenses very, very closely. "Mmmmmmff?!?!"
Roarke's ears folded back for the first time since Rainbow saw the mare, or smelled her—like the sweating scent of desperation currently wafting up to her nostrils from where their lips made sweet, hot contact.
Roarke fell on her haunches, trembling, avoiding Rainbow's gaze.
"Pfft... Feh!" Rainbow wheezed and waved her forelimbs. "Are you crazy?!?" She exhaled. Blinked. She plunged forward, tackling Roarke.
"Mmmm—!" Roarke literally yelped as Rainbow's body sprawled on top of her. Blue legs squeezed the Searonese mare's body so tightly that her metal braces began to bend. There was no pain, no panic, nothing but a rosy-tinted flush spreading like wildfire across Roarke's brown coat as she hugged Rainbow back, deliciously lost in the avalanche of feathers, kisses, and more feathers. A symphony of melodic moans and tiny, dainty gasps filled the fuzzy gaps in between.
"There! I think I see them!" Kera said, pointing off the bow's end.
"Praise the Spark!" Belle trotted up alongside Zaid and Pilate. "Have any missiles flown, yet?"
"Uhm..." Pilate fidgeted from where he stood on the ship's edge. "I'm hearing something, but unless missiles are slippery—"
"Eep!" Eagle Eye's voice squeaked. The Jurists turned to see a furiously blushing stallion rush towards the opposite end of the ship.
"What's wrong, EE?" Ebon asked.
"Holy spit!" a voice barked from the cockpit. "Talk about a squeeze squeeze!"
"Uhhhhhhh..." Zaid blinked awkwardly.
"Oh..." Belle held a pair of hooves over her burning muzzle. "Oh d-dear..."
"Weird..." Kera's nose scrunched. "Nopony's gonna win if they keep wrestling like that!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's enough fresh-air for now, kiddo." Zaid discreetly scooped Kera up from where she stood.
"Gah! Zaaaaaaid!" Kera wriggled in his grip, legs dangling. "But maybe they'll need a referee!"
"Believe me...ahem." Zaid tugged a shell-shocked Belle along as the group made their collective way below deck. "At the rate those two are going? Heh... they'll need no help with a submission move..."
Starlight glittered off Rainbow Dash's eyelashes as they opened. She blinked, her ears serenaded by crickets and cool wind through the fir trees. Feeling a chill, she did the first thing she could think of for warmth: she hugged the body next to her tightly.
The mare blinked.
Rainbow craned her head up, her ruby eyes squinting down at the figure lying beside her. She stretched a hoof, tracing the end of it around a soft brown chin and muzzle.
Roarke's body lay still, stirring every so often with calm breaths. The starlight glinted off her dormant lenses, as well as the ringlets at the end of her scarlet braids.
Staring intently, Rainbow touched one ringlet after another. She took turns, rubbing her hoof down the length of each braid, feeling the ticklish fibers like fine red rope. The metal ends clattered gently with one another, and Rainbow giggled lightly. A gentle warmth spread through her cheeks. She rested her head against a bed of pine needles and gazed sideways at Roarke's neck and chest. Eventually, her eyes found their way to one of the mare's many metal plugs—as did her hoof. She traced a circle around the former bounty hunter's punctured chest, marveling at how seamlessly the skin blended with the prosthetics.
"Hmm... how funny," she murmured lightly. "All this time, I never realized you'd be..." She lingered, then smiled even more. "... so soft." Another giggle.
"I'm awake, you know," Roarke's lips suddenly moved.
"Gah!" Rainbow jerked back, curling her hooves to her chest. Once she caught her breath, she rolled her eyes and groaned, "Luna poop, girl! Somepony should put a bell on you!"
"Hrmmmfff... not sure there's any room at this point for more metal."
"Yeah, no kidding. I was just... uhm... admiring it all myself," Rainbow said.
"Indeed."
Silence. Dead silence.
Roarke's lips moved again. "Nopony told you to stop."
"Oh. Uhm..." Rainbow giggled breathily. "Alrighty, then..." She stroked her hoof gently down Roarke's chest and lingered at a pair of plugs. "They're a lot bigger than I thought..."
"Most ponies don't ever get close enough to notice," Roarke said.
"Still... just... kinda freaky, y'know?" Rainbow bit her lip. The mare's ears folded as she glanced up. "Did they hurt? Going in, I mean?"
Roarke's nostrils flared. "Every single one."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be," Roarke murmured. "I'm not. They've since been of priceless use to me all my life."
The edge of Rainbow's muzzle twisted up. "They didn't prove to be very helpful a few hours ago."
"Yes, well..." Roarke stirred slightly. "...none of me proved very useful a few hours ago."
"Hehehehehehe!" Rainbow chuckled raspily. "Yeah." She rolled her eyes, blushing furiously. "Yeahhhhhhhhhhh..."
"That's twice now you've kicked my ass," Roarke muttered. "I'm rather fond of the second bout."
"Snkkkt—Hehehehehe!" Rainbow curled against Roarke, clenching her eyes shut as her cheeks went even redder. "Heh heh heh... whewwwwww... I... uhm... it's just that... that... uhhhhhh... I'm... uhmmm..."
"I'm not complaining," Roarke said. "I won't complain." She gulped. "You're still here."
Rainbow blinked at that. "...why wouldn't I be?"
Roarke's teeth clenched hard. There was a slight stirring to her lenses, but her body remained still.
Rainbow continued to gaze at her. She traced a hoof up, running it gently over the contours of Roarke's ear. The fuzzy lobe flicked once or twice, then relaxed under the pegasus' gentle caress. "Celestia, you're so friggin' adorable," Rainbow blurted. "For so long, I couldn't... I-I mean I didn't even bother to--"
"It's okay," Roarke said. "I didn't let you."
"Yes you did."
"Hrmmmph..."
"You totally did!" Rainbow inhaled sharply. "Roarke, you gave me so many opportunities to let you in. And I did the exact opposite."
"You couldn't be blamed."
"Couldn't I?" Rainbow sighed. "You came back after I yelled at you. You saved my friends... empowered them."
"You would have done the same for them in time."
"I could have. But would I?" Rainbow gulped. "You're the loyalest pony there is. You filled in all the gaps. I... I just..."
"Rainbow..."
"I'm not worthy..." Rainbow murmured. A gulp. "And yet here you are." She slowly shook her head. "I just... I..." A fidgeting. "I can't say anything."
"Pretend that you can."
"I'm so lucky. So friggin' lucky." Rainbow exhaled with a shuddering smile. "Thanks for showing me."
"Hmmm..." Roarke's ears twitched. "Thanks for letting me see stars."
"Snkkkt-Heeheehee!" Rainbow Dash curled up against Roarke again. "Is that all it comes down to?"
Roarke was silent.
"...Roarke?"
"Would you... uhm..."
"Hmmm?"
Roarke bit her lip and finally said, "Would you t-touch my braids again?"
Smiling, Rainbow complied, running her hoof through the mare's braids. She flounced one after another, letting the ringlets collide and make clinking sounds like gold coins. "Heh... they're so cool," she said. "I should have mine done just like these."
"No." Something rumbled in Roarke's chest as her lenses pistoned out. "Keep your mane as it is."
Rainbow shrunk inward a little. "Y-yes, ma'am." She nevertheless continued to toy with the braids, collecting as many as she could around her fetlock. "Heh... I love these darn things, but I can't help but wonder what you look like with it all hanging out."
"Is that what you wish?"
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked. She chuckled nervously. "Pffft! I-I was just thinking out loud, Roarke—"
"You know, Rainbow," Roarke spoke suddenly, "I have shared a bed with many partners in my life."
Rainbow couldn't help but cringe. "That's... n-not exactly something you should be t-talking about right now, ya think—?"
"Rainbow..." Roarke stretched her forelimbs out for the first time and grasped Rainbow's hoof. She leaned forward. "...I have never had a lover before."
Rainbow stared at her.
"I have never... never..." Roarke winced in mid-speech. She tilted her head down at Rainbow's hoof. "Searo's womb, I should just stay silent..."
Rainbow leaned in and gently nuzzled Roarke's cheek. Roarke exhaled calmly, her body going limp as Rainbow continued to rub the side of her muzzle against Roarke's. Rainbow leaned in even further, stroking the curve of her neck against the side of Roarke's head and then over her mane. She then slid her face down, kissing along Roarke's forehead and towards her nose, finally ending with a feather-light contact of their lips. She leaned back, stroking Roarke's hooves with her own.
"Like that?" she said.
Roarke quivered. She sniffled and nodded timidly.
"Now..." Rainbow Dash leaned in again, pressing her cheek against Roarke's. "Forget Searo... and just say anything."
Rainbow could feel the heavy heartbeat in Roarke's body. After a prolonged silence, the mare eventually spoke.
"I've b-been falling apart for a long t-time," Roarke stammered. "Even before I met you. Before I met Imre. I knew that once everything had peeled loose, I'd have have to meet my end. I just... d-didn't expect that there'd be a new me on the other side. I would never admit it... but... but I was frightened, Rainbow. I've been very frightened..."
"Yeah..." Rainbow silently nodded, nuzzling the mare. "...I sorta figured."
"But... but it's not as b-bad as I thought..." Roarke clenched her teeth, seething slightly. "It... it hurts to admit it. Because it feels like weakness. But it's something else... the complete opposite, perhaps?"
"Mmmmhmmm..."
"Rainbow..."
Rainbow sat up so she could look down at the mare.
A pair of lenses reflected Rainbow's face twice over. "Whether you knew it or not... whether you meant to or not... you caught me as I fell through. And... and I-I can't stop dwelling on it... thinking about it." Roarke gulped. "I-I'm sorry for being so distant in Durandana. Lately, I've been out of grips with myself, and I blamed it on you..."
"It's okay..."
"No, it isn't. You deserve—"
"I deserve exactly what's come to me," Rainbow said, gently stroking Roarke's cheek. "And that's why there's no way in heck that I'm mad at you." Her lips curved. "Especially right now."
Roarke leaned her cheek into Rainbow's caressing hoof. She exhaled heavily as her body went limp.
Rainbow smiled even more. Her hoof trailed around the edges of Roarke's lenses.
"Hrmmm... clasp the sides."
Rainbow blinked. "Huh?"
"Clasp both sides simultaneously and lift," Roarke said. "They'll come off very easily."
Rainbow's lips pursed. "But.. but..." She fidgeted. "I mean... you have those things on all the time. Like... will it h-hurt?"
Roarke clasped one hoof around Rainbow's forelimb. "Nothing can hurt me now."
Silence.
Rainbow took a deep breath. With careful grace, she reached down and clasped both sides of the metal mare's lenses. There was a distinct snapping sound, followed by a brief hiss. They felt incredibly heavy in the pegasus' grip, but that didn't stop her from lifting them off and dropping them in the bed of pine needles beside the two ponies. Rainbow leaned over, staring intently.
At first, Rainbow thought she was gazing down a deep well. Twin silver-blue pools quivered, like tiny slits that rippled with each touch of starlight as Roarke strained and struggled to look back at her. The mare visibly winced, but firmly murmured. "I d-don't even know what they look like," Roarke said, another tear or two straining loose. Her muzzle bravely formed a smile. "Could you describe them to me?"
Rainbow stared and stared. For several seconds, she hovered like a pale statue. At last, she collapsed, starting with her folded ears then down through a flushed red muzzle as her lips curved. "Honest," her voice cracked, and soon the world between them fogged. Rainbow sniffled and whimpered again, "So very honest."
Rainbow didn't realize she was falling until Roarke's forelimbs lifted up and folded around her. The petite pegasus curled up against her fuzzy brown chest, clenching her eyes shut as tiny sobs squeaked out of her smiling lips. With each shuddering breath, Rainbow retreated more and more into Roarke's embrace, and she found a warm place there to hide and melt.
"Thank you," Rainbow sobbed, curling her forelimbs over her eyes as she spoke in muffled little bursts against Roarke's neck. "Just... th-thank you, Roarke... thank you thank you thank you..."
"Mmmmmm..." Roarke kissed the mare's forehead. Shutting her eyes, she rested her neck and chin over the pegasus' head and held her tight. "After all you're flying, it's about time somepony caught you too."
Normally, Rainbow Dash would have embraced the dawn with an elaborate, cat-like stretch. This occasion was very, very different. As soon as she awoke, she felt strong forelimbs wrapped around her from behind. Her eyelashes fluttered open, and after ten seconds of cognizance, she smiled... then smiled some more.
Roarke was still asleep, her naked eyes clenched shut as her body expanded and contracted form directly behind Rainbow. The petite pegasus could feel every subtle twitch of the metal mare's coat hairs as she drifted along in her slumber.
With a quiet trilling sound, Rainbow tugged one of Roarke's hooves up towards her chin and gave it a soft, feather-light nuzzle. She closed her eyes once more, willing to let sleep quietly engulf her once more.
As soon as she attempted relaxing, something caused her eyelids to flutter. The mare stirred, then stirred again.
"Hrmm..."
Her muzzle scrunched.
"Hrmmmmmfff..."
She rubbed her eyelids, blinked several times, then squinted through the forest. Her lips pursed. She clenched and unclenched her eyes several times.
"... .... ...what?"
There was a second light on the horizon. A light that wasn't the Sun.
Rainbow's brow furrowed. When she blinked, the light was still there. Even when she clenched her eyes shut tight, the illumination lingered in the distance, like a tiny shimmer against infinite haze and darkness.
By this time, Rainbow was wide awake with confusion. She felt Roarke stirring behind her. Nervously—yet quietly—she pulled Roarke's forelimb out from around her. In her sleep, the Searonese pony tried curling up to Rainbow tighter, but the pegasus managed to slip away in time. She lay Roarke's hoof by her side, brushing her braids back before standing up and quietly trotting past the bed of leaves and pine needles where they had retired overnight.
The fresh dew on the ground gave a squishing sound to Rainbow's hooftrots. Nevertheless, she sauntered east, approaching a cluster of rocks grown over with moss and grass. Once she stood on top of a dull boulder, she was able to see past a fork in the nearby trees. Once more, she could spot the sunrise... and could furthermore spot the difference between the dawnlight and the tiny glow flickering towards her like a distant beacon.
"... ... ...what in Luna's name?"
Rainbow bit her lip. She glanced back at Roarke, then back at the beacon. She exhaled with a shuddering sigh, hugging herself.
Ebon Mane finished pouring a mug of coffee. He then slid the steaming cup over in front of where Josho sat in the Noble Jury's mess hall.
"There you have it," Ebon said. He then shuffled over and sat besides an exhausted looking Eagle Eye in front of a plate of scrambled eggs. "The closest thing you're gonna get around here to a Ledomaritan Capuccino." Ebon gulped and smiled nervously. "That's over one week old..." He fidgeted. "...and made by turtles."
"Hrmmmmm..." Josho leaned his fat chins against his forelimb. "Swell..." He telekinetically raised the cup, squinting at it in the hazy dawnlight wafting through the windows. "Now all we need is some month-old doughnuts baked by horned toads and it's a regular Bed'n'Breakfast."
"Heheh..." Ebon stifled a yawn. "Either I'm dead-tired or that was actually funny."
"Mrmmf... lay off of him, old stallion," Eagle Eye muttered, digging at his food. "He did what you asked for."
"And I'm glad for that. Honest." Josho took a meager sip and shuddered. "Don't get so overprotective of your new marefriend."
"Hey! Come on!" Eagle frowned.
"Heeheehee..." Ebon quivered, giggling.
Eagle blinked aside. "Huh?"
"'Marefriend.' That's so stupid and silly." Ebon nevertheless leaned against Eagle's shoulder. "I liiiiiiiiiiiike it."
"Hrmmm..." Eagle's cheeks reddened slightly. "I don't."
"Look, as long as you two have at least one horn between you—" Josho began.
"Can we not?" Eagle sighed. "Please?"
"Wow, I must have put too much pepper on those eggs," Ebon stammered, blinking.
"It's not that. I'm just... worried... you know?"
"About what?"
"What else?" Eagle dug at his plate, fidgeting. "Neither have returned."
"Let's just pretend it's their honeymoon and be done with it," Josho said, taking another sip. "And, honestly, the less I try to think about it, the better."
"I thought you of all ponies were the one in a hurry to get us to Val Roa."
Eagle squinted. "I mean—can you imagine trying to peel a mare out of a rusted corset only to find out it's her skin?!"
"Josho!"
"Hey!" Josho shrugged. "I know we all need to get to Val Roa!" A beat. "But... dayum... that mare needed to get laid way the hell more."
Eagle raised his hoof to retort, fumbled, and shrugged. "You know what, I'll give you that one."
Josho nodded into his mug. "Thatta girl."
Ebon giggled again, and Eagle rolled his eyes with a smirk.
"Duaaaaaaaah..." An exhausted zebra with a tangled mane shuffled limply into the mess hall. He fought an endless yawn before muttering, "Morning, Jury."
"Morning, Pilate."
"Morning, Pilate.
"Hey there, bright eyes."
"The place is sure quiet today."
"Heh... if you say so."
"And I do." Pilate muttered, wandering over to the table.
"Would you like some eggs and coffee, Pilate?" Ebon asked.
"That sounds splendid, Ebon. Much thanks."
"Have a seat."
"Don't mind if I do." Pilate slumped down in a stool. "Mmmmm... these mornings are far colder than the ones in Central Ledomare. Reminds me of winter dawns in Mountainfall. Nothing better than saddling up to a warm meal as the day outside begins to bloom." He exhaled through a calm smile. Silence. His metal brow furrowed. "I'm facing away from the table, aren't I?"
"I'm afraid so, Pilate," Eagle said with a nod.
"Nnnngh..." Pilate spun one hundred and eighty degrees and scooted the stool closer. "I don't suppose it would be selfish of me to ask Props to construct an iron bar that leads from my cabin to the dining table?"
"Not unless you want to find the Tree of Life," Josho said.
"Ugh... please..." Pilate waved a hoof and slumped his chin against the tabletop. "It's too early for somthing that obscure."
"Suit yourself, Stripes."
"Mmmm..."
Silence.
"She isn't back, is she?" Pilate remarked.
Josho slowly shook his head. "Nope. Neither is Roarke."
"Indeed." Pilate's lips slowly curved. "Honestly, I don't think I could be happier."
For the first time that morning, Eagle managed a chuckle. "Here here..."
Roarke stirred. Her face tensed. Her hooves moved, then swam tiny circles in the air—feeling around for something that was now gone. In a flash, her eyes opened, and she instantly regretted it.
"Guhhhh... Searo's ovaries!" She slapped a hoof over her tearing sockets. Feeling around with her other leg, she found where the lenses were resting in the surrounding bed of pine needles. Brushing them clean against her coat, she raised them to her head and snapped them in place. Each lens pistoned in and out in opposite directions until she regained her focus.
Standing up, she looked around. The forest bed was empty. There was a tiny impression right beside her, but no pegasus.
"Rainbow...?" Even Roarke was surprised at how swiftly and fitfully she had spat the name out. Her breaths quickened, and her ears twitched alternatingly. "R-Rainbow...?!" A heavy gulp. "Where did—?"
"Over here, Roarke."
The metal mare spun about, jaw clenched. She trotted swiftly over a patch of grass and looked behind a boulder. There, Rainbow sat, squatting over a bed of exposed white dirt and gray soil. She had a stick gripped between two hooves and was drawing figures in the earth.
"Nnnnghhh..." Roarke's whole body deflated with an exhale of relief. "Rainbow, don't run off like that."
"I didn't run off," Rainbow muttered, continuing to drag the stick through the sand. "I only trotted—like—ten feet. I didn't want to wake you."
"But still, you..." Roarke winced. She cleared her throat and stammered, "I mean... th-that's fine, of course. I just... uh..."
"I'm flattered that you missed me." Rainbow dropped the stick, brushed her hooves clean, and stood up. "But it was only a few friggin' minutes. Don't have a cow."
"Why would I want to possess a bovine?"
"It's a figure of speech, ya gorgeous frying pan, you."
"But—..." Roarke grunted in frustration. "Rainbow?! What are you—?"
"Shhhhh..." Rainbow backtrotted and rested a hoof on Roarke's shoulder. With her other hoof, she pointed at the diagram in the dirt. "Look at this."
"Hmmm?"
"Do you recognize it?"
Roarke's lenses pistoned out as far as they could go. Carefully, she studied the symbol:
What the metal mare saw was a pair of curved lines, vertical parabolas or half-ellipses that faced one another. In the center of the diagram and between the curves were two small circles, one positioned above the other. Adding to the overall symmetry of the diagram were four more circles, two on each outer side, positioned at the beginning and ending points of the curved lines.
"It... is certifiably random," Roarke droned.
"Do you recognize it?" Rainbow asked.
Roarke gave Rainbow a double-glance. "No," she said. Her brow furrowed. "Don't you?"
"No."
"Then why did you draw it?"
"Because I woke up seeing it," Rainbow said. She swallowed a lump down her throat. "Just now..." She gazed towards the east horizon. "...and it won't go away. Even when I close my eyes."
Roarke gazed through the trees. Her lenses twirled and clicked within their frames.
"You don't see it, do you?" Rainbow muttered.
Roarke took a deep breath. She rested a hoof gently on Rainbow's neck. "I think we should get you back to the Jury..."
Rainbow slowly, slowly nodded, gazing east in a hypnotic way. "I think you should get me back there too..."
"So, that's when I said, 'Khao, you can lead a horse to a water, but you can't make her clop!'"
Props paused halfway through her plate of eggs.
Ebon winced from where he sat besides Eagle Eye.
Pilate and Belle sat in dead silence while Kera scarfed her plate up.
"Annnnnd yeah... that's when the Herald officially put me on latrine duty," Zaid finished with a nervous smile.
More dead silence.
Zaid gulped. "This isn't helping, isn't it?"
"Nope."
"Uh uh."
"No no no."
"All we can think about is Rainbow Dash and Roarke."
"Same here."
"Yes yes yes."
"Pffft. Yeah, well..." Zaid shrugged and slumped against the mess hall table. "It's not like I didn't try."
"Awwwww... and you gave it a good try, Zaidy Waidy!" Props grinned, lifting him back up by his shoulder. "But sometimes you just gotta let sleeping mares—"
The Noble Jury shook suddenly with the tell-tale signs of a hovercraft docking within the hangar.
"Nancy shakes!" Floydien exclaimed. "The black ball return turns!"
"Squee!" Props hopped out of her seat, letting go of Zaid.
"Guaah—" THUD! His chin hit the table first before his body ragdolled onto the floor. "Ooof!"
"I wanna be the first mare to shake their hooves!" Props sing-songed, hop-hop-hopping through the kitchen.
"Propsy! Hold up!" Ebon galloped after her. "Don't crowd in on them!"
"Ebonnnnn!" Eagle's voice cracked as he scampered behind them. "Don't crowd in on her crowding in on them! Just hold on!"
"Mmmmmmm..." Kera licked her plate clean, burped, then pointed at where Props had just sat. "You think she's gonna finish it?"
"Uhhhhh..." Belle glanced at Pilate. The couple stood up in unison. "Have your fill, darling. We'll be... r-right back."
"Indeed." Pilate rested a hoof on Belle's side as the two briskly trotted towards the ship's rear.
"Heeeee!" Kera zipped towards Props' place and began attacking her scrambled eggs. "Mmmmm... so scrumptioustastical!"
"Mmmf... gross gross," Floydien stood up and walked the opposite way.
"Guh..." Zaid stood back up, his dizzy eyes seeing stars. "Heh-heh." He grinned crookedly. 'Raindoarke.' Phweeeeeee." Thwump!
The hangar had just closed, and the doors to the Lounge sphere were beginning to hiss open at the precise moment that Props and several other Jurists skidded to a stop.
"Woohoo!" Props bounced up high, pumping a hoof in the air. "Hail the conquering heroes!"
"Uhhh..." Ebon blinked curiously. "Just who is conquering who, exactly?"
"Fine, Ebony. Heehee..." Props rolled her blue eyes with a mischievous grin. "Conkin' heroes."
Ebon blanched. "You've been hanging around Zaid too much."
"He smells just fine once you get to know his insides."
"Wat."
Eagle Eye rushed up, breathless. "Come on, guys! Can't we just give them some space?"
"Funny you should say that!" Props winked. "Cuz I bet they soared waaaaay into outer space last night! Heehee!"
"Unnngh..." Eagle face-hooved intensely. "My dear sweet gentle puppy-nuzzling Spark..."
At last, Rainbow Dash stepped out, followed by Roarke.
"Welcome back, ladies!" Props flung a forelimb around Ebon Mane as she grinned proudly. "Want Ebony here to cook you up some love grub? Bet you're hungry after all... that... exercise..."
Rainbow Dash trotted briskly past them.
Props blinked curiously at her. "Uhhhhhhh..."
Ebon winced, whispering in Props' ear. "Maybe the honeymoon went south?"
"How come?" Props whispered back. "Do Rainbow and Roarke have mountain ice melting in the north?"
"Uhhhh... hi there... Rain...bow?" Eagle Eye waved weakly as the pegasus marched past him.
She nearly plowed over Pilate and Bellesmith as the two approached the lower door of the stairwell. They witnessed quietly as Rainbow opened the hatch to the engine room door and made her way through.
"That's... rather odd," Belle said.
"Did Rainbow just walk past us?"
"And how." Belle nodded. "If only you could see the look on her face."
"Angry? Sad?"
"Just... blank."
"Well, this may be a side of Rainbow we don't know."
"How do you mean?"
"Shhhh..." Pilate hissed. "I smell metal..."
Right at that precise moment, Roarke shuffled up. Unlike Rainbow, she came to a stop, fidgeting, but not quite looking at either of the two beloveds.
"Roarke... how is... I mean... erm..." Belle fumbled for words. "Oh dear..."
"Is everything alright, Roarke?" Pilate asked.
Roarke clenched her teeth, but nevertheless her voice carried through. "I... d-don't know," she said in a strangely quiet tone.
"Roarke..." Belle smiled. "As you well know, it's a tiny ship." She suppressed a giggle. "Please don't give us the awkward task of finding out on our own."
"I... I..." Roarke squirmed where she stood. Her muzzle contorted. Slowly—like a bending tree—she turned towards the two. "I think th-there may be something wrong with her."
"In what way?" Pilate asked.
"It... I don't..." Roarke bit her lip. Clearing her throat, she took one bold step towards the two, her head tilted downward. "If there was a way... anyway that... th-that..."
"Roarke..." Belle trotted forward and clasped one of the mare's hooves with her own. She smiled into the pony's lenses. "We would be more than happy to help."
Roarke said nothing. Slowly, gently, she just nodded.
"You can stay by our side if you like," Belle added.
Roarke gulped and said in a raspy tone: "Indeed."
"Come on." Belle motioned with her head. "I bet she's in her hammock by now."
"I beg to differ," Pilate said as she followed the two into the engine room.
"Huh?" Belle glanced back. "What makes you say that?"
The zebra's ears twitched. "Can't you hear the rustling of paper?"
Rainbow's hooves rummaged throughout the interior of the navigation room. She yanked books off shelves, flung folders open, and searched through every drawer.
"Come on... come on..."
Not for one second did she cease tearing the place apart.
"Come on come on come on!" She hissed at herself. "I just need a blank sheet! Any sheet! Yes!" At last, she stumbled upon a rolled-up map with a pure white back to it. She spread the thing open on the desk and squatted before it. Feeling around the table, she yanked a pen loose, dipped it in an ink well, and began drawing with her map.
She was about halfway done when Roarke, Belle, and Pilate showed up. Not long after, Props, Eagle Eye, and Ebon Mane stuck their heads through the engine room door.
Roarke leaned in towards Belle and Pilate. "She's been... mmmm... obsessing with a strange symbol all morning."
Belle leaned towards her. "Was this before or after the—"
Roarke glared.
"Ahem. Right." Belle leaned back. "Let's just... see what becomes of this."
"I can hear you guys," Rainbow droned while in mid-sketch. "And if that's Roarke's tense breaths I hear right next to you, just tell her to relax. I'm not crazy. I swear."
Everypony glanced at Roarke, who then glanced at the bulkheads, frowning. Clearing her throat, Props shuffled up. "Uhhh... whatcha drawin', Dashie?"
"That's what I'm hoping to find out." Rainbow sniffed and sniffed. "Is that eggs I smell in your mane?"
"Derrrrrr—"
"Goddess, I'm famished! I could eat a whole bowl full of carrots. Stalks and all."
"Jee..." Ebon smiled. "I wonder why—mmfmfmmff!" He gagged siddenly on Eagle's lavender tail.
"Hrmmm... c-can't quite get the color down," Rainbow said. "But it'll have to do for now." She finally leaned back from what she had just hastily scribbled onto the back of the map in black ink. "Pilate, would you mind doing that voodoo you do?"
"Huh? Oh... uhm..." The zebra trotted forward, activating O.A.S.I.S. "By all means." The sphere floated up and levitated over the desk. "I do hope you haven't just vandalized one of Mr. Floydien's treasured maps."
"Odds are I only defaced one of several Ledomaritan provinces," Rainbow droned. "The dayum elk can cry me a river. You scanning yet?"
"Patience, dear friend," Pilate said. "Trying to take it all in..."
"That's a fancy diagram, Rainbow," Eagle said.
"If you say so."
"How'd you knock it out so fast?"
"Well, army guy, if you must know—I can't stop friggin' seeing it."
"Ptooie!" Ebon rubbed his fuzzy muzzle. "Seeing it?"
"Like..." Props blinked. "It's in this room?"
"Did I or did I not tell you that I ain't crazy?"
"Eheheh...well..."
Rainbow swiveled in the chair and pointed past the observation room beyond the door. "It's over there."
"Towards the bow?"
"East. And it won't go away."
"Wait..." Belle leaned forward. "You mean, like a beacon, Rainbow Dash?"
"This isn't like any of the machine world flames I've seen before," Rainbow said. She gulped and curled her hooves to her chest. "I can—like—see it with my eyes shut."
"But... only when you face east?"
"More or less. It's super freaky, and it's not aligned with the Sun."
"So, swing your hammock westward!" Ebon said with a grin.
Rainbow turned and glared at him.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaand shuttingupnow," Ebon squeaked, hiding behind a smirking Eagle Eye.
"Why you seeing it now out of nowhere?" Props asked.
"I... I really don't know."
"Rainbow, we can't rightly expect all of this 'Austraeoh' business to function with total rhyme and reason," Belle said.
"Can't we, though?" Rainbow stared at her. She then pivoted towards Roarke. "Hey, Roarke, you there, girl?"
The ex bounty hunter jolted. "Hmmm?" She looked up.
"Just making sure you're still with me." Rainbow smirked.
"Yes, Rainbow," Roarke said with a nod. "I am still with you."
Ebon glanced at Roarke, then at Rainbow Dash. He remained silent.
"O... kay..." Pilate licked his lips as the manasphere stopped flickering over the table and retreated back to his metal choker. "I do believe I have it."
"Good!" Rainbow swiveled to face him, her face bright and curious. "Focus on it with them mimetic stripes of yours!" Her eyes narrowed. "Do you recognize it at all?"
"I... d-do believe... I have seen it before," Pilate said.
"For real?"
"Indeed. If I recall, this particular symbol showed up on rare occasions, and almost exclusively when there was also an occurrence of the Eljunbyro and Odrsjot characters."
"Is that so?" Belle blinked. "I wonder why."
"Is there a connection?" Rainbow asked. "Like... what could it mean?"
"I..." Pilate winced. "I am sorry, Rainbow, but I cannot say. The patterns don't hold any meaning to me."
"Do you at least know what it could mean in Xonan?" Rainbow asked.
"'Yaefaerda,"' Kera mumbled, her mouth full of eggs.
Everypony swiveled to face the little filly.
"Yiffy what now?" Rainbow balked.
Kera gulped and scooped another clump of scrambled eggs from the levitating plate beside her. "'Yaefaerda,'" she repeated, pointing at the drawing with her floating fork. "At least, that's what Nightshade taught me... before I single-hoofedly blew her popsicle stand!"
"Wait... You escaped Nightshade Industries alone?" Props gasped. A blink. "You stole my breakfast?!"
"Hey, you snooze, you lose." Kera burped. "Or... mrmmmfff... in your coltfriend's case, you snooze and ooze. Heeheehee—BURRP!"
Pilate sighed long and hard. "I'm going to have a very long talk with that stallion..."
"But... like..." Rainbow fidgeted, glancing anxiously at Kera. "You have any clue what the word means?"
Kera shrugged. "I'unno." She took another bite and trotted into the next room. "Didn't know what 'Odrsjot' was all about until it came up and bit me!"
Rainbow Dash stared after her. She sighed, slumping against the table as her ruby eyes traced the lines and circles. "Nnnngh... just what I need. More of this crap."
"Relax, Rainbow." Belle said, resting a hoof on the mare's shoulder. "At least you knew to be on top of it!"
"And it's not as though we're completely in the dark," Pilate said with a smile. "At least now we have a name to go by."
"Mrmmf... thanks to Kera."
"Heheh... yes... as always... thanks to Kera."
"No need to be anxious, Dashie!" Props slid in with a grin. "You're used to this, aren't ya? Besides... pffft... it's not like you've got a half-dozen more of these discover or anything silly like that!"
A dull pair of ruby eyes glared at Props.
The blonde mare stared with a frozen grin. "... ... ...I'm gonna go try contacting Unky Prowsy again!" And she swiveled about and marched into the engine room.
"We're... uh... going to help her," Eagle said, trotting out of the room.
Ebon blinked. "We are? Eep!" He felt himself being tugged away. The engine room door closed behind them.
Meanwhile, Belle was leaning in and whispering something to Pilate. Pilate murmured something back, then tilted his ears towards Roarke. After a knowing nod, he pivoted Rainbow's way. "We can discuss this another time. Shall we tell Floydien to embark for Val Roa once again?"
"Uhhhh... yeah, sure." Rainbow nodded. "Totally."
"Very well then." The couple trotted out.
"And... y'know..." Rainbow waved, smiling. "Thanks. As always."
"Hmmm..." Belle smiled back. "Don't thank just us." And she and Pilate left, leaving the door slightly cracked.
Swallowing, Rainbow twirled around. She looked at Roarke.
Roarke looked at her.
"Hey..." Rainbow said, waving.
Roarke's head tilted forward and back. "Greetings."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but she nevertheless cleared her throat and said, "I... uhm... I-I'm sorry for... like... m-making things so awkward... j-just now." She gulped. "I really... really wanted to avoid an awkward morning at all costs."
"Awkwardness was inevitable," Roarke droned.
"Oh?" Rainbow looked up with doe eyes. Her ears folded as she glanced down. "Oh..." She fidgeted in her seat. "Oh, yeah... I guess so.."
Silence.
At last, Roarke drifted forward, She tossed her mane until a few slender braids cascaded over her shoulder. She presented them before Rainbow Dash. "Here..."
"...?" Rainbow glanced curiously at the gesture.
"You... do enjoy toying with them so much," Roarke said softly. "It seems to make things... less awkward."
Rainbow blinked. "Hmmm..." Her fuzzy cheeks turned rosy. "Yeah. But I can think of a faster way to do the same thing."
"Hmm? What is that—?" Roarke wheezed as Rainbow flew over and hugged her tightly, nuzzling the mare cheek to cheek.
"Therrrrre..." Rainbow hummed with their muzzles together. "Does that get the stiffness out?"
Roarke exhaled. "In a manner of speaking..."
"Heeheehee... dang it, girl! We gotta work on loosening that tongue of yours!"
"Hrmmm. You would certainly be the expert on that."
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked and leaned back. "What do you mean by—"
Roarke's muzzle was curved.
Rainbow twitched. She rolled her eyes. "Ungh! Dang it!" She ran a hoof through her mane as she chuckled. "I did not see that coming."
"Neither did I last evening."
"Gah! Double-header!" Rainbow giggled and draped her neck against Roarke's shoulder as her wings flapped. "Hehehehe... I'm digging this already."
"In that case, so am I."
"Mmmmmhmmm..."
The two leaned against each other in silence.
At last, Rainbow gulped and spoke in a quiet voice. "Roarke... whatever this glowy-light business is... I-I'm going to get to the bottom of it, okay?"
"I believe you." Roarke's lenses retracted. "Why so emphatic about it?"
"I mean... in case you're... in case you were feeling—"
Roarke raised a hoof and rested it around the back of Rainbow's neck. "Not any longer."
Rainbow stared at her with glossy eyes. She smiled sweetly, murmuring "Good" in a breathless tone. She made herself weightless, allowing Roarke to draw her closer so that she nestled herself tightly against the nape of Roarke's neck.
Which gave the metal mare the opportunity she needed to exhale heavily through her nostrils, bestowing the bulkheads behind Rainbow Dash a tight, pale expression.
"I've flown around in many pretty circles, but—I'm tellin' ya, lassie—I haven't had much luck in recruiting brave ponies to our cause!"
"Really?" Props leaned in towards the microphone of her communications array. "Why is that?"
"Yer a smart girl! Do I really have to explain it to ya, Propsicle?" Prowse's voice echoed across the bulkheads of the engine room. "It's a wee bit hard to trot up to random equines and say, 'Oy, there's a distant kingdom under threat from a shape-shifting death queen. Would ya kindly mind trottin' on board my dead friend's manaship so we could get the drop on her now that her drones have skipped off to oblivion?!'"
Zaid cleared his throat. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Where've you been seeking help, Unky Prowsy?" Props asked. "Pleast don't say Gray Smoke."
"Ach, no! Them buggers can choke on their own farts for all I care! I've been makin' me flights around eastern Luxmare! But, with peace bein' the new big thing'n'all now, it's tough to talk ponies into fightin' for something on a continent far away!"
"You sure of that?" Zaid smirked. "That continent has its fair share of idiots."
"Aye, and you speak from experience, don't ya, laddie?"
Props frowned. "Hey! Don't be so snippy with Zaidy Waidy!"
"With who?"
Props suddenly blushed. Her blue eyes blinked. "Uhhhh... uhhhhmm..."
The microphone whined as Zaid leaned over and tilted it towards his muzzle. "Ahem. How about taking a right turn and giving the Xonans a shot?"
"Ehhh?"
Zaid shrugged. "If those dudes could believe a big glowy doom dragon was their goddess incarnate, they'll believe anything! I'd say have a go!"
"Hmmm... I haven't seen any of those tattooed blokes since I dropped off Arcshod and his Queen. But, now that I think about it, that could very well be the best plan."
"There ya go!" Zaid turned and smirked at Props. "That time I was speaking from experience."
Props grinned back.
Prowse's voice crackled: "How about your journey, lassie? For a solid week there, I couldn't reach you for the life of me! Had me worried sick!"
"Erm... y-yeah." Props grinned nervousy. "I'm soooooo super sorry about that, Unky Prowsy. We had to make a detour into this realllllllly snazzy crater for Rainbow Dash's sake. But we're out of it and we're on our way to Val Roa again."
"You made a detour for Rainbow Dash, huh?"
"Yup yup yup!"
"Lemme tell you something, lassie..." A crackling sound, and then Prowse's voice became suddenly clearer. "When it comes to that spritely haired pony of yours, there ain't no such thing as a 'detour.' The way I see it—she saved all of our lives back in Stratopolis. She is the journey. Stick to her like soot and you'll be just fine."
"Don't you worry one bit!" Zaid said with a grin. "We're clinging to Rainbow Dash every wing-flap of the way! Especially now that she's extra sticky!"
"Dammit, Propsicle, who is this? I can't put my hoof on his voice! Is he the blind one?"
"Uhhhh... duaaaaaaah..." Props batted the microphone back and forth between her hooves. "Oh noes! You're breaking up, Unky Prowsy! It must be a lightning storm!"
"A lightning what-now?"
"Give Xona a shot! We'll catch you on the flipside! Okie dokie! Bye bye!" Props flicked the communications array off and exhaled heavily.
Zaid glanced at Props. "You think the Tarkington could even catch up with us at this point?"
"If anypony can make an engine purr like a kitten, it's my uncle." Props looked up at him with a thin smile. "I'm sure he'll join us beside Rainbow in no time."
Zaid gulped. "That's what I was afraid of."
"Buh?"
"I don't look forward to being on the receiving end of a boomstick."
"Awwwwwwwww..." Props stood up. "Ya silly bean!" She hugged Zaid, nuzzling his neck with her blonde mane. "It won't be like that!"
Zaid sighed through a smile. "Ah... well... if you say so, then I feel better."
"Yeah..." Props closed her eyes, grinning. "Besides, my Uncle likes to beat ponies up with a wrench before shooting them."
Zaid's pupils shrank.
"Hey! I know! Heehee! You wanna have some more cheese?"
Zaid whimpered, "For as long as I have left to live..."
Clouds sped past the porthole windows of the mess hall as Roarke trotted through the chamber. She passed by a bowl of salad lying at the end of the table. Suddenly, the metal mare stopped. She pivoted her neck and stared with rotating lenses at the meal. After a few seconds, she trotted towards the kitchen.
"Ebon," she spoke quietly. "I see that Rainbow Dash's place in the table has an uneaten meal."
The stallion stepped out of the kitchen. He gazed blankly at the mare.
"Is she not hungry?" Roarke asked. "It seems odd for her to give up such good greenery."
Ebon kept staring.
Roarke's brow furrowed. "Ebon? Is there something wrong with your ears?"
The stallion twitched. "S-sorry. Heheh..." He rubbed his neck nervously. "I'm just not used to you calling me anything but 'breeder.'"
Roarke exhaled heavily through her nostrils.
Ebon gulped. "Right." He pointed at the table. "I made that for Rainbow ten minutes ago. She was about to eat, but said she forgot something she left in her room. I... g-guess she hasn't been back since."
Roarke turned towards the table. "Mmmmmm..."
"Hey! Would you like to remind her that her lunch is served? I'm sure she'd hate for it to go to waste."
"I think I will do one better," Roarke said. She turned and glanced at him one last time. "Thank you, Ebon."
Ebon blinked, then smiled sweetly. "It's my pleasure, Roarke."
Roarke expertly climbed down the vertical crawlspace while balancing the bowl with a prehensile metal tail. At last, she reached the bottom, pivoted about, and shuffled into the observation room. Daylight shimmered through breaking clouds, glinting off her metal parts as she entered.
"Rainbow Dash, I did the favor of bringing Ebon's meal to you. Perhaps you would be more comfortable eating he—" Roarke froze in her tracks.
Rainbow Dash was lying limp on the floor.
Roarke's lenses rattled. "Rainbow...?" She dove forward. "Rainbow!"
Clack! The bowl fell to the floor behind her, spilling lettuce and other vegetables across the floor.
Roarke squatted at the pegasus' side and lifted her in her forelimbs. "Rainbow?! Speak! Say something—"
"I hear you. I hear you," Rainbow hissed, stirring numbly in Roarke's grip, but completely awake. "I... unghh... heard you the first time." She gulped. "Just calm down..."
"You are... fine, then?"
"I'm okay," Rainbow wheezed, nevertheless draping off of Roarke's hooves. "Really..."
Roarke sneered. "You are not fine! Is it another dizzy spell?"
"No..."
"Rainbow..."
"Okay, yes, it was," Rainbow muttered. "But it's over now. Still... damn things take their toll on me. I was just catching my breath."
"For ten minutes?" Roarke frowned. "It's doing more than that, Rainbow. It's paralyzing you."
"Well, look at it this way..." Rainbow smiled dazedly at her. "At least it cures my insomnia!"
Roarke said nothing.
"... yeesh, I wish you could take your metal eyes off more often." Rainbow gulped. "It's getting hard to tell when you're glaring or not."
"You are right to suspect my ire," Roarke said. "It is not right to play off your condition."
"Hey... who's playing it off?" Rainbow remarked with a weak shrug. "It totally sucks. I know this too well, girl." She sighed, leaning into Roarke's embrace. "Timing couldn't be worse."
"How do you mean?"
"Mrmmff..." Rainbow closed her eyes. "Do I really need to explain it?"
Roarke bit her lip. She glanced back at the fallen bowl of food, then up at the hammocks. Holding her breath, she lifted Rainbow and placed her into the lower net, laying her body out so that she could rest comfortably.
"Ah jeez..." Rainbow grimaced slightly. "Next, you'll be singing me lullabyes or something."
"You are still too weak to move?"
"I... uh..." Rainbow stirred and stirred. She gulped. "I could use a few more minutes before I get my fuel back, I guess."
"This is not a good thing, Rainbow," Roarke said. "Your spells are getting worse."
"Mmmm... don't I know it?" Rainbow sighed, staring towards the bulkheads. "Thanks for being so swell to me, Roarke. Really. I just..." She paused to yawn. "...n-need a little more time, and then I'll be back in action. You'll see."
"And when your next attack comes," Roarke said. "How long will it take you to get 'back in action' then?"
"Hrmmmff... I dunno..." Rainbow curled up, her eyes shutting. "I think I'll sleep on it."
Roarke sighed and hung her head.
"Roarke...?"
The mare looked up.
Rainbow murmured, "If things weren't this crazy bad, I want you to know that nothing would have changed between us." She gulped. "Don't you ever think that you're... th-that you're just some sort of last resort."
Roarke's lips pursed. Her ears folded back as she trotted forward and rested a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "I believe you completely..."
"Good," Rainbow said. A smile crossed her muzzle as she drifted off to sleep. "So... don't be so stiff. Relax a little. Let your hair out..." Another yawn. "Mmmm... b-beautiful scarlet hair..." And she was slumbering.
Roarke stood their, her hoof lingering on Rainbow's shoulder. She stared silently into the metal bulkheads.
"And if color wheel boomer succumbs to the glimmer shimmer, what then?" Floydien asked, glancing towards the rear of the cockpit as the day beyond the windshield came to a dull end. "Nancy Jane and fellow boomers have much to work work."
"There's no telling when or where it will happen, but we have to come to grips with the reality of the situation." Roarke swiveled about, staring across the cockpit at the other three. "Rainbow Dash's end is coming soon. We must do something about it."
"Roarke..." Bellesmith fidgeted, clearing her throat. There was no hiding the wavering tone in her voice, much less the tears welling up in her eyes. "Roarke, Pilate and I have carried the weight of this fact for a long, long time. And as much as we wish for the better, we both know that—in the end—there is nothing we can do."
"So, as her best friends, you are willing to abandon her to her fate?" Roarke said.
"We are not abandoning her to anything," Pilate said with a frown. "Maybe there's more flame out there in the machine world that will give Rainbow Dash her strength back. Maybe the fate of the Austraeoh means for her to be 'reborn' again. There's simply no way for anypony to tell. Not us and certainly not her."
"We have to accept the fact that..." Belle choked back a sob. "Th-that one of these days, our options will run out. And then... th-then..." She held a hoof over her muzzle as she shivered.
Pilate leaned in to nuzzle her. After a breath he spoke to Roarke. "There has to be a reason for this vision... this new symbol that Rainbow Dash is seeing."
"Could it be another flame?" Roarke asked. "She's seen those before."
"Yes, but this isn't anything like it," Pilate said. "At least, not the way Rainbow describes it. There's no mention of the color lavender. What's more, this vision has a definite shape, instead of just being a vague light source that only she can sense."
Floydien shrugged. "Once a glimmer, always a glimmer."
"No, Mr. Floydien, this is definitely different," Pilate said firmly. "And it angers me that I can't come up with a solid explanation for it!"
"But you are familiar with the symbol...?" Roarke said.
"I've seen it—yes—but I have no way of deciphering it." The zebra sighed. "And, apparently, neither does Kera."
"I wish we had some sequencing equipment," Belle said, sniffling. "Maybe there's something new inside Rainbow Dash, now. A new spark to the Austraeoh that I could somehow examine for a solution..."
"And where would such shimmer metal be found?" Floydien tightened his jaw. "The boomers out here prefer wood and flame to clank and embers! Yes yes!"
"I do not believe that there is any point in us trying to ascertain the situation any more than we already have," Roarke said. "If you ask me, I believe the answer has already been given to us."
Pilate tilted his head aside. "How do you mean?"
"Yaerfaerda," Roarke uttered. "It can't be any coincidence that it has appeared to Rainbow Dash during the most intense throes of her chaotic condition. I believe the symbol is as much a beacon as the flames have been. Perhaps more so."
"You think we can help Rainbow Dash by following it?" Belle remarked.
"We owe it to her to try," Roarke said. After a deep breath, she turned towards Floydien. "Change our course. We are no longer headed to Val Roa." She glanced down the vertical crawlspace. "Not without Rainbow Dash in good health..."
"You must get up," Roarke continued. "Please. I insist. This will only take a moment."
"Grff... so m-many moments..."
"I know. I know." Roarke's forelimb pushed Rainbow Dash straight up in a sitting position. "Now, open your eyes."
"Mrnngnhhhh... f-fiiiiine..." Rainbow's eyelids parted ways. A pair of jaded ruby pupils squinted at the starry night beyond the observation room's windows. "What am I looking for?"
"Do you see the Yaerfaerda simble?"
"Guhhh... yes..." Rainbow yawned. "Of course..."
"Is it straight ahead of us?"
"Gzz-zzzzz..."
"...Rainbow."
"Snkkkt-zrkk-huh? What?"
"The symbol..."
"Oh. It's... it's..." Rainbow lazily rolled a hoof through the air. "A bit to the right..."
"How much?"
"Huh?"
"How far to the right?"
"Eugh... I dunno. Just—like—to the edge of the windows. Starboard side." Rainbow's head teetered. "Not sure what it matters anyway."
Roarke was busy craning her head towards the vertical crawlspace behind her. "Forty-five degrees towards starboard! Bend south!"
"Yes yes yes!" Floydien's voice echoed back down. "Adjusting to your metal muzzle mutter!"
Rainbow blinked. "Uhhhhh... Roarke?" She glanced aside. "What are you doing—?"
"Look now, Rainbow," Roarke said as the Noble Jury stopped pivoting. "Are we facing it now?"
"Huh?"
"The symbol. Is it dead-center with the windows, now?"
"Uh... n-no?"
"Where is it, then?"
"Like—just a sneeze to the left. Why—?"
Roarke tilted her head towards the cockpit again. "Fifteen degrees to the north! Port side!"
"That is one elusive glimmer shimmer!"
"Since when did you chart the stars with a space elk?" Rainbow droned.
"How about now, Rainbow?" Roarke asked.
"Roarke! For pete's sake!" Rainbow sat up, fidgeting. "Just what is going—"
Thwump! Roarke shoved Rainbow back down into the hammock. She leaned in, her metal lenses pistoning outward coldly. "You will tell me when it is centered. Do you understand?"
Rainbow gawked at her. She gulped and said with a cracking voice, "Just a tinnnnnny hair to the right."
"Hrmmm..." Roarke took a deep breath. At last, she trotted over to the crawlspace and shouted up, "Stay on course! Do not meander north or south from this direction unless I tell you to!"
"Whatever the megaphone boomer says!
"But Roarke..." Rainbow winced from where she lay in the hammock. "Val Roa is—"
"Not our priority right now. You are." Roarke trotted up to the hammock and stared at the pegasus. "Don't mistake my actions for single-hearted heroism. I have the will of the entire crew backing me up."
Rainbow shrugged. "I wasn't assuming anything."
Roarke's pistons retracted. "...oh." She tilted her head down.
Rainbow gulped and produced a nervous smile. "But... uhhhh... that's really swell of you, Roarke, to be thinking of me."
"Indeed..."
"But... for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What is this going to accomplish?"
Roarke pointed out the window. "Something out there has a connection with you. If, perhaps, you are indeed destined to be Austraeoh, then helping you attain it might assist in your well-being."
"Roarke, I dunno if anypony's told you, but I'm infected with a bunch of chaos crap." Rainbow clenched her jaw. "I was dying long before I figured out any of this Austraeoh stuff and I'll be dead long after."
"Then you have given up?"
"No!" Rainbow sighed. "I didn't say that. It's just that Val Roa is insanely important and I've put it off for too long! Now's not the best time to be flying after a wild goose chase. I wanna know that I died doing something that mattered—"
"Even if that meant denying your own purpose?"
Rainbow blinked. "Huh?"
"Do you believe it's a complete coincidence that you stumbled upon Stratopolis, the remains of Commander Hurricane, and Sword of Solstice all within a short frame of time?"
Rainbow simply gawked at Roarke. "Uhhh... uhhmm..."
Roarke leaned forward. "And do you think the harmonic end to the Ledomaritan conflict could have been accomplished without you? Or the illumination of the Durandanans? Or the—"
"Roarke..." Rainbow gulped. "What do you believe in?"
Roarke stopped dead in mid-speech.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, staring at her.
Roarke leaned back on her haunches. After a long breath, she said, "I believe that going to Val Roa will be pointless without you."
"Heh..." Rainbow slumped back in her hammock. "I see..."
Roarke hung her head. "And the same can be said of many... other th-things..."
Rainbow turned her head towards her.
Roarke sat in melancholic silence.
Rainbow smiled weakly. "I thought I'd be dead before I ever heard you buying into all this 'Austraeoh' stuff."
Roarke took a dee breath, nodding. "It c-certainly is close enough..."
Rainbow bit her lip. She closed her eyes with a sigh. "Roarke..."
"You should get some more rest." Roarke turned around to leave the observation room. "Thank you for your assistance in plotting a new—"
"We picked a lousy time to kiss each other, didn't we?"
Roarke's body froze. Her ears folded back. Slowly, she pivoted about, shuffled back towards the hammock, and nuzzled her cheek up against Rainbow's.
Rainbow's face flushed as she reveled in the soft, fuzzy gesture.
Roarke finished by running a hoof through Rainbow's mane and gazing straight way at her. "...does that answer your question?"
Rainbow gulped. "In sp-spades," she sputtered.
"My faith in you is not a trivial thing," Roarke said in a firm tone. "You have transformed my life from a metal-cased corpse into something that lives and breathes. If miracles can happen once, then surely they can happen again."
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked. "And I like the way you squeak when I featherstroke your hooves."
Roarke opened her mouth, lingered, then muttered with rosyc heeks, "I concede to your superior statement of affection."
"Heeheehee!" Rainbow clutched her blue tummy as she smiled. "Dang straight, you do."
Roarke's lips almost curved, but a sudden paleness overwhelmed her. She stared shudderingly towards the side.
"Hey..."
Roarke looked up.
Rainbow gave her a thin-eyed grin. "You're pretty cool, y'know... shoutin' orders like that. Getting the Noble Jury to follow you."
"As I said, this is a coordinated effort, Rainbow—"
"Horseapples! You know how long it took Floydien to take a direct command from me? Face it, you're a natural-born leader."
"Rainbow—"
"You're the Jury's natural born leader, and if I should—"
Roarke braced Rainbow's shoulders with both hooves. "You shouldconcentrate on feeling better." Her lenses rotated. "Relax now and save your strength for whatever it is we might find when we reach the symbol you see."
"Roarke, we don't even know how far away the dang thing is."
"Which is why I've ordered Floydien to be as swift as he can."
"Heh... ya see?" Rainbow smirked. "You're totally on top of the game."
Roarke gulped and nodded. "I've had divine inspiration."
"You know what? I believe you."
Silence.
"I... am sorry for having to wake you," Roarke muttered. She shuffled backwards on her hooves. "I had better check on the rest of the ship."
"Really?"
"I... I believe..."
"They can handle themselves for a while, Roarke..." Rainbow fought a wave of dizziness and stammered, "Don't ya think?"
Roarke bit her lip. "Then... then what am I to do...?"
Rainbow blinked, her eyes lighting up. "Stay here with me?"
Roarke stared back at her. She glanced at the hammock, then back at Rainbow. At last, she stood up on her hind quarters and slid her forelimbs under Rainbow.
The pegasus rocked awkwardly in the hammock. "Uhhhh... uhhhhh—Roarke—?"
With sudden grace, Roarke slid herself into the hammock beside Rainbow. She shimmed and squirmed until she was lying against the net with Rainbow's back reclining against her.
"Whoah..." Rainbow wheezed.
"There..." Roarke spoke as the hammock slowly rocked to a stop. "Is that not more agreeable?"
"Oh..." Rainbow gulped. "I agree. Heh... I agree whole-heartedly." Rainbow glanced at the net with a slight giggle. "I-I'm just killing myself on the inside, trying to figure out how you did it."
"Mmmmmm..." Roarke's forelimbs wrapped around Rainbow from behind. "...pegasi are not the only equines with poise and grace."
"Me? Poise? Grace?" Rainbow chuckled and leaned her head back against Roarke's chin. "If you say so, girl..."
"I will stay here as long as you wish me to," Roarke said. She leaned down to nuzzle Rainbow's ear. "Be it a long flight or not."
Rainbow gulped. "Yeah... that's..." She exhaled with a squeaky voice, "That's cool..."
Roarke's brow furrowed. "Uhm... Rainbow? Is there something wrong with your—?"
"Just don't mention 'em!" Rainbow blurted, her cheeks blood red. "They'll... uh... th-they'll relax soon. I promise."
Roarke cocked her head to the side. "Ah... I see..." Her lips curved slightly as she stroked Rainbow's mane. "I understand now why you were never on your back the other night."
Rainbow wheezed and murmured, "Th-they're not as fragile as you think."
"Is that an invitation?"
"Uhhhhh... uhhhh..." Rainbow gulped. "I... th-thought the whole point of this was for me to relax."
"But of course..." Roarke kissed the top of Rainbow's head and held her closely. "I promise you, one way or another, you will get to your destination safely."
Rainbow sighed with a bittersweet breath.
"Do you not believe me?" Roarke murmured.
"It's not that," Rainbow said. "Just... being here... like this?" She closed her eyes and nuzzled Roarke's chest from behind. "...I almost don't care what happens to us."
Snap!
The hammock broke from the weight of the two.
Fwump!
The two landed on the floor in the exact position as they had dangled, with Roarke clutching Rainbow from behind.
As the metal mare's lenses rattled to a stop, Rainbow blinked dumbly towards the ceiling.
"... ... ...then again... ow."
Roarke bit her lip.
"...snkkkt—heeheehee!" Rainbow curled up in Roarke's embrace.
Roarke exhaled. Her lips closed as she held Rainbow close. Soon, a dry chuckling sound escaped her mouth, joining Rainbow's squeaky chorus.
Days later, Ebon Mane woke up early. He trotted across the mess hall of the Noble Jury—yawning to himself—and made his way into the kitchen. Once inside, he started cracking eggs and preparing an omelette. Thinking of Josho, he decided to make some pancackes on the side for good measure. It was an altogether pleasant morning, and he hummed a tune to himself as he went through the regular motions.
Things changed when he reached for a bottle of syrup from storage. His body jolted suddenly. He wheezed, feeling breathless, and teetered hard to his side. Pots and pans fell to the floor, and the stallion soon followed them.
"Ooof!" Ebon winced, hugging himself as he felt a burning sensation surge through his figure. His eyes clenched shut, tearing, and he felt as if thunder was roaring against the walls of his skull. As the agonizing seconds rolled by, the thunder took on a form, almost resembling a voice. Before he could hear what was being said, he sensed a pulse of light from beyond his lids.
Ebon opened his eyes. He sensed a faint green glow around him, glinting off the kitchen equipment. He realized that a reflective metal pan was to his right. He pivoted his head, looking. A pair of green orbs levitated just in front of his face. When he blinked, the orbs dimmed and turned bright again. Then, slowly, the green light faded, and Ebon was gazing at the reflection of a frightened, sweating stallion.
Slowly, he stood up, clutching himself as he shivered. "M... m-mother..." He blinked at himself, surprised at the suddeny utterance. Sniffling, he remained huddled there in the kitchen, leaning a cabinet as his lungs hyperventilated.
"How long did it last?" Eagle asked.
Ebon bit his lip, curled up atop the cot in the cabin across from him. "Not... not long. Seconds, maybe." He gulped. "But it felt like forever."
"You felt like you were burning on the inside?"
"Yeah..." Ebon nodded, his eyes quivering and frightened. "At f-first, I thought I was having maybe a heart attack... or a stroke. But it's not like any sort of sensation I've ever known about before. Something really scary took over me. And, what's more, I swear I saw a light..."
Eagle Eye cocked his head to the side. "A light?"
Ebon nodded.
Eagle shuffled over to the cot. "What kind of light?"
"Bright. Green. All around me."
"Green?"
"Or..." Ebon's eyes narrowed. "Or perhaps it was inside of me." He tilted his head up and stared at Eagle with a quivering lip. "And the only reason I sensed it everywhere was that it was all I could see!"
"That's..." Eagle fidgeted where he stood. "That's rather odd..."
"That isn't the end of it," Ebon said. "I... I had this loud rumbling in my ear. Only, it wasn't just noise... it was a voice."
"A voice?"
Ebon nodded and nodded. "I'm sure of it. It was speaking to me. Commanding me."
"Commanding you?" Eagle ran a hoof through his mane and fought to keep from shivering. "Commanding you to do what?"
"I... I don't know..." Ebon whimpered slightly. "But... b-but as soon as the worst of it was over, I... felt her..."
"Huh?"
"I sensed her. I smelled her. It's like I could crawl into her arms and be safe... and yet I was so scared, Eagle. It shocked me to my core..."
"Who are you talking about?"
Ebon exhaled. "My mother..." He clenched his teeth. "I swear, it feels like—for the first time in forever—she's actually trying to find me. And... and I-I've never experienced that before! And yet I have! And... and it's so confusing..."
Eagle said nothing.
"Eagle...?" Ebon sniffled, his eyes wattering up. "EE, I'm frightened..."
"Oh, Ebon..."
The stallion covered his eyes. "What's happening to me n-now?! What more do I h-have to deal with?! I can't stand it!"
Eagle slid up on the cot and held Ebon close. "You're safe. You're with me. You've got nothing to worry about."
"But wh-what's happening, then?!" Ebon sobbed quietly, burying his muzzle in Eagle's shoulder. "H-how can I be a reliable cook and Jurist if something like this is to happen again?"
"Whatever it is, you've fought your way past it!" Eagle smiled encouragingly. "If you had to, I'm sure you'd overcome it again!"
Ebon hiccuped and raised his puffy eyes to look into Eagle's. "But... wh-what makes you so certain it will happen again?"
Eagle instantly paled. His ears folded back.
Ebon saw it. He looked frightened. "EE...?"
Eagle took a deep breath. "Ebon, I..."
Ebon stared, his eyes moist and glistening.
Eagle swallowed a lump down his throat. His voice wavered as he said, "There's something I-I've been meaning to tell you. You must understand, that n-no matter how crazy this sounds, I love you for who you are... no matter what..."
"Huh...?" Ebon squirmed, leaning forward. "What is it?"
"You see, Ebon..." Eagle winced. "You... uh... uhm... you're a—"
CRACKKK! Out of nowhere, a gigantic three-pronged barb about the size of a pony smashed its way through the outer hull of the Jury, embedding into the stallions' chamber and coming to a violent stop just inches from their bodies.
"Gaaaaaaah!" Ebon threw himself into Eagle's embrace.
"Whoah!" Eagle teetered, toppled, and fell out of bed with Ebon. "Holy s—" THUD!
The entire ship was still shaking by the time Props regained her balance. She stood up, shaking the cobwebs out of her head. When she looked up, her goggles reflected over a dozen leaks in the steam pipes.
"Fuzzlecrap!" She swiped a wrench up in her teeth and galloped into action. The lavender glow of the caged book splattered her body with kaleidoscopic wipes as she tightened one pipe after another.
As the steam died down, Zaid stumbled into the engine room from next door navigation, coughing and waving the mists out from before his muzzle. "Whew! It's like a fish factory down here! Blondie, you okay?!"
"Mrmmf—mmfmfrff!" Props tightened two more pipes and turned her head towards him. Ptooie! "I-I dunno what happened, Zaidy Waidy! Something shook all the pipes loose!"
"We've been hit!" Zaid spat.
"We have?!"
"At least that's what Floydien said!"
"Yeah!" Props swung her way to another set of pipes and began banging away. "But by what?!"
"Kera! Darling!" Bellesmith hissed from across the mess hall. "Keep your head down!"
"But I see something out there!" Kera chirped, standing atop a chair as the ship shook and wobbled. Through the porthole, she spotted log cabins, wooden walkways, and crude towers. "It's a village! Why would a village attack us?!"
"I don't know!" Belle wheezed, motioning from where she squatted beside the couches in the lounge. "Now get over here!"
Kera scampered over, bright-eyed. "How could a village attack us?!"
"She's not falling!" an earth pony in wooden armor shouted from the rooftop of a two-story building. He lowered his binoculars and shouted across the town. "Ready cannon two!"
Across the street, a half-dozen earth ponies were turning and twisting the valves of a complicated, wood-mounted ballista. The barbs of the weapon's iron tip glistened from the overcast sky. Slowly, it tilted up from the ponies' collective labors and aimed at the Noble Jury above the treetops.
"I don't understand!" a young, frightened stallion stammered in the moist, alpine air. "That's the first time we ever hit her directly! Wouldn't it have killed her?!"
"She's obviously made of stronger stuff than we imagined, Keebroo," a grizzled old stallion said as he pulled at a coarse rope and tightened the ballista in place. "Grnnngh... but if you were there at the campsite like I was when it got torn off the face of the friggin' earth, then you wouldn't be any least bit surprised."
"But Drakshaa, seriously!" Keebroo shivered in his armor. "How can she take a javelin to the ribs and still live?!"
"Enough dayum chatter!" Drakshaa tilted his head and shouted over the other grunting ponies. "Hey Booster! Is the angle right?!"
Situated atop a wooden tower in the corner of the village, a golden-blonde stallion stared through a pair of face-mounted spyglasses. He licked his lips, leaning precariously forward on the edge of the lofty platform. "Almost there... coming around... like sky butter, yesssss..."
"Dammit, Booster!" Drakshaa shouted louder. "Snap out of it!"
Booster jerked nervously and raised his goggles. "Huh?!" His hazel eyes blinked.
"Can we friggin' hit her again or not?!"
"Raise it a little!" Booster shouted. "When she comes swooping, she'll have to raise her head up to blow fire! We can skewer her snout!"
"And that'll kill her for good, right?!"
"Well... technically, with its superior immune system being resilient to volatile infections—"
"Will it kill her or not?!"
"There's only one way to find out!"
"You heard the geek!" Drakshaa spat at the others. "Raise her up! We're gonna skin her alive by nightfall or else I'm a donkey's uncle!"
The ponies heaved and labored to tilted the ballista higher.
Eagle Eye stumbled up the stairwell, panting for breath. He came out onto the top deck—sliding towards the port side with a gasp. He hadn't anticipated the ship to lean so precariously. Just before the petite unicorn could plummet over the railing—
"Hey now!" Josho caught him with his telekinetic field and hoisted the stallion to his side. "I'd never figured you to suck at ballet."
"What in the h-hay is going on around here?!" Eagle stammered, clutching his shield.
"Some spit-sucking boomer shot a dagger through Floydien's beloved Nancy Jane!" shouted the elk from the cockpit.
"Yes, dammit, we know! Stick your antlers back up your butt" Josho hollered back. As the ship teetered on its circular course, he pointed over the side. "The javelin was fired from somewhere down there in Squalortown. We must have been passing over the village when some smartass decided to play target practice."
"But... wh-why hit us?!" Eagle stammered.
"I don't know..." Josho pumped his shotgun. "But I know a fat bastard who can hit back."
Rainbow and Roarke stumbled out of the cockpit.
"How bad is it?" Josho asked.
"The weight of the javelin is worse than the rupture it's caused," Roarke said. "It's weighing us towards the port and making it hard to fly straight."
"Otherwise, it seems like we're all okay," Rainbow said.
Josho smirked. "It's about dayum time something did, huh?"
"Tchh... old stallion..."
"The question is, will they fire again?" Rainbow said, squinting at the village.
"You would even ask that?" Roarke jerked her neck. A spark ran down her body, causing dark plates to extend from every length of metal reinforcement. "If ponies can construct one killer instrument, then nothing will stop them from making one hundred."
"Nancy Jane can't fly fast enough at this rate to avoid more rust glimmer!" Floydien shouted once more.
"Right..." Josho trotted towards the ship's edge and aimed his rifle. "So, let's let them rust first."
"Josho, wait!" Rainbow hissed, wings outstretched. "I didn't come out all this way to draw blood from complete strangers!"
"Pfft!" Josho smirked while squinting. "What do I look like, a nurse?"
"Why isn't she diving towards us, yet?" Keebroo asked.
"The hell should we care?!" Drakshaa slapped a valve in place and yelled across the town. "Booster! We're good to go! You give the signal—"
KAPOW! A single blast sent metal bits soaring through the front wooden support of the ballista. With a loud groaning sound, the barb slumped forward on its own weight and crashed through several feet of lumber.
Villagers dove off the roof—screaming in fright—and fell into the thick muddy streets below.
Keebroo shrieked as he and Drakshaa tumbled onto an awning, tore through, and fell to the ground below.
Atop his tower, Booster winced. He clung to the railing as the structure wobbled from the vibrations of the javelin impacting the earth two buildings down. He looked up at the Noble Jury, his goggles slick from a fresh drizzle of rain.
Suddenly, the stallion gasped. "It's... it's not her..."
Meanwhile, Drakshaa was disentangling himself from Keebroo's shivering body. "Rrrrgh! That tears it!" He stomped through the mud and hollered to every doorfront. "To arms! It's now or never! Grab every crossbow and torch you have!"
With a collective roar, dozens of ponies charged out of the town hall, drug store, and nearby apartments. Worried mares and foals watched from inside as their husbands, fathers, and brothers charged into the street and formed a courageous phalanx as the Noble Jury came around.
"Get her in your sights, boys!" Drakshaa spat as Keebroo stumbled to join the ranks. "Let's let her pay for all the silver we've lost! It's her blood or ours!"
Several ponies shouted in fury, filling the air with thunder.
Booster nervously tried yelping over the volume of their voices. "Guys! It's not her! It's an airship! There are ponies inside!" He gritted his teeth. "Darn it!" Hoisting a wrench in two hooves, he hoisted it over a metal cable and zip-lined down into the middle of the village.
As he did so, four bodies descended from the Noble Jury. Rainbow Dash carried Roarke while Eagle Eye and Josho drifted the height of three stories with their telekinesis. As soon as all four landed, they charged directly into the village.
The villagers followed Drakshaa's lead, charging straight at them.
"Whoah!" Eagle Eye's voice cracked, his eyes reflecting a wall of angry muzzles. "I don't think they're happy to see us?!"
"We've handled worse!" Rainbow barked. "Remember—knock them out! Neutralize! I don't want anypony getting killed!"
"Tell that to them," Roarke grunted.
"Roarke..."
"Here they come!" Josho cracked the joints in his neck and aimed his rifle.
Before the two parties could slam into one another, Booster leapt in the center, slid in the mud, and raised his forelimbs. "STOPPPPPP!"
Both groups skidded to a stop, breathless.
Booster panted and panted. At last, he turned and barked at Drakshaa. "It's an airship!"
Drakshaa tossed his raven black locks and squinted. "Excuse me?"
"It's an airship! I saw it with my goggles!" Booster tilted the article in question up to his brow and blinked. "We hit an airship! It's not her!"
"Uh oh..." Keebroo gulped.
"Excuse me..." Josho trotted forward, frowning. "But what the hell, huh?! What did we ever friggin' do to you guys?!"
"We were just passing through!" Rainbow Dash added, gritting her teeth. "If you didn't want us over your rooftops, you could have at least warned us!"
"Please... forgive us..." Booster spun and faced them. "You have to understand! We've never had an airship fly around these parts! The only thing that's been flying around these parts is her! We mistook you for her!"
Roarke's lenses retracted. She glanced quietly aside at Rainbow.
"Her?" Rainbow leaned her head to the side. "Her, who?"
Booster gawked at them. "The... the dragon, of course."
Josho scratched his head, then glanced at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow stared with thin eyes. "A... dragon?" She gulped. "What dragon?"
"Eewwwwwwwwwwwwww..." Eagle winced, looking at his hooves with teary eyes. "There's mud all over me..."
An old mare finished sipping from a smoking broth and lowered the wooden mug from her wrinkled muzzle. She stared calmly across the torch-lit interior of the town's main hall. "I, Merigold, have governed the ponies of Amulek for over four decades. Not once did I ever dream that I'd be alive to see the twilight of our community. But, alas, with each passing day, this place collapses harder and harder. We've been refused access to our silver mines. Our trade routes are constantly attacked and set on fire. So many of our brothers and sisters have left, taking their families with them as they desperately seek new places to live. Soon, the town of Amulek will be a ghost of the glory it once was, scarred by this... heartless invader from the mountains."
Merigold stood up on aching limbs. Drakshaa and Keebroo leaned in to help her, but she gently patted their hooves and trotted across the wooden floor on her own. She passed dozens of families huddled all across the interior with their belongings, having taken shelter there for an untold number of days.
"We used to be the leading provider of silver ore in this part of the valley. For generations, the deposits found in our mines have supplied every community on this continent, ranging from the Alafreons in the west to the Val Roans in the east. Even the Lounge have made peace with us, trading innumerable goods for a taste of our earthen supplies. Over the years, we've developed an infallible reputation for ourselves and our work ethic. I must admit, this has shaped the ego we maintain today. It is a very sincere pride—but a stubborn one, and it has blinded us as of late."
At last, Merigold came to a stop before the guests squatting at the end of the hall.
"I wish I could properly convey my deepest regret over what we did to your ship... and almost to your crew as well." She gulped. "Each and every citizen in Amulek is a master craftspony. I assure you, with my word as this town's governer, we will have your vessel back in immaculate shape without forcing you to adhere to any price. Then, once you have everything patched up, we will send you on your way."
Rainbow Dash, Bellesmith, Pilate, and Roarke looked on from where they sat.
"That's... wonderfully nice of you to do," Belle said.
"But—if I may..." Rainbow Dash stood up. "About this dragon..."
"It's my fault," Booster spoke up, fidgeting. "I was too busy trying to calculate the trajectory of the javelins! I didn't even bother to think that we were dealing with something other than the dragon! I—"
"How could you?!" Drakshaa snarled. "Nopony's been dumb enough to fly through our skies since she began her rampage of destruction!"
Keebroo spoke up. "Drakshaa, they're clearly outsiders! How could they have known?"
"Who doesn't see the smoke rising from the mines every hour of every day?!"
"To be perfectly fair, this place is kind of wet and foggy," Rainbow Dash said.
"Huh?!" Darkshaa frowned her way. "What do you mean by that, winged freak?!"
"She means this town is a filthy mudhole," Roarke spat. Her lenses pistoned outward. "And I'll make you wipe your flank with that tongue right after I rip it out, you trotting pile of defecation—"
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay..." Rainbow pressed a hoof to Roarke's shoulder, silencing her. "Thanks for backing me up on the 'winged freak' thing, but rein it in some, girl."
Roarke exhaled through her nostrils. "I apologize." She gulped. "She and I are bonded now, you see—"
Rainbow's eyes bulged. "No need to announce it to the whole friggin' world," she hissed out the side of her muzzle.
Roarke tilted her head up. "Why not?"
Rainbow face-hoofed.
Belle grimaced awkwardly.
Pilate cleared his throat and smiled calmly towards the crowd. "We are... v-very much pleased that you have agreed to fix the damage caused to our ship, Ms. Merigold. However, we can't help but notice that you seem intent on getting us on our way... and swiftly." His metal brow furrowed. "Tell me, have things become that dire?"
"And I don't see how it's any of your business, striped one!" Drakshaa snarled.
"Drakshaa, child..." Merigold turned towards him with an aged glare. "You will be polite to our guests. They have suffered enough due to our negligence."
"I still say they had no business flying here!" Drakshaa folded his forelimbs as he sat on his haunches. "Harumph! Before all of this dragon business even started, we had total control of our airspace!"
"Things have evidently changed, Drakshaa," Booster said.
"I can't be the only pony ashamed of it!" He growled. "Look how far we've fallen! Now we're patching up foreign ships without seeing a single strip of payment out of it! I'm telling you, at this point, the Green Bandits will roll in and claim this place as our own! They'll turn it into a junkyard!"
"Not with a dragon flying around, they won't," Keebroo said. "Those goblins are too cowardly."
"And I don't see you rushing out to fight that creature on any of Booster's expeditions!"
Keebroo hung his head. "I... k-kinda sorta like living."
"And I like being proud of myself at the end of each day!" Drakshaa punched his hooves together. "Dammit, we need to call in support from the Val Roans! Let's ice this dragon once and for all!"
"That's proven to be rather difficult, Drakshaa," Booster said. "We can never seem to catch the thing."
"Yeah! All that your stupid gizmos are good for is snagging down friendly airships!"
"Stupid gizmos?!"
"Silence!" Merigold frowned. "All of you! This is not how ponies of Amulek should act!"
The stallions hung their heads, looking towards the floor. The nearby families shuddered and sat in silence.
With a sigh, Merigold turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Please forgive my citizens. We have all been driven to our wit's end." She gulped. "Drakshaa, most of all, though he has his reasons..."
"Hrmmmfff!" The stallion angerly stomped out into the wet, gray drizzle of the town outside.
"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded, then turned back towards the village's governer. "Just what slithered up his plot and died?"
"He was the overseer of our mining operation," Merigold explained. "Not a single pony died on his watch. Then, suddenly, there was a leak in the mineshaft."
Belle raised an eyebrow. "A leak?"
"To this day, we still don't know what happened," Booster explained. "But one of our stallions must have pierced his way into a pocket of natural gas or steam or something. Suddenly, the mineshaft started filling up with this dense, dense mist. Drakshaa, being the responsible—albeit meatheaded—pony that he is, evacuated the mines immediately. I was sent a week later to take samples of the steam and figure out what had contaminated the mines. But..." The blonde stallion gulped. "...that's when she attacked us."
"She came from the northern mountains," Keebroo nervously said. "It's almost as if she was attracted to the mists coming out of the mines. She attacked our expedition, destroyed our mining equipment, and completely wrecked the camps that we had put so much time and effort into setting up east of here."
"Our entire mining operation has been grinded to a hault," Merigold said. "At this point, it would take us months to get back on schedule. We've been so desperate to reclaim our mines, that we've built dozens if not hundreds of weapons to combat this creature."
"And yet, despite all of my technical know-how..." Booster sighed. "...nothing I build can take this creature down. She keeps eluding us, taunting us, making regular attacks and driving us stir crazy."
"By the Spark..." Pilate leaned forward. "Dare I ask... has there been any casualties?"
"Uhhhhhm..." Keebroo fidgeted.
Rainbow blinked. "'Uhhhhhm' what?"
"By a sheer miracle, all of us are still alive," Merigold said. She smiled slightly. "It would seem as though luck smiles upon us in some fashion after all."
"I've come really close to the dragon more than once," Keebroo said, shivering. "I've nearly been roasted alive, and yet I'm still here today."
"All things considered, I don't think the creature wants to devour any of us," Booster said. "However, that doesn't change the fact that it's laid claim to our mines and it won't let go. As long as it haunts those sites that once belonged to us, it continues to choke Amulek of what made us so prosperous over the last century!"
"But, it's really not something you should be so freaked out about," Keebroo said with a nervous smile. "Really, it's our bad for hitting your ship like you did. Once we get you patched up, it's best that you high-tail it out of here and don't look back."
"You can't be serious," Rainbow murmured.
"I'm afraid that we are, child," Merigold said. "Just look at us." She gestured towards the melancholic families gathered around. "We are without hope here. We are without a future. Until we finally slay that dragon—at who knows what cost—then we are helpless to salvage Amulek, and we are hardly appropriate hosts for innocent souls such as yourselvs." She swallowed a lump down her throat. "We're sorry that you ever got involved in the first place. I promise you that we will send you off on your way shortly."
"But... th-this is totally a big deal!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "If you don't get rid of this dragon somehow, you might lose the town and your way of life!"
"It's a fate we've all come to expect," Merigold remarked. "We still hold faith that the next expedition or two that Booster leads might bring an end to the creature."
"I've gotten so close to predicting its movements!" Booster passionately said. "If I can only give it another shot, I just know that Drakshaa and I can take the thing down!"
"Maybe what you need is some help in the right places!" Rainbow said.
Roarke bit her lip.
"Rainbow..." Belle murmured.
"That sounds most courageous, child," Amulek said. "But unless you inexplicably had some experience in slaying dragons—"
"As a matter of fact, I have!" Rainbow said.
Keebroo did a double-take. "You have?!"
Merigold's eyes narrowed. "How is such a thing possible?"
Rainbow opened her mouth to explain—
"Rainbow..." Belle tugged on her tail.
Rainbow sighed, raised her hooves to signal "time out," and turned towards her friends. "Belle, you know what this means, right?"
Belle whispered, "Rainbow, aren't you jumping the gun here, darling?"
"In what way?"
Pilate whispered, "This isn't Silvadel. Neither is this Xona. Your past aside, we're dealing with something that's completely out of my league."
"And what if it isn't out of my league?" Rainbow exclaimed in a hoarse voice. "What if this is the real deal?!"
"Rainbow..."
"What if this is Axan?!"
Belle grimaced. She glanced at Pilate.
In a quiet but firm voice, Pilate said, "It does not make any sense. Why would Axan fly ahead of us and plague an innocent group of ponies?"
"She's never expressed any need for silver before, has she?" Belle remarked.
"I don't understand it any more than you guys do!" Rainbow squeaked.
"Then why are you making rash conclusions about it?"
"Who's being rash?! Pilate, Belle, these guys are in a crazy situation, and if there's even the remote possibility that Axan is connected, then I owe it to them to—"
"You don't owe these ponies anything, Rainbow," Roarke said loudly, not bothering to whisper.
"Turn it down a notch, Roarke," Rainbow said, frowning. "You've already shoved your hoof in your mouth—"
"Rainbow, you cannot afford to throw yourself into something like this now!" Roarke snarled. "Neither can we afford to let you!"
Rainbow gawked at Roarke.
Eventually, Roarke caved, bowing her head as she shuddered. "I... I-I mean..." She sighed. "Your condition, Rainbow. It... it just isn't the right time, and—"
"I know where you're coming from, Roarke." Rainbow gulped. "But there's something I haven't told you guys... something I just figured out."
"And what's that, Rainbow?" Pilate asked.
"These ponies say that their mines are north of here," Rainbow said. "And that's where the dragon came from." She stared firmly at her friends. "Guess where I'm sensing this weird glowing symbol as we speak?"
Roarke looked up, her lenses retracting.
Belle's muzzle hung open. "Blessed Spark... do you mean—?"
Rainbow slowly nodded.
"But... but..." Belle grimaced. "I don't understand! Why is the symbol resonating from here?"
"I don't know," Rainbow said. "But maybe Axan does." She gulped. "Maybe this was her way of drawing me here..."
"And to what, Rainbow?" Pilate asked.
"...the fate of Austraeoh."
A cold hush fell through the group.
"Look, I may not have a lot of juice left in me," Rainbow said. "But this is totally a situation worth squeezing. If I fly past here, I fly past whatever's making me tick, and I'll never figure out this darn 'Yaerfaerda' thing."
"Maybe you're not supposed to, Rainbow," Roarke droned.
"Do you seriously believe that?"
Roarke grimaced. "I... I-I do not know what to believe."
"That makes the two of us, sister," Rainbow said. "But I'm not so cowardly that I won't bother trying."
"I never said you were."
"Then I'm glad to have you on my side." Rainbow Dash stood up boldly and stared at the villagers. "When's the next expedition heading out to the mines?"
Merigold turned towards Booster. "Mr. Spice...?"
"Erm..." Booster adjusted his goggles and said, "Tomorrow morning. Bright an early."
Rainbow nodded with a devilish smirk. "You've got yourself a new dragon hunter."
"Well, I'm coming with you," Josho said, cleaning his shotgun from where he sat on the opposite end of the mess hall's lounge. "I'm not particularly fond of these silver-sucking hickjobs. I dunno about you all, but having actual ponies east of Alafreo shoot iron death at us was a pretty nifty wake-up call. I'm proud to lend a hoof."
"Not sure there's much to lend in this situation, Josho," Rainbow Dash said, hovering in a tight little circle. Starlight twinkled outside the portholes. "Somehow, I feel as though what's freaking out these ponies is mostly just inside their heads."
"Just like I said! Hickjobs to the core!"
"Rainbow, what do you mean by that?" Belle asked. "Clearly everypony here in Amulek has seen something... something that they fear greatly."
"It just doesn't make any sense!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Why would Axan hold up here of all places and do this to a bunch of strangers?!"
"You're certain it's not like her?" Pilate asked. "I mean, she has a rather nasty history of taking up roost right under ponies' noses and terrorizing them for generations."
"Yeah, but she's past that now... ya think?" Rainbow folded her arms in mid-hover. "Ever since Silvadel, she's had this... this dragon boner for 'following Austraeoh around.' Seems counter-intuitive for her to turn heel once more."
"More like double-heel, the way I see it," Josho said.
"Am I tired?" Eagle Eye muttered, rubbing his head. "Or did Rainbow just say 'dragon boner?'"
"She's in the twilight of her years, Rainbow," Belle said. "A dying Divine."
"So?"
"So... what if she's losing her mind?" Belle gestured. "It's happened to her siblings before. Maybe Axan's reverted to her past self without knowing it?"
"In that case..." Josho pumped his shotgun. "The dayum fire lizard probably needs to be put down."
"Oh, great..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "A dying east horse and a dying death dragon, drawn together by fate."
Eagle squirmed. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Well, what the hell else are you going on the expedition to the mines for?!" Josho cackled. "You don't plan to shake the dragon's hand, do you?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
"The symbol is out there, right?"
Everypony turned to look at Roarke.
"The symbol," she calmly repeated. "If you can't find the dragon, at least you can find out the source of what's broadcasting 'Yaerfaerda' to your eyes..." Her lenses pistoned outward. "Right, Rainbow Dash?"
The pegasus sighed. "It's too much of a wet sopping coincidence for both the symbol and a friggin' dragon to be here in the same place... waiting for me."
"If we never had altered course from Val Roa, we never would have discovered this," Pilate said. "If you ask me, Rainbow, pursuing this is the best possible thing you could be doing right now."
"And does it have a best possible outcome? Huh?"
Pilate bit his lip.
"Rainbow, are you getting any better?" Bellesmith quietly asked. "I mean, in regards to the dizzy spells and—?"
Rainbow shook her head.
Belle's gaze fell slowly to the floor. She fought a lump in her throat.
"Well, I'm coming with you," Josho uttered.
"You've said that three times already..."
"I'm going too!" Eagle Eye stood up. "I mean... this is a job for me as much as for the old stallion. There's no telling what horribad stuff we'll run into. You'll need a good shield alongside the journey!"
"Thanks, EE. I appreciate it," Rainbow said.
"It's best that I come as well," Roarke said. She turned towards Rainbow Dash, meeting her gaze. "My tools of the trade could be very useful."
"That..." Rainbow sighed and smiled gently. "...would be really nice."
"Then I think a good night's sleep is in order," Belle said. "If nothing else..." She rubbed a hoof along her brow. "Nnnngh... we don't have to sit up all night, dwelling on this."
"Don't worry, Ding-Dong," Rainbow said. She touched down beside the mare and rested a forelimb on her shoulder. "If Axan is behind all this, then she sure has some explaining to do."
"Right..." Belle squinted at her best friend. "And if she refuses to?"
Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth. "I-I've put down a dragon before. I... uh... I wouldn't hesitate to do it again."
Silence.
Josho grumbled, "Well, I'm coming with you—"
"WE KNOW THAT ALREADY!"
The next morning inside his cabin, Eagle Eye finished fitting on a leather sling. He attached his shield to the back of it, adjusting it telekinetically and balancing the weight on his flank. He took a deep breath, then turned and looked at the cot.
Ebon sat on the bed's edge, clutching his skull and wincing.
Worriedly, Eagle Eye squatted down and tilted the stallion's chin up. "Hey... how are you doing...?"
Ebon gritted his teeth. "I... I-I can't explain it," he wheezed, eyes misty. "It's like a ton of bricks keeps hitting my head. Over and over and over again..." He shuddered. "If it weren't for you lying by my side, I'd never have gotten any rest last night."
"I'm sure it'll pass," Eagle said with a weak smile. "You've been through worse before. Together, we'll get you through this."
"I know... it's just..." Ebon hugged himself, sniffling. "It's a scary ride..."
"I bet..." Eagle clenched his jaw. "Ebon... I-I wish that I could stay here with you all day. But..." He squeaked, "Rainbow, she... sh-she's brave and all, but I'm starting to feel with each morning that she hasn't much time with us left, and... and..."
"Shhhh..." Ebon reached out and patted Eagle's forelimb. "I know, EE. I know." A bittersweet smile. "She needs you more than ever right now. I'm proud of this step you're taking."
"I promise, no matter what..." Eagle leaned in to nuzzle the other stallion. "Whatever happens, I won't become an immortal dragon's barbeque."
Ebon giggled breathily. "You'd better not! That'd make a really lame epitaph."
"If I die, cremate me and mix my ashes into a bath shampoo."
"Ewwww..."
"Tell me about it." Eagle touched noses with him. "All the reason for me to come back alive."
Ebon stared up at him proudly. After a deep breath, his ears folded. "I love you."
Eagle's lips curved. "I love you too."
Silence.
Slowly, Eagle turned, twisted the cabin door open, and trotted out into the main corridor of Noble Jury.
As soon as he stood alone outside, his body slumped. A grimacing expression crossed his features. With glossy eyes, he nevertheless cleared his throat, pivoted towards the bow, and marched off to make an exit. His shield clattered with each brave hoofstep he made.
Roarke's hoof splashed into a deep puddle of mud. She paused in her march and raised her forelimb, watching as the fresh rainwater dribbled off her metal braces. She tilted her head back and stared at the misty treetops above the procession of ponies through the forest.
"... ... ...I detest this place."
"You know, for the first time..." Eagle Eye trotted past the mare with a smile. "...I think we're on the same page."
"That is one severely soiled book," Roarke droned.
"Awwwwww..." Rainbow fluttered overhead, smirking. "Would it make things easier if I carried you?"
"No. It wouldn't."
"Please, stop grumbling." Josho trotted by, trailing Eagle Eye. Two dozen stallions marched loosely around them as they all trekked uphill. "As if you've ever had a problem with Rainbow Dash on top." Eagle giggled.
"Hrmmmm..." Roarke's ears folded back as she trudged on after the group. "I'm murdering you two," she grumbled. "Right after we murder this dragon."
"Hey!" Booster Spice smiled from what he overheard. "Now that's the spirit!"
"Can it, Booster," Drakshaa spat, using his thick muscles to pull a javelin launcher uphill through the forest. "Rnnnnghh..." He sweated and grunted. "Every expedition before has failed. I don't see how this one will end up any better."
"That's because you've never had sheer awesomeness along for the ride!" Rainbow said. "My buddies and I? We've survived zeppelin battles, artillery bombardment, zombie hoardes—"
"Foxes," Eagle added.
"Foxes—wait... what?" Rainbow did a double-take their way.
"Didn't we tell you about the foxes?" Eagle Eye remarked.
"Ohhhhhhhhh damn those foxes," Josho hissed.
"Brrrrbrbrrr... right on, old stallion." Eagle gulped. "Scarred for life."
"If you ask me, you ponies are full of it," Drakshaa sputtered. "You were better off flying away in that crazy contraption of yours. So if you all turn into smoldering embers, it ain't our fault."
"But, according to your governess, Merigold, the dragon's not killed anypony yet!" Eagle Eye remarked.
"Yeah. It just likes to taunt us that way." Drakshaa's sweaty face frowned. "Scaley bastard."
"You ever think that maybe the thing just wants to scare you off?" Eagle said. "I mean, what's happened to your silver mines is terrible, but maybe it doesn't want to feast on pony flesh at all! I mean, maybe it just—"
"Hey!" Drakshaa shouted across the way to Josho. "Fat unicorn! Does your daughter here ever shut up?!"
Eagle Eye did a double-take. "Daughter?!"
"Haah haah haah!" Josho grinned wide. "I'm starting to love this guy!"
Rainbow giggled.
"... ... ...she does have a nice mane," Roarke added in a dull tone. "For a breeder."
"Hmmmph!" Eagle marched at a faster pace, upturning his nose. "Well, at least some of us are trying to be serious!"
"Awwwwwww... come on, princess!" Josho marched quickly after him. "Don't be like that! Here, want a ride on P-Papa's sh-shoulders? Snkkkkt-haahaahaa!"
"Old stallion! Quit it!"
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"So... uhhh..."
Rainbow glanced down.
Keebroo glanced up at her while marching up hill. "You're not from around here, huh?"
"I kinda sorta figured that was already established, bro."
"It's 'Keebroo', actually."
Rainbow smirked. "I know. That was the joke."
"It was?"
"Ungh... Keebroo," Drakshaa groaned. "Did you really need to bring your dumbass along just to disprove me?"
"Hey!" Keebroo frowned aside at him. "A pony can be brave without having to be a total flankhole!"
"That's news to me."
"Don't mind him," Keebroo muttered, trotting ahead of Rainbow. "He's just sour from having lost the mines. He took his job super seriously."
"Jee. I had no idea."
"I mean, isn't it obvious from the way he—"
"I was being sarcastic, kiddo." Rainbow giggled. "You really need to chillax. All this dragon stuff has gotten your nerves frazzled."
"Yeah... I guess so..." Keebroo gulped. "I mean, a lot of my family have left Amulek. It's not easy living here without them."
"Why'd you stay if you miss them so much?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Keebroo lifted his head, smiling at the thick tree trunks stretching through the thin mist around them. "This place makes me feel alive. The scent... the taste... the cool hush of the mountain air? It's home. Would you leave home even if you had no choice—?" He winced suddenly. "Oh, jeez... I'm sorry..."
"Heh..." Drakshaa smirked. "Nice going, idiot."
"It's alright." Rainbow glared in Drakshaa's direction. "Really..." She turned to look back at Keebroo. "I've flown so far and for so long that—the way I see it—I'm always at home."
"You are?"
"Yeah. So long as I'm with my friends." She smirked. "I bet you have a lot of ponies you'd call family just as much as your own flesh and blood."
"Oh. Totally. And I would die for them too!"
"Eh heh heh..." Rainbow hovered low enough to pat the stallion on the shoulder. "Let's just focus on you living for them, okay?"
"Oh... yeah! Sure!"
"Good kid."
Keebroo smirked. "Though, I would have loved to see the place where you came from."
"Oh?"
"Sheesh... winged ponies..." He shook his head with a smile. "I bet I'd have to travel the whole world to see more of your kind."
"Eh heh heh heh..." Rainbow gulped and sweated slightly. "We're a lot closer than you think..."
The trek took the better part of four hours. They stopped twice for a breather, waiting for Booster Spice to whip out his map and confirm the progress that they were making. The whole time, Rainbow took several opportunities to study the faces of the stallions who made up the expedition. Several of them looked emaciated, frazzled, and worn to the bone. It was obvious that weeks of stress had taken their toll on the poor equines of Amulek. In some haunting fashion, Rainbow was certain she had seen those expressions before.
This only made Rainbow grow more and more anxious the higher they scaled the mountains' southern faces. Though it was approaching daytime, the morning haze did not dissipate. In fact, the fog grew tighter and tighter. It became apparent that the higher they climbed, the more impenetrable the mists. A cold chill hung in the air, making everypony shiver—including Roarke.
Several times, Rainbow Dash flew low enough to keep a constant check on the metal mare. For the first time in many an adventure, Roarke looked and acted as though she was completely out of her element. Her energy appeared sapped, and her march was a clumsy and uneven shuffle. The two spent most of the trek in silence, and it ate away at Rainbow's chest.
Soon enough, the ground evened out. The forest grew thinner, and if it weren't for the fog, Rainbow imagined she could look straight up and see an unhindered sky lingering above the continent. Instead, a cold drizzle blanketed the expedition, not enough to soak them but just the right amount of precipitation to keep them constantly shivering and uncomfortable. As the plateau stretched further and further, Rainbow Dash began to spot broken wagons and delapidated mining tools—the signs of much equipment abandoned in the heat of miners' panicked evacuation.
"Huh..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted in mid-air. "I've... n-never thought that hard about it that hard, really..."
"Oh, but I spent all night calculating it!" Booster exclaimed. "I mean, assuming you have the same bone density as a common pony, it is simply impossible for wings as small as yours to carry your body weight and proportion through the air!"
"Huh..."
"I mean... eheheheh..." The blonde stallion adjusted his goggles. "No offense."
"None taken." Rainbow smirked and pointed at her flapping wings. "So, Einstallion, how do you explain this?"
"I can't, really. Though I'm willing to make an educated guess."
"Like...?"
"Magic!"
"Unnnnngh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"No, truly!" Booster Spice smiled in mid-trot. "If unicorns are born with a magical proficiency, then what's to say that other equines can't be? Perhaps there is a permanent enchantment passed along the bloodline of you pterodactyls—"
"Pegasi."
"Excuse me—pegasi. I speak of a hypothetical enchantment that allows your wings to carry multiple times the weight that they should!"
"Hmmm..." Rainbow flexed her forelimbs from where she hovered. "You know, I've always secretly wondered why it is that we can walk on clouds." She shrugged. "Guess that's what I get for having dropped out of flight camp."
"W-wait...!" Booster gawked at her. "You can walk on clouds?"
"Can it, Nerd Spice," Drakshaa hissed.
"Please, Drak—we're having a scientific discussion here—"
"No! For real!" Drakshaa raised his hoof. All of the stallions stopped in their tracks. "...we're here."
Josho jerked to a stop. He levitated his shotgun while glancing left and right.
Roarke's lenses pistoned outward as she scanned the misty treeline.
Eagle bit his lip. He peered ahead, then pointed straight forward. "There..."
"Right..." Drakshaa nodded and strolled ahead with a rattle to his cart. As they stepped forward, they saw the remnants of a camp emerge through the mists. Crumpled tents, buckled fencelines, and charred gates lingered on either side of them. The charred remains of wooden shacks lay in blackened piles and embers. "This is our last encampment. We've built and rebuilt it four times straight. The damn dragon always flies by to burn it to the ground once again."
"If that's the case, then why do you always return here?" Roarked droned. She turned to glare at the stallion. "Why even show up today?"
"Because she thinks we're coming back to build again," Drakshaa spat. "That ain't the case! Today..." He unhitched himself from the cart and patted the pronged head of the javelin. "...we've come to kill her good."
"I see," Roarke said in a dull tone. "Just like you killed our ship good. Hmm?"
Drakshaa shook his hoof. "Now listen here, you toilet-eyed tool—!"
"Give it a rest, Drakshaa," Booster sighed as he plopped down his backpack full of tools and began preparing a spot to load up the launcher. "We're here to skewer scales, not each other."
"Hrmmf..." Drakshaa angrily went about unloading the cart with the help of other stallions. "This was a whole hell of a lot easier without having to babysit for foreigners."
"Now now... if Merigold were here, what would you say?"
"Bite me."
"Nnnnngh... Drakshaa, you're like the missing link, y'know that?"
"Uhhhh..." Eagle Eye glanced around at the wreckage. "Just how large is this place?"
"It was a pretty big encampment," Keebroo said. "At least... mmm... the first time we built it."
"Well, better get a lay of the land," Josho muttered. "Would be a damn good thing to know what is up or down in this place in case we have to bump horns with a dragon anytime soon." He trotted off into the mists. "Hop along, princess."
"Er... s-sure thing!" Eagle galloped after him.
"Don't go too far!" Roarke shouted. "We don't know this place like these breeders do!" She leaned back, exhaling. Turning her head—she did a double-take at Rainbow's gaze. "What?"
Rainbow slowly smiled. "It's almost as if you were genuinely concerned about them."
"I... am genuinely concerned about them," Roarke droned. She stared down at her hooves, fidgeting. "Is that truly so hard to believe?"
"Mmmm... no..." Rainbow leaned down to nuzzle her. "But I like it, all the same."
Keebroo popped up between the two of them. "Hey! Want to see the mine shafts?"
Rainbow winced, rolled her eyes, then put on a sweet smile. "Sure thing, bud! Just... uh..." She glanced at Roarke, then back at him. "...show the way!"
Minutes later, Roarke and Rainbow tailed Keebroo to the northern edge of the encampment. They could hear the stallions barking at one another while they set up the launcher, but they were too far away to be seen in the blinding mists. While the trek was awkward and treacherous for the two mares, Keebroo obviously knew his way. The young stallion darted left and right, skirting around abandoned wagons and collapsed structures.
At last, the grass gave way to gravel and stone. Mine-cart tracks appeared, leading down a dark, dark hole in the side of the mountain.
"Aaaaaaaand... voila!" Keebroo gestured down the shaft. "There it be! The best silver deposits in all the land!"
"I... did not expect us to be able to get this close," Roarke said, her lenses whirring as she looked about fitfully. "Surely the dragon—"
"One time, she didn't show up for an entire day," Keebroo said. "We thought that she was gone for good, but it turns out she was just biding her time. We... uh..." He ran a hoof through his mane, sighing. "We nearly got an equipment hut rebuilt by the time she struck. We tried running into the shaft for cover, but that's when she started spitting fire. We were driven back. For all our efforts, we still haven't been able to fully access the mine for weeks..."
"I can't help but think that just being here is taunting her," Roarke said.
"Well... uhm..." Keebroo gulped. "That's the whole point... y'know? We gotta show that we're not afraid of her... th-that we can take her out!" He blinked at the ponies with wide eyes. "I mean... that's why you're here too, huh? To help us?"
"Hrmmm... more or less." Roarke clenched her jaw. "Still, I don't like this. Everything's too quiet."
"Like I said, sometime the dragon bides—"
"It doesn't make sense... not from what I've learned about dragons and how territorial they can be," Roarke said. "Why hasn't she attacked yet?"
"I... I-I wish I could tell you." Keebroo gulped. "I thought you ponies had experience with dragons or something like that."
"One of us does." Roarke pivoted and glanced up. "How about it, Rainbow? Does any of this make sense to you?" Her lenses retracted. "... ... ... Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash hovered in place, shivering. She stared down the mineshaft in a cold sweat.
Roarke's lips pursed. "Rainbow!" She trotted up and lifted a hoof, giving Rainbow's tail a tug. "Look at me!"
At last, Rainbow wrenched her eyes from the shaft. Sweat was collecting around her brow.
Roarke asked in a quiet voice, "Is it happening again? Are you—?"
"No." Rainbow shook her head. "It's not that. It's... something else..."
"Like...?"
Rainbow gritted her teeth as she stared down the shaft. The symbol was as close as ever now, practically blinding with its light. The longer she peered into the mine, the more she was certain the lines and circles would burn into her retinae.
"It's here, Roarke..."
"What is? Yaerfaerda?"
"It's. Right. Here." Rainbow gulped. "I can practically taste it, I'm so close."
Roarke glanced down the shaft. Her lenses pistoned outward to their full length. "I don't see a thing."
"Trust me, it's down there."
"Uhm..." Keebroo gulped. "What is?"
"Silence, breeder." Roarke trotted closer to Rainbow. "Rainbow, should... should we go down and investigate?"
"No! Not a good idea!" Keebroo stammered. "If that dragon attacks and you're down there—"
Roarke growled. "Did you or did you not hear what I just said?"
"Roarke..."
Roarke looked at her.
"This place..." Rainbow swallowed a lump down her throat. "This mist... it's all so dang familiar."
"You couldn't possibly have been here before."
"No, but I've still seen this sort of crud before." Rainbow sighed heavily. With a shudder, she turned towards Roarke. "Listen, let's go find Josho and Eagle and then—"
FWOOMB! A ball of green flame erupted just above them, sending stone shards falling all around.
"Gaaaaah!" Keebroo sprawled across the ground.
"Luna Poop!" Rainbow shouted, eyes wide. Not a second later, another ball of emerald flame came sailing through the mists, aiming for the mineshaft.
"Rainbow—!" Roarke dove high, slammed into Rainbow's side, and shoved the two of them to the ground.
POW! The mountainface exploded behind them, erupting in flames.
"Guhhh..." Rainbow slowly sat up, disentangling herself from Roarke's limbs. "Look, girl, was that really friggin' necessary?"
"But..." Roarke grimaced, standing up. "...b-but the flame and its trajectory and you were in the way and—"
"Stop being cute and help me the buck up!"
"There's more incoming!" Keebroo hollered. In a panic, he turned and galloped towards the center of the encampment. "Hey guys! Guys! She's here! Load the javelin!"
"No, wait!" Rainbow's voice cracked as she stretched a hoof after him. "Don't split up! Don't—" She winced. "Dang it!"
"Breeders," Roarke spat. She clenched her mouth silently as both mares heard loud shouts and explosions from the other side of the mists. "Searo's Womb..."
"It's go-time!" Rainbow kipped up, flapped her wings, and broke into a swift glide. "Come on! I gotta get a visual!"
"Don't fly so fast!" Roarke sputtered, galloping the long way around plumes of flame. "I can't keep up!"
"For the last time, I can carry you—"
"Look out!"
Rainbow looked up, gasped, and rolled to the side as another plume of green flame flew down.
CRASSH! The remnants of an abandoned shack exploded behind them. Splinters rained down like wooden hail.
"Guhhh... mmmf..." Roarke gritted her teeth. With a twist of her neck, she expanded the metal plates across her leg braces. Armored up, she plowed through a debris field and galloped towards the sound of shouting stallions in a straight line. "It certainly seems as though she wants to kill us!"
"Let's just make sure that Josho and Eagle Eye are—"
"Aaaack!" Eagle Eye flew in from the side, his shield trailing with smoke as he skidded to a stop in the grass. "Unnngh..."
"EE!" Rainbow darted down and stood at his side. "EE, are you okay?"
"Green flame..." Eagle winced, shuddered. He looked up at Rainbow. "I thought this 'Axan' monster spat red flame."
"Green...?" Rainbow glanced across the mists. She spotted flickering plumes of emerald heat. Her ears folded back. "Oh no..."
"What?!" Roarke hissed as Amulek ponies galloped to and fro behind her. "What is it?!"
As prophesied, shots rang out, echoing across the mists.
Rainbow spun. "I'm checking on him! Stay here!"
"Rainbow!" Roarke shouted.
"Just do it!"
"Don't go too far on your own! Rainbow!" Roarke stood beside Eagle Eye, gritting her teeth in frustration.
In the meantime, Rainbow soared over the heated battle. Plumes of flame erupted to her left and right while stallions fled in terror. She skimmed straight past Drakshaa and Booster Spice, who were frantically pivoting the freshly assembled ballista around.
"Quick! Raise it by forty-five degrees! She'll come from the northeast! I know it!"
"Less words and more muscle, geekstrings!"
"Drakshaa, this is important! If we don't get the right trajectory, then we won't have a chance in—"
"Look, will you shut up and help me pivot the damn thing already!"
"Make sure you hit a friggin' dragon this time!" Rainbow shouted as she flew past them. Her ears rang with more gunshots as she threaded through the fog. "Nrnnghh... Josho?!?"
"Over here, speedy!"
Rainbow followed the sound of his voice. She spotted the obese stallion standing atop a delapidated wooden shack. She landed nimbly beside him while he was reloading his smoking gun.
"You really picked a cruddy place to stick your fat neck."
"That's because it's a shithouse, Sherclop." Josho pumped his shotgun, eyes high. "I think I spotted it."
"You did?!" Rainbow asked, breathless.
"Yup. Damn fast. I can barely keep my eyes on it."
"That... that's..."
"How fast was Axan, huh?!" Josho flung Rainbow a sweaty look. "Ain't she big and leathery and lumbering?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Well..." Josho gulped and glanced skyward again. "I don't think this is her."
"Josho, she's spitting green flame," Rainbow said. "That's not like Axan either."
"Yeah..." Josho paled. "But I do know who it is like."
There was a dim green flash through the fog, followed by a shrill whistle.
"Uhhh..." Josho's pupils shrank. The whistling grew louder and louder.
"Darn it, jump!" Rainbow plowed into Josho's side like a rampaging bull.
"Ooomf!" Both plunged off the outhouse's roof in the nick of time. The wooden shack exploded in a green burst of flame.
"Guh! Augh!" Rainbow rolled to the side along with Josho. She winced, pushing herself up on noodle-weak limbs. "Nnnngh... can I go for a single month without explosions?"
"I've got a better question!" Josho wheezed, sitting up with the help of his rifle's butt. "Can't you do one of them sonic sky farts and clear up this damn mist?"
"Sorry, but no-go."
"Why in Ledo's coinpurse not?!"
"Considering that the last sonic rainboom I did in Durandana nearly killed me, this isn't exactly a good time," Rainbow wheezed. "Besides, this isn't exactly normal 'mist.'"
"Oh yeah?"
"No. As a matter of fact, I think it's—" As Rainbow spoke, something rolled out of the fresh crater that the last dragon breath had made. The pegasus found herself blinking at a craggy rock still trailing with emerald smoke. "Uhhhm..."
"What... in the buck...?" Josho stammered.
"Josho, are you seeing what I see?"
"You mean the oversized charcoal gallstone right in front of us?"
"Yeah..." Rainbow glanced at teh smoldering crater. "That's what was just launched at us, wasn't it?"
"Pretty dayum sure." Josho looked aside at Rainbow. "Since when did dragons spit rock loogeys."
"They don't," Rainbow said. "At least none of the ones I've ever seen."
"Rainbow, what the Hell is going on around here?"
"I don't know. But, from the sound of things, the battle isn't going very well—"
"There! There she is!" Booster's voice hollered through the mists. "She's flying in low! Take her out, Drakshaa!"
Josho spun. His breath left him. "Rainbow—"
Rainbow turned. Her blood instantly ran cold.
The mists parted for a brief moment, granting the ponies a clear view of a dark shape slicing down through the mountain fog. The first noticeable thing was a series of jagged branches slicing through the air. But they weren't trees and they weren't brambles. A loud shriek pierced the air—a hauntingly familiar banshee cry—and the creature thrashed its antlers about before opening twin jaws, glowing with an aquamarine heat from deep within. A pair of tails raked left and right, adding weight to the draconian menace's heavy dive.
"Nevlamas..." Rainbow's ears folded back as her face paled. A twinge of yellow flickered across her eyes. "Celestia above, it can't be. How... h-how..."
Josho was shouting something. Rainbow couldn't hear him through the pulse pounding in her ears.
The dragon's wings brought a howl to the air. With a ferocious growl, the chaotic monster dove even lower, spitting bright green fireballs.
Josho telekinetically yanked Rainbow to the ground as the former encampment exploded around them. Bursts of fire lit the mists up with a necrotic green hue.
The creature surged overhead. It passed by far faster than Rainbow could have guessed.
"Dammit!" Josho stood back up. "Can't get a clear shot!"
"She's too fast..." Rainbow stood up, panting. "And small."
"Huh?!" Josho flashed her a sweaty look.
Rainbow was shivering. "And her breath isn't the same color as her inner shell." Rainbow nevertheless stared at the mutated dragon as it flew off on a bending course. "It... it's not her..."
"What?!" Josho cackled. "You... you mean..." He turned to gawk at the rampaging creature. "You mean to friggin' tell me that there are two mutated chaos dragons on this goddess-forsaken plane?!"
"I don't know..."
"There's another Divine with two mouths and antlers and—?!"
"I don't know, Josho. Dang it! I don't know!" Rainbow shouted. "Maybe Nevlamas hatched babies or something! I just don't friggin' know!" She began hyperventilating.
"This is bad... this is very, very bad." Josho peered over the sight of his shotgun. "If that monster that Chrysalis and the Xonans used to wreck Seclorum's camp had a dayum brood, then we're all doomed." He grunted to himself. "Rainbow, we gotta find the others." Silence, save for the distant shouts of stallions. "Rainbow?" He turned and gasped.
Rainbow had collapsed to the ground, overcome with shivers.
"Oh, for Pete's sake... Rainbow!" Josho ran to her side and shook her. "Stay with the program, Speedy! We need you! Nopony's faced Nevlamas like you have! Stay with me!"
"I... I-I can't..." Rainbow wheezed, her pupils turning blood red. She whimped and clutched her rattling pendant. "The chaos... it's... I-I can taste it..."
"I got a fix!" Booster Spice shouted. "It's now or never, Drakshaa!"
"It's... it's not going to work!" Rainbow hissed. Her eyes flickered again and again. "Tell them! She's too strong! Her brood..."
Josho spun and hollered. "Guys! Save your javelin! We gotta get out of here! This is beyond us!"
"Shut up!" Drakshaa hollered back. "We're ending this! Here and now!"
"Come on, ya idiot silver hicks!" Josho snarled. "Learn from the experts! We can't beat this thing! We gotta—"
"Fire!" Booster shouted.
"Josho—!"
"Rainbow, keep your head down!"
A black iron barb flew low overhead. The air howled. Rainbow tossed her head aside, squinting.
With her last thread of vision, she caught the javelin slicing through the air. It met the antler'd dragon head-on. But then something else happened, something foggier than the mists surrounding them. Rainbow wasn't certain, but for a brief blink it appeared as though the creature split into two—completely dodging the projectile altogether. Where the two halves went, she couldn't see, for all was turning into darkness.
Rainbow wept quietly into the dizzy beyond, and was out like a light.
"Mmmmff... grnnngh..." Rainbow Dash stirred and stirred, clutching her fuzzy muzzle with a pair of shivering hooves. "Nnngh... n-no... no... she's gone... I saw her... I-I watched her die..." She gnashed her teeth and turned over in the grass, wincing. "Axan, you took her... you took her body away... and her soul..."
"Rainbow..."
"Why d-didn't you tell me that there was more to it?" Rainbow hissed. "I helped slay her. Do I have to slay her hatchlings as well?"
"Rainbow, there's nothing left to slay." A brown hoof caressed Rainbow's cheek. "The dragon's gone."
Rainbow's eyes flashed opened. There was a red-on-yellow flash, and then they glistened normally. She tried sitting up, only to succumb to a wave of dizziness. "Unnngh—"
Roarke steadied the mare, squatting at her side. Behind her, the ponies of Amulek stumbled through the mists, collecting in a weary pile of bruised bodies beside the smoldering remains of their wrecked ballista.
"The attack is over," Roarke droned. "The dragon left as soon as we fled the camp site."
"We... we..." Rainbow gulped, her brow awash with perspiration. "We fled?"
"Wasn't much else to do, Speedy," Josho said, lumbering into view with his shotgun. He glanced off at the melancholic stallions standing between the trees. "That thing moved faster than any battleship or managlider I've ever run into. Even I couldn't get a good hit on the damn thing. As for the silver hicks, well..."
"Their pathetic javelin didn't stand a chance," Roarke said. "They tried salvaging it, but the dragon pursued us and turned it into embers."
"Was..." Rainbow gulped. "...was anypony hurt?"
"Only you, Rainbow." Eagle Eye stepped up, looking frazzled and exhausted. "And, well, maybe a few of us got banged up, but there were no major casualties." A weak smile. "We all got out safe."
Rainbow winced. "That... that doesn't make any sense..."
Eagle Eye blinked. "What, do you want one of us to die?"
"No no no... it's just..." Rainbow grimaced. "It's not like Nevlamas to—"
"Nevlamas?" Roarke throated. Her lenses instantly retracted. "As in the chaos dragon?"
"It was totally her," Rainbow said. She instantly winced. "I mean... it looked like her. But... but..."
Roarke sighed out her nostrils. "Rainbow, I think your dizzy spell is still playing games with your head."
"No, I saw her too," Josho droned. "Damned if it didn't look like Nevlamas, straight down to the twin mouths, mutant tails, and the bright fruity colors burnin' out of her scales."
"Impossible," Roarke grunted. "That creature died on the battlefield of Xona."
"Wait..." Eagle Eye squeaked, instantly shivering. "Could it be—like—related to Nevlamas? Like another Divine?"
"Highly unlikely," Roarke said.
Eagle's pupils shrank. "Or... a brood?"
"Why is everypony so insistent on suffering from their own imaginations?" Roarke snarled. "Whatever attacked us was not Nevlamas!"
"Roarke..."
"We're dealing with something dastardly and cunning—true—but it is not—"
"Roarke" Rainbow stared at her. "I know what I saw." She gulped. "But I just don't understand it. Even still, I'm pretty sure it's here for a reason... just like I am..."
Roarke bit her lip.
"Is the symbol still here?" Eagle Eye asked. "Yogibeara or whatever?"
"Yes, EE, I can still see Yaerfaerda," Rainbow said. "It was down in those mines as we approached the thick of the mist."
"I... g-guess there's no going back there now," Eagle Eye said. "Not with that dragon playing sentry."
"There has to be a connection!" Rainbow wheezed, struggling to get up. Josho held her in place. "Guh... Why would something like Nevlamas show up in the exact same place where a glowing symbol is leading me?"
"What the hell?!" Drakshaa grumbled as he trotted up. "Did I hear some bullcrap about you ponies wanting to go back there?!"
Roarke turned. "We wish to understand something that's just transpired. That dragon ironically resembles something that we've all previously—"
"Look, I don't wanna hear it!" Drakshaa slammed a hoof down. "It's over! Finished! That was our last chance and we all blew it! And you blew it too!"
"Excuse me?!" Eagle Eye squeaked, glaring.
"You heard me!" Drakshaa snarled. "That dayum drake must have smelled its brothers and sisters on you! How else could it have had the drop on us like it did?!"
"Drakshaa, Drakshaa, Drakshaa..." Booster Spice sighed as he trotted up from a distance. He raised his goggles and stared tiredly at his surly companion. "She's always had the drop on us. Having our friends here didn't change anything whatsoever—"
"Friends?! More like distractions!" Drakshaa shoved his hoof into Booster's chest. "I told you we should have gone up there by ourselves! I said it to Merigold before we even disembarked!"
"Drakshaa, please, we all know you're upset about the campsite—"
"Upset doesn't even begin to friggin' describe it, ya moron!" Drakshaa hollered. "Nice job watching over the launcher, Bullshit Spice! Thanks to you, we're defenseless now to the thing's attacks! How are we even going to defend Amulek if the thing comes diving down again?!"
"Drakshaa..." Keebroo trotted up, wincing. "You're not making this any easier..."
"None of you seem to get it!" Drakshaa yelled. "It's over! Everything we've lived for! Everything we've fought for! Everything our parents and grand parents, and great-great-great grandparents sweated over is now ruined!"
"We're all alive, Drakshaa!" Booster gestured at everypony. "Isn't that enough?!"
"Amulek's legacy will live on," Keebroo said. He gulped. "But... but Amulek itself?"
Drakshaa stared back at the stallions, his coat paling under a cold sweat.
"Face it..." Keebroo sighed out his nostrils. "We should have done what our families did months ago when this all started." He took a deep breath. "We should have left to start a new life elsewhere."
"We fought a good fight, Drakshaa," Booster said. "But this is beyond us." A sad expression. "It always was."
Drakshaa blinked at the group. Slowly, his muscles tensed, and he produced an iron frown.
"Drakshaa, please, before you blow your stovetop—"
"Grnngh!" Drakshaa shoved his way past Booster and stormed downhill through the forest.
"Drakshaa! Come onnnn! Don't return home on your own—"
"I can and I will!" the stallion hollered up through the mists. "It's my home, after all! Even if I'm the only dayum pony in these mountains that still believes it!"
Keebroo winced while Booster Spice hung his head. The rest of the stallions around them milled about in mellow silence.
Eagle Eye bit his lip, glancing nervously at the others.
Roarke sighed. "We should return to the Jury. For better or for worse, our work here is done."
Rainbow grimaced. "But... b-but..."
"For once, I'm with cyborg tits," Josho said. "Come on, Rainbow..." He hoisted the mare over his backside. "You'll wanna save your strength for the return."
For the next few hours, Rainbow draped weakly over Josho's back. Her skull still swam with dizziness, and it only got worse whenever she lifted her head. So, instead, she peered from side to side with weary eyes, glancing at the bodies in the mist.
The ponies of Amulek trudged home in somber silence. To Rainbow, they looked like ghosts, ethereal shadows of the equines they once were. Their slumping figures would have blended with the dark tree trunks if only they weren't continuing their funeral dirge downhill.
Gulping, Rainbow glanced towards the other side of Josho.
She spotted Roarke and Eagle Eye. Eagle's hooves moved quicker than the others, as if he was in a panicked rush to get home. His head was constantly lifted and he carried an anxious expression on his face.
Rainbow's eyes fell on Roarke. Not long after, the metal mare looked back. Her lenses glistened with a hint of a sunset piercing the fog above. As their expressions lingered on one another, she eventually bore the barest hint of a smile.
Rainbow tried grinning back, but she felt a cold shiver run through her body. Instead, she buried her face in Josho's shoulders, inhaling and exhaling slowly in order to fight off the weightless sensation spiraling through her petite form.
Merigold took a sad, sad breath. She lifted her wrinkly muzzle before the fire. "I know that you tried your best. And, all things considered, the expedition was doomed from the start, as have been all the ones to transpire before it."
"Please, Governess," Pilate spoke from across the town hall. "You mustn't give up hope! There must be a way to contact ponies from beyond this territory! Surely they would help you defeat this dragon!"
"The only ponies capable of helping us are the Val Roans," Merigold said. "But—for as strong and wealthy as they are—the Val Roans have an impeccable habit for looking after themselves. If it weren't for the Green Bandits, the kingdom would remain completely isolationist."
"Besides, we have nothing to offer them now in return," Booster Spice muttered from a few huddled families away. He slowly twirled his neon green goggles around in a lethargic pair of hooves. "Our silver deposits are completely unreachable. Even if the dragon was defeated tomorrow, we'd need months to get back on schedule."
"Not like we have the workforce to even tackle that with anymore," Keebroo added.
Bellesmith stood up. "But, surely if they understood the urgency of the situation, they would intervene! Don't they care enough about trading for silver?"
"They have several other townships to do that with," Keebroo said. "And, odds are, they've already struck new trade agreements with them." He gulped and said in a shuddering tone, "Drakshaa was right. It's over. Everything we've built... everything our ancestors have toiled for..."
The thick groups of ponies shuddered. A few of them wept quietly into the torchlight.
"Uhm..." Rainbow Dash winced as she sat up against Roarke. "Did Drakshaa ever make it back? The last time we saw him—"
"Fear not," Merigold said. "The stallion returned. He's off sulking in what's left of his supply house." She gazed compassionately at the Jurists gathered before her. "I know his attitude must sound absolutely caustic, but he's invested a lot more of his life into those mines than the rest of us. The same can be said of his fathers and his fathers' fathers. But, give it time. He will come around to understand the great blessing we all have today."
"Blessing?" Pilate raised an eyebrow. "After all that's happened?"
"What kind of blessing?" Bellesmith asked.
Merigold bore a bittersweet smile. "Our lives. More than anything, I've wanted the ponies of Amulek to prosper. That may no longer be possible here, but it can be possible elsewhere."
"But..." Rainbow grimaced. "To leave your homes? To leave all that's special to you...?"
Merigold tilted her head aside. "You're a traveler from a great distance." She glanced at her wings, then directly at Rainbow again. "Surely you know what it's like to live beyond your own home."
Rainbow bit her lip.
With a deep breath, Merigold said. "My children have a lot to learn. It will be a difficult future—but a wholesome one. For that, I must have faith... for surely I will not live to see it." She swallowed. "Thank you, my friends, for your compassion and integrity. We'll be sure to have your vessel completely repaired by tomorrow afternoon."
"And..." Bellesmith leaned forward. "And after that, Governess?"
"After that... we deliberate on the future of Amulek's children," Merigold solemnly said. "This 'chaos dragon' of which you speak may have consumed our mountain, but she hasn't consumed our hearts. There will be a future for us. It simply won't be here."
A cold hush fell among the group.
"This..." Rainbow hissed. "This c-can't be happening!" She teetered dizzily. "There's g-gotta be a way for these guys! We can't just—"
"Rainbow, we can," Roarke said. "And we will."
Rainbow gave her a nervous glance. "Huh?"
Bellesmith and Pilate stood up. "Let's go, everypony," the mare said in a sad tone. "There's nothing that can be done here anymore."
Rainbow gawked at them. She almost gasped in shock as Roarke lifted her up and helped her towards the town hall's exit. Worriedly, the pegasus glanced over her shoulder. The image of a chamber full of sad, weeping families burned into her retinae, making as deep a mark as the glowing symbol along the edge of her vision.
"I can't friggin' believe you guys!" Rainbow trotted in a fierce circle, having summoned enough strength to march on her own four hooves. "We're the Celestia-dang Noble Jury! We've taken on battleships, zombies, and mother-fluffing foxes!" She stomped her hooves and glared across the mess hall's lounge. "And suddenly you're all saying that there's nothing to be done anymore?!"
"Rainbow, Pilate and I weren't there for what happened on the mountain," Belle calmly said. "But Josho and EE told us all about it."
"I was this close to butting heads with whatever was plaguing the miners of Amulek, Ding-Dong!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "I can still figure out what's happening here! There's no reason for us to back out now!"
"Rainbow, these aren't the Durandanans," Belle said. "They don't know what we're dealing with. And even if we did, this... this creature is still somehow faster and more cunning than Nevlamas!"
"But—"
"And what if there is a brood here?!" Belle exclaimed. "What if there were dozens if not hundreds of brothers and sisters just like the thing you saw on the mountainside?!"
"Then that's bad news friggin' bears for every dayum pony who lives on this stinkin' continent!" Rainbow cackled. "Belle, we've tackled something like this before! I have tackled something like this before! We're the right ponies in the right place to make sure this doesn't blow up into something apocalyptic!"
"Rainbow—"
"Don't we owe it to the ponies of Alafreo and Val Roa and beyond to—"
"To do what, Rainbow?" Pilate's metal brow furrowed. "What if there is a brood? What do you intend to do with them?"
"I... it... well..." Rainbow grimaced. "I don't know. Sick Axan on them or something!"
"And when has Axan proven to be reliable in any situation whatsoever?" The zebra's ears twitched. "No matter how the situation looks, it still falls down to one pony—you versus them. And what would the plan be? To destroy the roost and every chaos dragon in it?"
Rainbow frowned. "If I have to, I will..."
"Seriously, Rainbow?" Pilate gnashed his teeth. "Do you even hear yourself? Pests or not, the dragons contain at least an ounce of sentience—"
"Pilate, maybe you couldn't see Nevlamas and the sort of crap that she did under the reins of Chrysalis, but everything about her was monsterous and horrible—"
"And so that excuses genocide?!"
"Pfft! Who said anything about—?"
"Even if it means saving the future of a tiny village full of ponies, I don't see how you could possibly pen such a thing on Harmony!" Pilate frowned. "Is that the kind of pony the Princesses would be proud of? That you'd wish Durandanans to emulate?!"
"Look, I appreciate that you want me to do the right thing!" Rainbow pointed at herself. "I want to do the right thing! But I think we're all forgetting one important factor here!" She gestured wildly. "There's that friggin' symbol waiting for me deep in the mines!"
"Nnnngh..." Bellesmith hunched over in her seat. "Rainbow, I don't want to hear it..."
"There's something going on here, guys!" Rainbow stammered. "Where there's a symbol, there's a machine world! And where there's a machine world, there's a goal for Austraeoh and—"
"I said I don't want to hear it!" Bele suddenly screamed. She stood up, shivering in anger. "No more of this Austraeoh and Yaerfaerda business!"
Rainbow's muzzle fell agape. "Belle...?"
"Rainbow, you are dying!" the mare hollered. "Look at yourself right now! You're pr-practically—" Belle's voice shrank into the back of her throat. She held a hoof over her muzzle and trembled.
Rainbow stared at her in shock.
Belle sniffled, her eyes instantly welling up in tears. She gulped and whimpered, "You're dying, Rainbow Dash. Nevlamas didn't do this to you. Ledomare and Xona didn't do this to you. All of this Austraeoh nonsense did! For so long, I've done all I could to support you with this in good faith but... but..." Her face scrunched up in sorrow. "I'm losing my best friend because of it." She sniffled and wiped her muzzle. "The best... most loyal... m-most courageous friend I've ever had, and what am I expected to do? Just let you waltz right into the jaws of horror and let yourself become even worse off than Commander Hurricane?!"
"Bellesmith..." Rainbow gazed at her. She murmured, "You're Eljunbyro. You both are." She gulped. "Can't you trust me in this?"
"I c-can do more than that, Rainbow. I have done more than that." She stared at Rainbow with tear-stained eyes. "I love you, Rainbow Dash. My beloved and I owe you so much... but not as much as you owe yourself." She gnashed her teeth. "And I can't stand idly by and watch you unravel from the inside out!"
"But, everything I've ever learned from my journey has told me I'm destined for—"
"I know you need to believe in all this 'prophecy' business. But Rainbow Dash..." Belle gazed at her intently. "Being 'Austraeoh' has been a crutch! Your crutch! Legitimate or not, it's been a definitive factor in your flight all this time. And if I were you, I'd cling to it too. Especially if I lost my home... my way of life... and all m-my friends... but..." She clutched a hoof over her muzzle and whimpered.
Pilate stood up and leaned into Belle, nuzzling her gently.
Belle fought the urge to weep, instead stammering, "You have friends here too, Rainbow Dash. And we love you. We love you so much. Too much to deny the truth any longer... and that truth is that your journey is at its end!" Belle hyperventilated slightly. She steeled herself long enough to say, "I hate to say it, Rainbow, but it is. And you don't deserve to end it all in the jaws of a million chaos dragons. Please... stay with us..."
"Belle—"
"For once in your life, Rainbow Dash, can't you live for yourself? Can't you be at peace with the ones who love you? Don't you deserve this? Don't you deserve a quiet, happy end?"
Rainbow's gaze fell. She winced at each punctuation of Belle's sobs. At last, she opened her mouth to speak—
"I, for one..." Roarke trotted into view. "...believe whole heartedly in Belle's kind-hearted words."
Rainbow did a double-take. "You do?!"
"Thank you, Roarke." Belle sniffled. "I'm glad that somepony is thinking with her head."
"I can think with my heart as well." Roarke turned towards Rainbow. "I've learned that much as of late."
Rainbow blinked. "Roarke...?"
"I'm sorry..." Belle shivered. "Rainbow Dash, forgive me. I just... I just don't want—"
"I suggest you retire for the evening," Roarke said. "I suggest we all do. Tomorrow afternoon, once repairs are done, we'll set course for calmer winds." The metal mare solemnly hung her head. "What's done is done in this town..."
"Wait..." Rainbow squeaked, wincing. "Wait just a Celestia-dang—"
"Thank you, Roarke," Pilate said, gently guiding Belle down the hall and towards their quarters. "It's been a long, tiring day. I think we all deserve to rest for the time being."
"I couldn't agree more, striped one," Roarke said.
Slowly, the couple trotted off. There was the squeaky sound of a door opening and closing, followed by the hatch rotating shut.
Roarke turned towards Rainbow, gazing at her quietly.
Rainbow stared back. She blinked, frowned, then fumed.
"Rainbow, if you may just let me—"
"Hrnnngh!" Rainbow flapped her wings and glided angrily down the hallway.
Seconds later, Rainbow entered the observation room on the lower deck. She marched up to the windows, plopped down on her haunches, and folded her forelimbs. Beyond the translucent sheen of her angry reflection, she gazed out onto the sleepy, rain-soaked rooftops of Amulek.
Not long after, the reflection of Roarke appeared, trotting through the hanging curtain behind them both. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak.
"You happy now?!" Rainbow growled.
Roarke stood in place, silent.
"Grnnnngh..." Rainbow spun and frowned at her. "Is this how I'm supposed to die?! Grounded in my room?! With my two best friends sobbing their eyes out as they turn their backs on me?!" She pointed. "After all the obstacles I've overcome to show them I'm better than all that?!"
Roarke sighed, hanging her head.
"Oh, don't try begging for pity!" Rainbow barked. "I don't care how much you've melted! You ain't there yet, girl! Of all the ponies, I'd at least expect you to have my back in this situation!" Rainbow pointed out the windows and hollered. "There's something out there with my friggin' name on it! And I'll be damned if I let death take me as a coward—"
"The Whizzball can sit three ponies," Roarke said.
Rainbow froze in place, blinking. "...buh?"
Roarke sighed again, raising her head. "I speak, of course, of the Lounge vessel that I inherited back when I was masquerading as 'Vaughan—'"
"Yeah, I get it." Rainbow squinted. "But where exactly are you going with this?"
"We are going back to the mountain," Roarke said. "And Whizzball is the best solution. The spherical vessel is fast enough, manueverable enough, and tenacious enough to keep up with the likes of the dragon we spotted alongside Drakshaa's group."
Rainbow gawked at her. "It... that..." She murmured, "You were on my side all along."
"Hrmmf..." Roarke trotted forward quietly. "Belle and Pilate are no less 'on your side' than I am. Only one difference." Her lenses pistoned outward. "They don't know what it takes to make a dying pony's wingtips curl."
Rainbow blinked. A blush fell through her features.
"There is more than one way to love a pony," Roarke said. "And more than one way to show one's trust." Her teeth clenched. "I do not enjoy the thought of you perishing any more than 'Eljunbyro' does, but I like to think that I'm properly geared to balance inevitability with fear, and I find neither of them intimidating. What's more, I know that you don't either."
Rainbow's ears folded back as a dumb smile spread over her muzzle.
"So, then..." Roarke cocked her head to the side. "Whizzball...?"
Rainbow smirked and nodded. "...Whizzball."
The hatch to the hangar bay opened. Roarke and Rainbow Dash marched hurriedly through.
"Tell me one thing, though," Rainbow Dash said.
"Elaborate." Roarke flicked a forelimb. A beacon flashed on her metal braces, and the doors to the black sphere opened by remote.
"Earlier, you made a point to say that 'Whizzball can sit three ponies.'"
"Indeed I did," Roarke remarked, climbing inside.
Rainbow stuck her head in through the other side. "But we're only two."
"Right." Roarke flipped several controls as the miniature manaship hummed to life. "And neither of us properly know how to approach the mountain."
"You kidding?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Do you forget who's got a built-in symbol-radar in her bird brain?"
"It's not that simple and you know it," Roarke droned as he gripped the controls. She gestured towards a lever on the hangar wall. "We need somepony to help us."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow trotted over and gripped the lever. "Like who?"
"Somepony with an expert, technical lay of the land."
"You don't say?" Rainbow smirked. "Roarke, call me Slowpegasus, I'm starting to believe that you and I think alike."
"Searo forbid."
"Pfft. Why not? We both squeak alike." Rainbow jerked the lever and the hangar bay doors opened.
Booster Spice sat at his lofty post atop a guard tower overlooking the rooftops of Amulek. Crickets chirped all around as tiny droplets of rain ricocheted off the structure's wooden finish.
He stifled a yawn and flipped through a book. He trained a pair of glowing goggles onto the pages as his eyes ran across the numbers and figures.
"It begs the question," the blonde stallion murmured to himself. "Can a village build an airship out of recycled lumber and squirrel leather?"
SMASH! The whole tower shook as a big black ball rammed into its side.
"Gaaaaaaiee!" Booster fell off his stool. He hopped back up, raising a club over his head. "Who?! What?! When?! Where?! Why?! To what extent?!"
Hissssssss! The night sliced open in the shape of a door, opening to a tiny brightly-lit interior where two mares huddled inside a cockpit.
"Holy algorithms..." Booster lowered his club and adjusted his goggles. "Roarkbow? Doarke?"
"Hrmmm..." Roarke's nostrils flared as she gripped the controls. "Close enough."
"Yo yo, Stephen Haykings!" Rainbow peered her colorful head out. "You doing anything at the moment?"
"Uhhhh..." Booster gulped. "Besides acting as sole guardspony to a dying town in the shadow of a dragon one week or two before everyone's inevitable exodus?"
"Pfft! Buck that noise! Hop on board!"
"And do what, exactly?"
Rainbow grinned wide, her teeth glistening in the starlight. "A midnight science experiment!"
Booster blinked. He smiled rosily. "Fascinating..."
"Yup!" Rainbow grabbed his forelimb. "Bring your brain along with your gerunds, smart guy!"
"Ackies!" he yelped as he was yanked on board.
"And hold on!" Rainbow shouted above the roar of mana engines as Roarke lifted the sphere back into the sky. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"
"Mrmmmf... yes..." Belle tiredly trotted past the stallion in the navigation and approached the hanging curtain to the observation room. "Me."
"What do you mean?" He trotted after her, looking concerned.
"Last night, I..." She sighed. "I sort of blew up at Rainbow Dash."
"Blew up at her?"
"I've been so upset over her health as of late." She gulped. "I-I let it get the better of me."
"Belle..." Eagle Eye smiled. "We're all concerned about Rainbow Dash. She would understand that—"
"It's still no excuse to take it out on her," Belle said with a shudder. "Just because I want what's best for her doesn't mean I do." She clenched her teeth. "She needs us to support her in whatever she's doing more than we need her to make us feel better. It's tough to do when you know deep down inside that you'll always be ten times weaker than the likes of her, even when she's at her worst."
"You gotta admit," Eagle said. "Rainbow Dash is her own worst enemy. Whether it's Amulek or Val Roa, Rainbow Dash is the kind of mare to gladly destroy herself over what she considers right."
"I know, but..." Belle fought tears. "Who are we to stop that?" She gulped. "Even if that's what we want to do?"
Eagle Eye fumbled for words.
Belle sighed. "I-I don't know what to do anymore, Eagle Eye. Except for one thing... apologize." She pivoted towards the observation room. "Ahem..." She raised a hoof and knocked against the doorframe. "Erm... Rainbow?" She gulped. "Rainbow Dash? It's me... Bellesmith. I hope I'm not waking you. I... I-I just wanted to tell you how terribly sorry I am for last night. Pilate and I had a long talk about it. Neither of us may be very fond of the way in which you've been overexerting yourself as of late, but that's no excuse for us to snap at you like the way we did. You were right, Rainbow. We're Eljunbyro. We should have the utmost faith in you at all times. And we do, Rainbow Dash! It's just... it's just so hard when we know that you've got so little left to give and... and..." She fought back the urge to cry. "We love you so very much, Rainbow. We wish things could be better for you at this point in your journey, Austraeoh or not. Would you have it in your heart to forgive me? To forgive us?"
Silence.
Eagle Eye fidgeted awkwardly.
Belle blinked. "Erm... Rainbow?"
More silence.
Belle glanced back at Eagle Eye.
Eagle Eye shrugged.
Pensively, Belle pulled the curtain aside. "Rainbow Dash—?"
Her body froze in place.
In the golden glow of morning, every square inch of the observation room was exposed, and there was not a single hint of blue fuzz to be seen.
"Uhhhhhhhhh..." Eagle Eye stammered.
"She's not here!" Belle stood with her muzzle agape. "But where... h-how...?"
"Whizzball," said Props.
Both ponies jumped—startled—and gawked at her.
"Huh?!" Belle blinked.
Props took another bite of an apple, gulped it down, and said, "Sometime last night. She and Roarke. Together." She smiled. "Ebony's serving breakfast upstairs! Wanna chow down?"
"Props..." Eagle Eye squinted. "How do you know this?"
The mare shrugged. "Sometimes I sleepwalk." She leaned in and whispered, "Did you know that Zaid snores like a sawmill?"
Eagle and Belle simply stared at her.
"Well, I didn't either!" Props leaned back. "The night is a strange and wild place. Woooooooooooo!" A beat. She grinned wide. "Anyhow, Apples! Mrmmmmfff... upstairs!" She trotted off.
Eagle Eye bit his lip. He slowly turned and squinted at Belle.
Belle clenched her teeth. Her body began shaking furiously as her face turned red. "Why... th-that... fuzzheaded suicidal motherb—"
SWOOOOSH! The Lounge sphere rocketed loudly over the forested mountainscape. Fir trees hung in the white mists below while the morning sun pierced the upper altitudes with scattered bands of golden glory.
The vessel dipped low, skimming the forest canopy at a brisk speed. Every now and then, its amber manalight would flicker, and the sphere would dart off in a completely random trajectory, scanning the local topography as an early morning bloomed over the eerie fog.
Inside the transport, Booster Spice sat behind the main seat—wide eyed—glancing every which way as the vessel continued its low flight.
"I just can't get over this feeling of exhilaration!" the blonde stallion exclaimed. A dumb smile crept across his face. "I've drawn hundreds of maps of this region over the years, but if I only had the gift of flight before!"
"We've been over this a dozen times already," Roarke droned, her hooves at the controls. "You're certain that you do know our way around these mountains?"
"Hmmm? Oh, totally!" Booster nodded, his goggles rattling. "Those towards the west are the lower foothills. That peak in the east is Silver Point, the highest spot in this area. Drakshaa's mine camp is directly to the south—whichhhh we are flying over right now."
"For the twentieth time," Roarke groaned.
"Well, no offense, but you've not been entirely clear on just what it is you wish for us to accomplish out here," Booster remarked.
"We're attempting to bait the dragon."
"Right. And I've told you fine ladies..." Booster chuckled to himself. "She only attacks when she wishes to. It's never been something that we could rightly predict."
"Well, you've never had air support before."
"I've never suspected that such a thing would matter." Booster pointed out the cockpit window as they passed over the foggy mountain again. "The only thing that's ever truly prompted her arrival is when we've set out on hoof to the campsite. Y'know... like what happened yesterday!"
"Because the dragon is presumably possessive over the silver mines..."
"Exactly. So... uhm..." He gulped. "If—perchance—we were to touch down and approach the mine entrance naturally..."
"We're not here to recreate yesterday's events," Roarke said. "Nor are we here to repeat any of the incidents that have plagued you and the ponies of Amulek before."
"Then, if I may be so bold, what are we attempting to do?"
Roarke turned and glanced over her shoulder. "Rainbow Dash?"
"It's hard to tell when I'm this insanely bored," Rainbow said, blinking blearily from where she sat behind the cockpit seat. "Please tell me we're not still flying in stupid circles."
"Are you kidding?!" Booster cackled. "Who in the hay could be bored of this?!" He gestured wildly at the cockpit. "This is actual flying!"
"It's a lot more exciting when I'm the one doing the flying," Rainbow said.
Roarke muttered, "You're welcome to open the cockpit door and try it yourself, then."
"Hey!" Rainbow frowned. "If we're doing this, we're doing this together!" She leaned over the seat. "Lemme guess, no sign of the friggin' dragon?"
"Negative."
"Doesn't this thing have missiles or lasers or whatcrap?" Rainbow started flipping instruments at random. "How about—like—we blow up a part of the mountain and wake the darn thing up?"
"We will not be blowing anything up." Roarke slapped Rainbow's hoof away. Whap!
"Eeep!" Rainbow slumped back, rubbing her forelimb with a gawking expression. "Who are you and what have you done with Roarke Most Radical?!"
"I'm serious," Roarke grunted. "I only have a limited supply of weapons on board this craft. Believe you me, I greatly desire to use them, but only when it will be most fortuitous to us."
"When you say missiles, do you mean explosive devices propelled by tightly contained liquid fuel?" Booster Spice asked.
"Indeed," Roarke droned.
"And..." He leaned forward. "By lasers, do you mean—"
"Celestia-damn lasers," Rainbow said.
"So fascinating..." Booster grinned drunkenly. "To think that such technology exists in the far corners of the world!"
"Why do you act so surprised?" Rainbow glanced at him. "Don't the Val Roans have missiles and flying death machines themselves?"
"Actually, Val Roa isn't all that fond of explosions."
"... ... ..." Rainbow leaned back with a prolonged sigh. "Whelp, for once I'm glad I won't be living long on this continent."
"Rainbow..." Roarke moaned.
"I don't understand..." Booster's eyes thinned beneath his green goggles. "Why so fatalistic—?"
"Grnnngh!" Rainbow pulled at her mane. "There's gotta be a way to pull the creature out!"
"Or creatures," Roarke corrected.
"Ungh... don't even go there, Roarke," Rainbow grunted. "I'm already reeling at the thought of just one Diet Nevlamas, much less a whole friggin' nest of them."
"Nevlamas...?" Booster Spice blinked.
"We can't rule out the possiblity, Rainbow," Roarke said. "That's precisely why we need to preserve this vessel's weapons. If we discover a lair or a hoarde, then we can use the incendiary devices to destroy it from the inside out, much like you did in Silvadel."
"Silvadel...?" Booster Spice blinked again.
"Okay, first thing's first, Roarke, we gotta stop treating this as if history's repeating itself!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "This isn't Silvadel anymore than it's the Xonan Front."
"Xonan... Front...?" Booster was grimacing at this point.
"Don't mind us, dude," Rainbow muttered. "Just sit back and keep being our pocket egghead."
"Nnnngh..." The stallion rubbed his aching head. "Why do I get the unsettling sensation I've inadvertently jumped into the penultimate scene of a sprawling epic?"
"It depends," Rainbow droned. "What's your experience in fixing railroads?"
"Uhhhhhhhh—"
"Let's keep ourselves focused," Roarke insisted. She pointed out the cockpit window with a metal-laced hoof. "This fog... this ever pervasive mist..."
"What about it?" Booster Spice asked.
Roarke glanced back at him with whirring lenses. "Have you ever bothered studying it?"
"Oh, most definitely!" Booster nodded. "It's unlike any fog that's appeared around the mountains in years previous! At first, I figured it was a sign of some sort of prolonged climate change. It started several months ago—but, oddly enough—stuck to the higher altitudes."
"Is that odd?"
"Well, considering the common ebb and flow of condensation and evaporation, one would suspect that the same effects would transpire in the valley where Amulek is located. After all, the temperature in this part of the world is relatively uniform. The same can be said of the humidity. But, for whatever reason, the fog is at its thickest at the higher elevations, and at all times of the day."
"So, in other words, it's unnatural."
"Oh. Very."
"And this hasn't ever alarmed you before?"
"Well..." Booster fidgeted where he sat. "It's hard to be alarmed by uncanny fog when there's a definitively more uncanny and violentdragon attacking you on a weekly basis."
"Do I have to say it out loud?" Rainbow Dash muttered.
"Say what out loud?"
Rainbow sighed. "I've seen this sort of crud before..."
"Really?" Booster glanced at her. "Where?"
Rainbow bit her lip. She leaned in and spoke with her muzzle closer to Roarke. "In Windthrow. A village I visited a very... very long time ago."
"And how exactly is this related to Amulek...?"
Rainbow said, "It had the same sort of unnatural fog."
"Truly?" Booster blinked. "Do you know what caused it?"
"Yeah," Rainbow sighed. "Chaos strips."
"Chaos... strips...?"
"There's a type of metal—a very rare kind of metal—that exhibits pure chaos energy," Rainbow explained. "Chaos, of course, is as old as time. It's the indomitable... uhm... fart gas that curses the cosmos through which this plane drifts."
"Okaaaaay..." Booster slowly nodded. "Not exactly a very scientific explanation, but somewhat plausible." He gulped. "I'm guessing that you refer to some sort of magically malevolent substance that has both a solid and a gaseous form."
"Erm..."
"And wherever there is a gas—as made visually evident in the form of a prevailing fog—it constitutes the presence of the solid form in close proximity."
Rainbow stared at him, blinking. "Uh... yeah. Sure." She scratched her head and smirked at Roarke. "Sheesh, Roarke. Where was this dude when I was in Darkstine?"
"I think I understand where you both are going with this," Roarke said while flying the ship over the mountain again. "But if you recall, Rainbow Dash, Nevlamas was polluted with these chaos strips."
"Right..."
"The Xonans, under Chrysalis' influence, harvested chaotic abominations by infusing the Dark Divine with the strips."
"Right right."
"So, could it be possible that—if Nevlamas had a brood—they would be born with this chaotic essence built inside of them?"
"Brbrbrbrrrr..." Rainbow Dash shivered. "I don't wanna think about it."
"Well, you're going to have to," Roarke said. "We all have to, especially if this mist could somehow be leading us to them."
"I know that." Rainbow turned towards Booster. "Hey. Goldilocks."
"Dark... Stine...?"
"Yoohoo! Austraeoh to Booster!"
"Huh?" He snapped out of it and glanced at her. "I-I'm sorry. You were saying?"
"Is there—like—a part of the mountain where this steam collects the most."
"What I mean, Miss Dash, is that none of us have been able to scale completely around the mountain to find out for sure. Especially in these last few months when the dragon has plagued us senseless." He suddenly blinked, then tilted his head up while scratching his chin. "However..."
"Hmmm? Is that a good 'however' or a bad 'however?'"
"There was one expedition... a group of Val Roans who traveled to Amulek from the north." Booster gulped. "This was right when the situation first turned sour and Drakshaa's workers were driven out of the mines."
"Yeah... and...?"
"Well, needless to say, these poor merchants were frightened out of their wits. However, they did claim to have seen a great deal of smoke rolling out of the mountain peak from its north end."
"Smoke?"
"Well, we now realize that it's this fog. But, at the time—when it was all starting—they swore that Silver Point looked like a veritable volcano! I've always wondered what it looks like there today."
"There? Booster, where is there?"
"Uhm... the northwest end, about two hundred and fifty feet down from the actual summit. My great-great grandfather was the first to survey it. Much of the mountainface there is pure stone at that point, and the earth is too hard to bother drilling for silver pockets."
"Hmmm..." Rainbow Dash turned towards Roarke. "What do you think, Roarkey?"
"Please don't call me that."
"C'monnnnn..." Rainbow Dash grinned. "We gotta come up with a nick-name for you at some point."
"Just because we've bonded doesn't make me your pet."
"Coulda fooled me with the way your prosthetic tail was wagging the other night."
"Hrmmmph..." Roarke suddenly accelerated the ship, coasting over the fog and towards the northern edge of the mountain. "Let's just go and check out this 'Silver Point' already."
"Pffft. Fine." Rainbow Dash leaned back, forelimbs folded in a pout. "...Doarke most Dorkly..."
"So, I'm confused..." Booster scratched his blonde head and pointed. "You two are or aren't sisters...?"
"Euhhghhhh... Roarke, please tell me there's a vomit bag somewhere in here."
With a loud bass hum, the black sphere soared through the fog, barely parting the mists as it dropped sharply along the mountain's edge. Finally, it slowed, a quartet of bright floodlamps flickering to life along the unmarked bow.
The round vessel twirled around, descending like a black bathosphere through the murky air. In front of it, a layered spotlight illuminated craggy rock as it rolled upwards like a granite curtain.
Inside the sphere, all three ponies leaned forward. Roarke's lenses pistoned out while Rainbow squinted and Booster blinked through his green goggles.
Outside the cockpit, the mountainside loomed incredibly close. The floodlamps illuminated every feature beyond the trailing mists. At last, something dark appeared through the perpetual miasma. It consumed the floodlights in impenetrable darkness.
"Whoah whoah whoah...!" Rainbow gripped Roarke's shoulder. "Hold her steady!"
Roarke yanked a lever. The ship jolted, then hovered dead in place.
The ponies were staring down a deep, round hole in the side of the mountain.
"That..." Booster grimaced. "...was not there before."
"You're certain of that?" Roarke droned.
"If a giant pit of grisly death appeared in the side of your home's signature mountain, wouldn't you notice?"
"Lemme guess..." Rainbow stared wide-eyed down the cave from where they hovered. "...you couldn't see it all this time because of the fog."
"Whenever we lifted our heads to the sky, it was to combat the dragon."
"It would have taken a lot of might and energy to have made this," Roarke muttered. "One would imagine the undertaking would be unbelievably loud."
"I swear, the ponies of Amulek have heard nothing!" Booster exclaimed. "Even the dragon's attacks are swift and silent! You know this for yourselves!"
"You're right," Rainbow nodded with a gulp. "We do."
"I don't see any noticeable claw marks," Roarke said. "If Nevlamas created this hole, it must have been through sheer heat... or perhaps chaos magic."
"But—think about it! How would that be possible?" Rainbow frowned. "Chrysalis kept Nevlamas cooped up in that floating Sacred Hold for so long!"
"Meaning...?"
"When would she have found the time to get out from under all that chaos experimentation and lay her eggs here?!"
"That depends..."
"You don't need to tell me twice, girl!" Rainbow turned towards the stallion. "Hey, Booster Gold."
"Booster Spice."
"Whatever. Just about how long ago did all this crap start?"
"You mean the fog?"
"Yeah. That crap."
He gulped and said, "About five months ago. Maybe six."
"Well, there you have it." Roarke said. "That would give Nevlamas plenty of time."
"Something just doesn't add up, though..." Rainbow leaned forward. "Let's get a little closer..."
"Uhhh..." Booster gulped. "You mean you wish to enter the looming death hole in the side of our mountain?"
"Don't be stupid. I just want a clearer look at the tunnel entrance."
"Don't we all..." Roarke gently tilted the controls forward. The ship drifted and drifted. The mountain now loomed just a few feet away.
Rainbow squinted hard, holding her breath.
"What is it that you're looking for?" Booster asked.
"Look..." Rainbow pointed at the outer lid of the hole. "...see how smoothe it all is? There's no scorch marks. Not even any claw scrapes or signs of carving."
"Acid burns," Rainbow murmured. "Since when did Nevlamas ever spit acid on anything?"
Roarke's jaw tightened. "Need I remind of you of the horrific deaths I witnessed while sneaking around the Sacred Hold?"
"Yeah, but it's not like the Divine was leaking chaotic doom juices wherever she went!"
"She was a corrupted dying chaos dragon, Rainbow. Who knows what she could have been leaking."
"Even still, would it have been enough to systematically burn a hole into a mountain this—"
FWOOOSH! Two menacing jaws lunged out of the hole, followed by a pair if crystalline antlers.
"Whoah damn!" Roarke hollered, yanking at the controls.
"It's over!" Booster yelped, pouncing on Rainbow Dash as he whimpered in terror. "We're dragon food!"
"Augh! Darn it! Get off! I can't see us get raked to death!"
CLANK! The scales of the leaping creature collided with the sphere, sending it spiraling off into the mists.
"Aaaaaugh!" Booster yelped as the three ponies rolled and toppled inside the cockpit.
Roarke somehow maintained her grip on the controls. "Everypony! Hold onto something!"
A loud beeping sound filled the flickering compartment. Steam and manalight vented from various consoles as the ship took a massive dive. Outside, the razor-sharp tips of countless fir trees suddenly flew into view.
Rainbow untangled from Booster long enough to spot their plummeting doom. Her pupils shrank. "Oboy..."
"'Oboy?!'" Booster Spice sputtered. "Shouldn't that be 'hoboy?'"
"Quiet, you!" Rainbow wheezed. She threw a look across the lopsided cockpit. "Roarke—?!"
"Gravity-defying as we speak—!" Gnashing her teeth, the metal mare banged a console and yanked hard at the controls. "Nrnnnnnghhh!"
Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Swisssh! Hundreds of treetops swiped at the curvaceous underbelly of the miniature Lounge sphere. Despite Roarke's best efforts, the vessel was still plunging one inch at a time into the forest canopy.
"It's still out there!" Booster Spice shouted, staring through his goggles out the cockpit window. A distant draconian shriek confirmed his exclamation. "If we crash here, we're sitting ducks!"
"Still working on the albatross part!" Roarke snarled.
"Maybe if I got out and pushed!" Rainbow yelped.
"Dammit, you! Don't be you right now!"
The cockpit echoed from dozens of tree branches ricocheting off the glossy black hull.
"I c-can't... g-get it to lift up!" Roarke sputtered.
Booster Spice shouted, "Have you considered checking to see if there's a buildup of redundant manafire in the lateral auxiliary assembly?!"
Roarke shot him a wild look. "What?!"
"If you vent it, it should give us enough thrust to ascend!"
"Where would I find the lever to do that?!"
"Presumably on your lower right!" Booster pointed. "Over there, by your flank! Jeepers, lady! Don't you know your own manaship?!"
"She hijacked it from a bunch of talking lizards!" Rainbow barked. "Roarke—?!"
"Got it!" The metal mare's hoof hooked around a tight lever. "Hold on!" Chtungg! The entire vehicle shook with a deep bass hum, followed by the explosive release of mana gases. A half-second later, the sphere jerked violently upwards in a twirling fashion.
"Aaaack!" Booster flailed.
"Not again—OOMF!" Rainbow caught the brunt of his weight as the ship lifted violently up.
The Lounge sphere shot up, spitting amber gases everywhere like a spinning firework. At last, it ascended until it was out of reach of the treeline. Roarke brought the vessel around—glinting through the fog with reflected sunlight.
In the distance, the mutant dragon swooped low, lining up with the ship. Its antlers flickered brightly, and soon it was launching a pair of burning green fireballs their way.
"Incoming!" Booster Spice yelped. "Gaaie!" He fell over.
Rainbow sat up with a grunt, having tossed the stallion off her. "Cram your ins inside your comings, already!" She leaned over Roarke's seat. "Think you can dodge them?"
"I didn't come out here with you to sing ballads."
"That much is certain." Rainbow gripped the chair behind her. "Do your best and worst, Roarke!"
"Doing..." Roarke jerked the controls to the side.
The sphere rolled through the air, dodging the burning projectiles at the last second.
Behind the vessel, a cluster of trees caved under the weight of the crashing fireballs. A plume of emerald flame erupted in the middle of the forest, sending branches and frightened birds flying everywhere.
Just as quickly as it had dodged sideways, the black sphere evened out, sputtering in random places with loose manafire.
"Good job," Rainbow Dash said, patting Roarke's shoulder. "You get a cookie."
Roarke's brow furrowed. "I don't do cookies."
"Mmmfnngh..." Booster fumbled in an attempt to stand upright. "Are we burnt to a crisp yet?"
"Postively smoldering." Rainbow leaned forward and looked straight down through the cockpit window. She caught an edge of the creeping green flame as it burned to a quiet simmer across the forest floor. "I swear to Luna, that is the strangest dragon's breath I've ever seen."
"This isn't an opportune moment to catalogue draconian flame, Rainbow..."
"I know that, Croarke!" Rainbow frowned. "But it just doesn't make sense! Nevlamas didn't have that! Why would she pass it on to her brood?"
"When the thing gets closer," Booster wheezed, "You can ask her yourself!"
"I don't intend to." Rainbow turned to the metal mare. "Roarke, are we good enough to fly right?"
"Rainbow..."
"Let's get a head start! No need to become dragon treats while we're still young—"
"Rainbow, look!" Roarke pointed.
Rainbow did so. Her ruby eyes twitched.
The chaos dragon was flying in the opposite direction. It's body became tinier and tinier across the northern horizon.
"She's... fl-flying away?!" Booster stammered.
"It would appear so," Roarke droned.
"Why isn't she finishing us off?" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. "We're like fish in a barrel out here!"
Roarke fidgeted. "Would you at least give me some credit?"
"Roarke! Quick!" Rainbow slapped her shoulder. "Go after it!"
Roarke's lenses retracted as she looked up at her. "...go after it."
"You heard me! Hurry! While she's still in our sights!"
"Hrmmm..." Roarke began accelerating the ship in a humming glide. "She's going to end up a lot closer... and uglier."
"Are you nuts?!" Booster wheezed, his goggles lopsided. "We've never chased after the dragon before!"
"You've also never been in an airship over these mountains before!" Rainbow Dash said, her eyes firmly locked on the fleeing drake. "Booster, for some miraculously stupid reason, none of the ponies of Amulek have died from this freak. Now, I've been around enough dragons to know that they usually don't spare pony flesh like that. I want to find out why, and this is our opportunity!"
"Yeah, well..." Booster gulped and produced a feeble smile. "Could it just be your opportunity?"
"Shush!" Rainbow shook Roarke's shoulders. "Come on, punch it, girl!"
"Consider it punched.' Roarke threw a lever forward.
Rainbow and Booster were flung back to the rear of the ship as it sped forward.
Schoooooooom! The world spun dizzily around the Lounge sphere as it bulleted after the aquamarine monster. The dragon's twin tails thrashed, and it took a sharp left. The sphere jerked after it, effortlessly manuevering on a mid-air dime.
With a loud shriek, the dragon jerked right. When the sphere matched its movements, it dove low and entered a tight ravine lined with craggy rocks and jutting fir trees. The earthen trench bent towards the east, and the dragon swerved along with the sharp turn, its wing-tips scraping along the edges of the shallow canyon.
Roarke's lenses pistoned out as she struggled to see past the dirt, dust, and debris pelting the sphere's windshield from the dragon's flight up ahead. The vessel shook from the sheer friction of threading through the tight ravine.
"It c-can certainly m-move fast!" Booster sputtered as his body shook.
Rainbow hovered in the middle of the cockpit to breathe and speak evenly. "But it's still not trying to crush us like tinfoil!"
"We're certainly giving it every reason to," Roarke droned.
"Not yet, we haven't!" Rainbow pointed. "Fire a missile!"
"I... doubt it will kill her, Rainbow."
"No, not at the dragon! Just—next to her! Scare her!"
"Scare her?!" Booster gasped.
"Just trust me!" Rainbow barked. "Roarke—?"
"Firing..." Roarke yanked a lever overhead.
Ka-POW! A rocket sailed out from the sphere and exploded into a piece of the canyon wall ahead of the dragon.
The creature let loose one shriek. With one heavy wing-flap, it lifted straight up and out of the ravine.
The air thundered from the Lounge projectile's impact. Without wasting a second, the black sphere raised up and chased the dragon into the clouds.
"So, tell me..." Rainbow clenched her teeth. "What kind of a dragon—much less one raised by Nevlamas—runs from both a manaship and a rocket?"
"Perhaps she's just trying to distract us!" Roarke grunted while desperately jerking the controls to maintain pursuit. "We did find its layer, after all."
Rainbow took a deep breath. Her ears folded back as she spoke in a contemplative tone: "I think it's trying to distact us, alright. But it's more than just the layer."
"Rainbow...?"
"Here..." Rainbow turned, grabbed Booster, and forced him down into a seat. "Stay put." She strapped a canvas belt around him. "You're going to need this. You too, Roarke!"
"Huh?!" Booster gasped. "You mean we had seatbelts this entire time?!"
"Rainbow, what are you doing?!"
"What do you expect?!" Rainbow trotted across the tight compartment and gripped the handle to one of the lateral doors. "You know me well enough by now!"
Roarke gasped over her shoulder. "No! Don't—"
FWOOOOSH! The compartment thundered with billowing air as Rainbow opened the door to the cloudy atmosphere outside. Once the pressure had equalized, she shouted, "Face it! This is something I have to deal with, face to face! You've got a nice ship, Roarke! But it's still not the fastest thing in the universe!"
"Rainbow, maybe it's afraid of a ship! But a defenseless pony—?!"
"Neither you or I can pretend I'm 'defenseless,' Roarke! Try being cute when things are calm and quiet for once!"
"But I just can't let you—"
"Yes you can! And you will!" Rainbow slapped the hull as she stepped out. "What's more, you're going to get me into position to leap on the antler'd jerkenstein! You can bite my head off about it later!"
"Rainbow..." Roarke snarled. "At this point, there won't be a 'later!'"
"Your faith is appreciated as always! Now hoist!" Rainbow was outside at this point, slamming the door shut as her hooves clamored over the sphere's exterior.
As the compartment quieted down, Booster panted and panted and ultimately said, "How in the hay do you put up with that mare?! She's crazy!"
Roarke sighed so hard the windshield fogged in the middle. "She also happens to be the only mare I've ever truly loved."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Booster nodded. A gulp. "So you are sisters, then?"
"Searo damn it..." Roarke yanked up hard on the controls.
"Gaaaaaah!" Booster clung to his seat.
"Hoisting now, Rainbow!" Roarke hollered into the hull.
Rainbow Dash carefully, carefully perched atop the miniature Lounge sphere. Her muzzle's skin rippled and her mane billowed crazily in the heavy winds. She inched her way up into a full standing position, her tearing eyes locked onto the thrashing pendulums that were the dragon's tails straight ahead.
Meanwhile, Roarke accelerated the vehicle as gracefully as she could, approaching the dragon five meters per second.
Rainbow held her breath. When she felt that she was close enough, she uncoiled her wings, spreading them to either side of her in a snap. The air instantly whistled, and vaporous trails streaked immediately behind the pegasus' feather tips.
There was a glint of bright light. The eastern sunrise momentarily pierced the fog, breaking shadows in the shapes of the mutated dragon's antlers.
"Rnnnnnghhhh..." Rainbow Dash tightened and untightened her legs. "Hrnngh!" She leapt forward, propelling off the roof of the hurling sphere.
The dragon's twin tails thrashed together, criss-crossing.
Rainbow twirled, threaded through them, and came to a tumbling stop across the dragon's back.
The beast let loose a shriek and instantly dove.
"Mmrmffnng—Haaugh!" Rainbow slid across the scales, reached a hoof out, and grabbed an antler. She held on for dear life, watching as the forested world suddenly twirled overhead. The dragon was flipping, and she was along for the ride. Panting, she gripped tighter to the antler and began working her way down to the creature's scalp.
Then something unexpected happened. The branch of the antler Rainbow Dash was holding onto... disappeared. It didn't break or snap off or shatter into crystalline bits. It simply vanished. The sensation was so startling that Rainbow Dash didn't realize she was being flung into empty skies until she saw the leathery wingspokes of the beast sailing past her. With one deep breath, she flapped her feathers and propelled herself forward.
"Httt!" She grabbed the wingtip of the dragon with two forelimbs, clinging tightly. One forelimb at a time, Rainbow climbed her way back onto the dragon's backside. By now, the creature was spinning, twirling, doing everything it could to toss Rainbow off—just short of actually attacking her. "What's the matter?!" Rainbow hissed, sticking to the dragon's spine in a full-on body hug. "Lost your teeth?! Huh?! Strange... being killed by Axan only made me tougher! So what's your excuse?!" With a gnashing teeth, she raised two hooves and brought them violently down. "Maybe if I beat you hard enough, I'll find it! Hrrnnngh!"
WHACK! Rainbow's blow struck pure scales. She knew it. This is why she was shocked when it didn't feel or sound like slapping dragon scales. The body beneath her rattled like a giant jar full of pebbles. What's more, there was a flash of light—green like the flames coming out of the beast's maw.
"Huh?!" Caught off guard, she wasn't ready for when the dragon's body undulated, its spine bending at an impossible angle to throw her off. "Yaaaaugh!"
Rainbow went sailing upward. She smashed through three clouds and landed against the foggy belly of a fourth one high in the air. Hovering there, she glanced down through flickering eyes. Once the yellow and red had returned to white and ruby, her vision came into focus. She saw the dragon flying low to the ground. Its wing-flaps were labored and its momentum had been severely slowed. If Rainbow Dash didn't know better, she'd say that the monster was getting tired.
At last, Rainbow gritted her teeth. A slow snarl built up in the center of her chest, eventually rolling out her throat like a panther's growl. "You are not Nevlamas..." She dove violently down, spitting into the wind. "Do you hear me?!"
There was nowhere for the dragon to go, only it didn't know it. But Rainbow did. The pegasus hurled down towards the weakly fluttering beast like a bright blue meteorite.
"You are not Nevlamas!" At the last second, Rainbow Dash spun her body around until it was plummeting with a murderous dive-kick. "Hraaaaaaaaugh!"
Milliseconds later, Rainbow Dash slammed into the dragon's spine... and tore straight through. In a brilliant flash of emerald light, the chaos creature exploded into three dozen pieces.
A wave of manaflame erupted in every direction, singeing the tree tops of the alpine forest.
Inside the Lounge's sphere, Booster Spice gasped, covering his goggles with a pair of forelimbs.
Roarke gnashed her teeth as she decelerated the vessel and spun it towards its side.
The wave of flame hit, shaking the entire ship towards its core.
Both ponies jolted and grunted, weathering the thunderous turbulence.
At that precise moment, inside the Noble Jury's mess hall...
Eagle Eye was dipping his spoon into a bowl of fruit salad. He was inches away from scarfing down a cluster of apple slices when he heard a loud shriek from the kitchen, followed by clattering dishes. His eyes widened.
Across the table, Josho looked up, his chins wobbling.
Both stallions kicked out of their chairs and galloped into the kitchen.
"Ebon...?!" Eagle Eye panted. "Ebony?!"
As he and Josho entered, they found the stallion collapsed on the floor, surrounded by rattling pots and pans. He held his skull with both hooves, his clenched eyes tearing.
"Rnnnnghhh! Mother!" Ebon Mane whimpered. "Mother... it hurts! Mmmmgnngh! Make it stop!"
"What in Ledo's blood-stained saddle is going on?!" Josho barked.
"I..." Eagle hyperventilated, sweating. "I-I..."
"Come on, sunshine!" Josho levitated the convulsing cook and hoisted him over his backside. "Help me get him to the infirmary!"
Eagle fought back a sob, nodded, and lent a hoof.
Swoooosh! The Lounge's sphere flew crookedly towards the earth. After a weak serpentine descent, it found its way towards a clearing in the middle of the forest. Thump-Scraaaaape! It crashed lightly and slid to an awkward stop. Manaflame hissed out of the once-glossy surface, now covered in scrapes and smeared tree sap.
At last, the doors opened. Roarke jumped out. Booster fell out. The mare helped the stallion up to his hooves, and both gawked at the center of the clearing ahead of them.
The grass was burning in random places, forming a perfect circle of smoldering emerald embers. In the center of the soft crater sat Rainbow Dash, shivering and covered all over in green smoke. She struggled to get up, wheezing and sputtering for breath.
"Rainbow...?!" Roarke gulped. "What happened? Are you alright?"
Rainbow said nothing. She looked up, blinking wearily. A ruby light pulsed from her pendant, and she steadied it with a shaking hoof. At last, her vision returned to normal, and she became aware of several dark bodies lying limply in the grass all around her. A sharp gasp escaped her lips.
Frantically, she crawled across the charred grass and lifted one of the limp bodies, cradling it in her hooves. Her eyes narrowed, studying every square inch of the changeling's onyx carapace. The creature was breathing—albeit lightly. Its gossamer wingtips twitched as its eyelids fluttered above its fanged muzzle.
"What in heaven's name...?" Booster Spice stammered, gawking at the bruised and stirring bodies around him. "How fascinating... are they insects or are they ponies?"
"They'll be you if you give them long enough," Roarke sneered. She trotted briskly forward. "Rainbow Dash! We have to—"
"Roarke, stay back!" Rainbow hissed behind her shoulder. "There's easily over thirty of 'em here! They could overtake us in a heartbeat!"
"Then why in Searo's name are you cradling one of them?!"
Rainbow bit her lip. "I-I need answers, Roarke! And something tells me that I'm the only one who can—"
"Mmmmfnnghhh..." The changeling in Rainbow's grip stirred.
Rainbow gasped, looking down at the metamorph. "Hey... Hey!" She shook the creature lightly. "Come on! Smell the salts! Talk to me!" She narrowed her eyes. "Where do you get off, impersonating Nevlamas, huh?!"
"Nnnngh... the b-beast... we've lost cohesion..." The changeling curled its forelimbs before its chest. "Gghhh... mother, n-no..." it squeaked.
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Your mother isn't here. Chrysalis isn't here!" She blinked. "...is she?"
"Hrmmgnnnh..." At last, the changeling's eyes fluttered open. Upon seeing Rainbow, a flicker of bright green emanated from beneath the thing's carapace. It gasped like a startled foal, its fanged maw hanging agape. "It's you..." The green in its eyes shrank to glossy pupils as freckles briefly adorned a fuzzy orange face. "It's really you!"
Rainbow grimaced. She glanced over her shoulder. Every changeling flickered orange for a second, then turned back to their glossy blackness. Somehow, it was enough to stir them from unconsciousness. One by one, they stood up on aching limbs.
Booster stood close to Roarke, shivering as the bodies rose around them. Roarke clenched her teeth while the metal braces around her legs whirred defensively.
"How... h-how did you find us...?" the changeling wheezed.
"I... uh..." Rainbow glanced towards the tallest mountain. Deep in its belly, the same symbol flickered as always. "...let's just say I followed my nose."
"You... sh-shouldn't be here..." the changeling sputtered and coughed. Its body grew limper and weaker in Rainbow's grip. "Nopony... sh-should be here..."
"Hey... hey!" Rainbow barked, shaking the pony. "Stay with me! I need to know what's going on! Why are you changelings here?! Is this some sort of nest or something?! Why were you impersonating Nevlamas?!"
"The beast..." The changeling whimpered. "...the beast was all we knew. It was M-Mother's weapon. It... could spread fear..."
"Spread fear?! Why spread fear?!"
The changeling's eyelids fell as it drifted off.
"Come onnnnn... come on!" Rainbow fumed and fumed. She took a deep breath, lowering her eyes as she calmed herself. Then, leaning forward, she hugged the changeling tenderly, her face face nuzzling the creature's fragile carapace.
"What...?" Booster raised his green goggles and squinted. "What is she—?"
Roarke slapped a hoof over his shoulder. "Shhhh!" Nevertheless, her lenses too pistoned out.
Slowy, a green flame crept over the changeling's body. Its colt turned to a fuzzy brown while red braids fountained out from its scalp. With a deep breath, the creature convulsed. Two seconds after opening its bright emerald eyes, a pair of lenses materialized over its sockets.
Rainbow exhaled, reopening her eyes as she smiled gently at the doppelganger. "There... any b-better...?"
The little Roarke gulped and nodded. "Much..." She wheezed, "We sh-should have known it was you. When we first saw you at the foot of the mountain." She gulped. "Your wings. Your mane."
"Can you tell me now why you were impersonating Nevlamas?"
"You g-gave us so much clarity... so much flame." The changeling gulped. "We could see everything in the light. Everything we were... everything we did." A tear squeezed out from behind the lenses. "Everything for Mother... and it was awful..."
"Rainbow..." Roarke trotted up, glancing nervously at the stirring changelings surrounding them. "Something's wrong. They all look incredibly antsy."
"I'd say so..." Rainbow squinted at the changeling. "What have you been doing all this time?"
Instead of answering, the changeling sputtered, "You've done s-so much for us. You shouldn't be here. You should leave." She stood up and out of Rainbow's grip. "Everypony in this valley should pack up and leave!"
"Pack up and leave?!" Booster stomped his hooves. "Why?! This is our home! Why are you trying to drive us all away!"
"That was the whole point of this Nevlamas schtick, wasn't it?!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "You don't wanna be like Mother, huh?! Then why are you terrorizing a small village!"
"They're all in danger. We only wished to scare them off!" The changeling shivered. "We wanted to protect them! But their love and their loyalty is too great! We c-couldn't calculate for that! We couldn't... couldn't..."
"Protect us?!" Booster stammered.
Rainbow Dash squinted. "Protect them from what?" Right as she said that, her eyes flickered red-on-yellow. She yelped and stumbled forward, instantly dizzy.
"Rainbow!" Roarke reached out to support her.
"Gnnngh!" Rainbow panted, eyes wide. "Luna poop! I haven't felt a jolt like that since... since..."
"Oh no..." The changeling spun and faced the mountaintop, as did its fellow broodlings. "It's too late! They smell harmonic flesh! Any moment now, and they'll strike!"
"Who?!" Rainbow sputtered, reeling in Roarke's grip. "Nnnngh—who or what are you talking about?!"
"Rainbow..." Roarke murmured.
Rainbow struggled to tilt her head up. She gasped upon seeing a thick curtain of mist pouring out of the mountaintop like volcanic ash.
The changelings whimpered in fright. The speaker turned towards Rainbow Dash, its eyes tearing. "Mother abandoned more than us here..."
As that was uttered, the air above filled with deathly shrieks. It was a trickle at first, then a veritable monsoon of leather, as countless serpentine bodies began pouring out of the hole in the north side of the mountain, sailing down towards the forest on the wings of chaos, their banshee shrieks rattling every equine soul to the core. An entire swarm of ethereal abominations glided over the treetops, spitting death and malice in every direction their glowing eyes took them.
Rainbow rattled in Roarke's grip. "Hoboy..."
"Yeah..." Booster Spice whimpered. "...that's m-more like it."
"It's just like the ones in Sacred Hold," Rainbow murmured, her ruby eyes reflecting the chaotic flock of death. "Spawned from Nevlamas herself!"
"What in Searo's vulva are they doing here?!"
"This... this must be one of Chrysalis' hives," Rainbow murmured. Her eyes twitched even wider. "Where she plans to stage the invasion of Val Roa!"
"Where she did plan!" one of the changelings closest to Rainbow sputtered. "But Mother is gone now! We don't know where!"
"Please, you have to believe us!" another exclaimed above the noise of rising shrieks. "You of all ponies! You freed us!"
"Freed you to do what?!" Roarke grunted. "Take on the form of a dragon and burn ponies' lives to the ground?!"
"All we wanted was for everypony to flee this area!" another exclaimed. "To flee from this!" The creature pointed at the sky as it was buzzing with chaos. "We never killed anyone! We never hurt anyone!"
Roarke sneered, "That's the most damnably stupid logic—"
"This is just a piece of the whole!" a changeling cried. "There are countless more in the heart of the mountain! Waiting to spring on this land and abroad!" The creature shuddered. "We can't contain them for much longer!"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't contain these things period." Booster Spice gulped. "Uhm... n-now may be a good time to Whizz away."
"Can't," Roarke spat.
Rainbow flashed her a look. "Roarke?"
Roarke frowned. "The ship's too beat. The lizard's tech got battered in that last scrape. If I try to take off in the thing now, its manaengines could rupture."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow gulped, sweated. She glanced at the descending cloud of chaos. "Uhhhhmm..."
"You've got wings!" Booster stammered. "Can you carry us?!"
"Yeah..." Rainbow trotted over to them. "But not very quickly! We gotta find a cave or a niche or some place to—"
Three changelings instantly darted over. "Is it the village that you wish to go to?!"
"Huh?!" Booster flashed them a look.
"The village of Amulek?!"
Booster squinted beneath his goggles. "How did you—"
"Honestly, anyplace is preferable right about now!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"Quickly!" Two changelings grabbed Booster's shoulders. The stallion gasped as he was lifted up off the ground. "We have to outrun them while we still can!"
"But they'll track us—"
"They'll track you!" the changelings said. "We're invisible to them in this form! It's how Mother bred them!"
"Aaack!" Booster wheezed, his teeth chattering. "I-I-I'm not s-so sure about th-this!"
"Well super-sure yourself! Pronto!" Rainbow Dash took off as she heard the buzzing of changeling wings. "Head west and don't stop for nothing!"
"Grnnngh!" Roarke, in the meantime, was struggling and shoving against the changelings diving down to grip her. "Get your hooves off me! I'll turn your shells inside out—"
"Roarke!"
"The next creature who touches my flesh—"
"Dammit, Roarke!" Rainbow shouted, throwing her angry muzzle in the surprised mare's face. "Let them carry you! You wanna die on me, ya friggin' idiot?!"
Roarke's lips quivered. "But... b-but..." Her lenses reflected fangs and glowing scales.
"Go!" Rainbow shouted as the entire flock lifted up with Booster and Roarke in tow. She looked worriedly over her shoulder. "Go go go go go go go!!!"
With a joint shriek, the chaos wyrms sailed in from the mountainside. Their razor-sharp maws lunged at the three ponies as they were hoisted away. Rainbow Dash flew on her own volition, twirling out of the snapping jaws of one, two, three gliding serpents.
By now, the fir trees were swaying from the artificial wind generated by the multiple surging bodies. As the monsters pursued the three equines, the fog spread like the gray clouds at the head of a cyclone. Despite the energy of their rabid pursuers, the changelings maintained a decent speed. When one or two of them tired, others dove in and swap places—carrying the two ponies for another three or four dozen yards.
Rainbow Dash flung a nervous glance over her shoulder. Witless, she shouted ahead, "They're still chasing!"
"They'll give up soon!" one of the changelings shouted. "They'll feast on the creatures in the forest and retreat to the mountain like they always do!"
"You sure about that?!" Rainbow hollered. "Cuz it almost seems like we're leading them to civlization!"
The closest changeling fidgeted, its fangs chewing nervously at midair. "We... we c-could split up or—"
"Something tells me you guys aren't used to making command decisions!"
"It has b-been terribly difficult. We wish we could—"
"Keep flying!" Rainbow hollered, suddenly bending around and flying back in the opposite direction. "I'm going to distract them long enough for you to get away unnoticed!"
"What?!" Booster shouted from up ahead.
"Rainbow!" Roarke yelled. "Don't you dare—"
"Meet you back at Amulek!" Rainbow shouted. "Wear something sassy!" Fwoosh! She sliced against the wind, barreling towards the incoming abominable wall at suicidal speeds. Roarke shouted something else, but there was no making out the words at this frictious velocity. "Hnnnngh... okay, snakes and ladders... you wanna play?!"
The cloud of serpentine monstrosities shifted, coagulating towards her in a silver stream like a ravenous fish of sharks.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. "Let's see how a Celestia-damn sonic rainboom fills your gullet—" Just as she was saying this, her eyes flickered a sickly yellow. "Aaaaugh!" She flinched in mid-air, descending slightly. Her body jolted as an intense wave of dizziness flew through her. She looked up through squinting eyes. "No... not here... not n-now!"
The incoming flood fogged in and out of existence. Between the black shroud of Rainbow's eyelids and the blinding sunrise beyond, she could only make out the glint of their teeth and talons.
"Hrmmmmm-raaaaaaaugh!" Summoning every bit of strength inside her wing muscles, she pulled herself up, sailing skyward.
The topmost row of serpents lunged at her, their teeth slicing within inches of her fuzzy belly. Rainbow wildly flew over them, bending towards the north and curving in a sickly helix. The only thing keeping her steady was a rigid pair of wings. The air whistled violently past each ear as she found herself slicing downward at a shallow angle, approaching the trees once more. All the while, she heard the creatures hissing and snarling at her six. She was successfully distracting them, though there was no time to celebrate. There wasn't even time to scream.
"Come on, Rainbow," she hissed at herself, her eyes tearing. "Find a soft spot... f-find a soft spot..." Her teeth gnashed. "You can do it—"
WHAP! Her body grazed a tree branch.
"Augh!" She spun, toppled, and ricocheted off the forest floor. Her body bounced once, twice, then slid to a stop upon the edge of a jutting rock along a thinning treeline. "Mrmmmfffnnngh... idiot," she muttered to herself, struggling to sit up. "You are the 'soft-spot.'"
Barely five seconds later, she heard the roar of several creatures diving down from above. Dizzily, she rolled over, squinting up at the sky with scarlet pupils against yellow saucers.
Soon enough, the sun was blotted out by their scales, scales, and scales.
"Good luck finding any m-meat." She gulped, then curled up in a weak little ball. "Crud muffins..."
Just then, the air broke with a clap of thunder. Rainbow's foggy vision caught a shadow against a shadow. With her last ounce of strength, she focused her vision on a series of shapes darting in from her peripheral. Ten changelings swooped low—unseen by the ravenous abominations. With careful precision, they flew together and conjoined in a burst of green flame. By the next blink, they had morphed into a miniature Nevlamas, antler-slashing their way through the chaos meat.
Several serpents shrieked loudly as they were torn to ribbons. Within seconds, the flock jerked about, swarming after the faux dragon that was suddenly in their midst. By then, it was too late; "Nevlamas" was swinging about, diving low, and yanking Rainbow off the ground in a metamorphic talon.
Rainbow Dash wheezed, feeling herself being carried away by her unexpected saviors. As the last of her senses gave way, she rolled her head back, caught a flash of sunlight, and surrendered to the darkness.
The stallion panted and panted, his face wrenched in pain as he curled a pair of forelimbs to his chest.
A lavender hoof reached in and dabbed a cold washcloth across his burgundy brow. "Ebon, try opening your eyes..."
Ebon eventually relented. A tear or two streamed down his cheek as he squinted across the Noble Jury's infirmary.
Eagle Eye squatted beside the cot. He smiled thinly, reaching in to stroke the stallion's bangs. "How are you feeling, Ebon?" he asked. "Be blunt."
The stallion shuddered. He fought a whimpering voice in the back of his throat and instead stammered, "The Jurists... are... are th-they fed?"
"Ebon..."
"I was... in the m-middle of making breakfast." Ebon gulped. "I... r-remember dropping so much. Please... t-tell me they still got to eat something—"
"Ebon, please." Eagle nuzzled the stallion, stroking his cheek before staring him in the eye. "For just a moment, humor me. Tell me how you are feeling. You."
Ebon bit his lip. "I... I feel like something's burning inside of me."
"Like you have a fever?"
Ebon slowly shook his head, wincing from the effort. "It's... it's more than that. It's like... like..."
Eagle watched, listening quietly.
"...like something is wanting to come out of me," Ebon wheezed. "Something huge... something loud."
Eagle glanced nervously at the bulkheads.
"EE? What... what if this is something to do with what's always plagued me?" Ebon gulped. "What if this is something I can't outrun?"
"You'll get better," Eagle murmured, steeling his nerves. "You will. Trust me."
"Eagle Eye..."
The stallion sniffled and glanced up at Ebon.
Ebon squinted. "Do I need to believe that or do you?"
Eagle's lips pursed. He fumbled for words. Before his eyes could grow misty, he leaned in and hugged Ebon closely.
Ebon shivered in Eagle's warm grip. He slithered his hooves out from underneath and gently held onto Eagle's shoulders.
"This is all my f-fault," Eagle murmured, voice shaky. "I should have been watching you closer. I should have stayed around you all hours of the day..."
"Eagle...?" Ebon breathed. "H-How could this possibly be your fault?"
"... ... ..."
"It's... it's not b-because of you that I'm feeling worst off than Rainbow Dash right now," Ebon said with a nervous chuckle. A blink or two later, he grimaced. "How... howis Rainbow Dash doing?" He gulped. "Did... did she and Roarke ever come back, or...?"
"That's..." Ebon exhaled through a week smile. He cuddled up against the blankets on the cot and stared at Eagle sideways. "That's wonderful to hear, EE..."
Eagle Eye bit his lip, fidgeting.
Ebon blinked. "Isn't it, though?"
A plastic smile. "Of c-course it is, Ebon."
Ebon's eyes narrowed further. "Then why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"
Eagle gulped. "It's... uhm..." He ran a hoof shakily through his mane. "...it's because of who or what Rainbow Dash came back with."
Ebon's tired eyes fluttered. "Who?"
"Changelings, Ebon," Eagle droned. "They're... uh... they're in the Amulek town hall as we speak."
Ponies shouted. Ponies hollered. Ponies pointed hooves and bellowed.
A thin line of changelings squatted pensively behind Rainbow Dash and Roarke. Their black exoskeletons rattled with each exclamation booming forth from the angry crowd. Not far away, beneath the flickering torchlight, Pilate, Bellesmith, and Josho stood. They stared worriedly at the shape-shifters, then back at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow needed to lean against Roarke, for her dizziness had barely cleared. Rubbing a hoof over her sweating brow, she stared thinly—sickly—past the torchlight and into the crowd as more and more ponies clamored for attention, attempting in vain to shout their angry words above their likewise furious comrades.
Hooves stomped and nostrils flared. Finally—goggles glinting—Booster Spice galloped bravely into the center of the chamber and waved his hooves. He shouted louder and louder, the volume of his voice gradually overtaking the bedlam echoing off the wooden support beams. "Order... Order... Can we have some order and quiet for one second?!"
Drakshaa stormed forward, his snarling voice devouring the brief silence at the end of Booster's exclamation. "Just as soon as those sniveling, snake-in-a-grass monsters get carted out of this accursed town!"
"YEAH!" shouted the whole group of villagers.
Drakshaa pointed an angry hoof at the creatures behind Rainbow Dash. "It was them! Them all along!" He gnashed his teeth. "They drove us out of the mines! They drove us into poverty!"
"They saved all our lives, Drakshaa!" Booster hollered in the stallion's face. "Didn't you hear a single word they said?!"
"And you can get wheeled out of town along with them if you believe their stupid bullshit, Booster!" More ponies cheered.
Booster stomped his hooves. "Dang it, Drakshaa! The real monsters are out there! Holed up inside Silver Point! I saw them with my very own eyes! The only reason the three of us came back to the village in one piece is because these changelings saved our sorry hides!"
"Saved us from what exactly?!" Drakshaa turned and hissed at the flinching metamorphs. "They've ruined us, ya goggled dumbass! If they really wanted to save our village, they would have done the right thing and fed their worthless, mutated flanks to these supposed monsters so that all the filth would have their fill! Then maybe they'd fly away and bother another town that deserves this crap more than we do!"
"YEAH!" the whole room roared again.
"It's... nnngh..." Rainbow rubbed her scalp. "It's like I tried t-telling you," Rainbow murmured, seething through her dizzying pain. "These monsters... these chaos abominations... I've s-seen the likes of them before. They're way too numerous and too strong for just any small group of ponies to handle. Changelings or not—"
"How can you be so stupid, outsider?!" Drakshaa spat. "They're in league with each other! Can't your stupid ass see that?!"
"Use the word 'stupid' to describe her one more time, breeder, and I'll replace every bone in your body with your own feces," Roarke snarled.
"Roarke..."
"These changelings aren't the only ones who gave their all to save this village," Roarke said loudly. "Rainbow nearly killed herself back there trying to distract the monsters from inside the mountain! If she can't tackle this threat on her own, nothing can!"
"The Val Roans can!" Drakshaa frowned. "With a threat this big, we can finally convince them to come in with their royal machinery!" He hollered, "Incincerate everything that moves inside the mines, I say! If we have to peel off the charred flesh left on the ore, so be it! We're sick and tired of all this stupid nonsense!" He raised a hoof high in the air. "Who's with me?!"
Ponies cheered and thundered their hooves.
Belle struggled to shout, "If we can all just be calm and talk this over—"
"No more!" Drakshaa yelled. "We've had enough of outsiders making problems into even bigger problems! Send them on their way—"
"Drakshaa, we'd be in the dark if it weren't for them!" Booster exclaimed.
"You wanna join them, Booster?! You've been about as useful as a rusty pickaxe as of late anyways!"
"Oh, of all the lousy—" Booster shook his hoof.
"Go on and hit me if you like, punk!" Drakshaa barked. "The day you choose treacherous freaks over your own kind is the day that you've finally lost it—"
"ENOUGH!" Merigold's voice resonated across the hall.
The villagers instantly silenced. Nervous families huddled together, trembling.
Drakshaa stepped back from Booster, fuming quietly, allowing room for the elderly mare to step down from her seat and slowly approach Rainbow and the changelings. Merigold's eyes narrowed as she spoke airily, "I have heard many words... and yet I haven't heard enough. If you would be so kind, Miss Dash, to explain to me what exactly we are dealing with."
"Well, ma'am... I..." Rainbow fidgeted, glancing back at the changelings immediately behind her. "I can't exactly... I mean, not on my own—"
"With the assistance of your unique company, if need be," Merigold said.
Drakshaa gasped. "But, Merigold—!"
Merigold raised a hoof into his face without looking.
The stallion clenched his jaw, glaring Rainbow's direction.
Rainbow exhaled. She pressed Roarke's shoulder, and the metal mare reluctantly let her go. Standing on wobbly legs, Rainbow cleared her voice and took a step or two forward. "These creatures before you may look like monsters... they might even sound and smell like monsters. But, trust me, they are not what they look like."
Ponies immediately stirred and murmured in disbelief. Booster whistled shrilly, silencing the crowd for Rainbow to continue speaking.
"And that may be a tough pill to swallow, considering that they're capable of looking and sounding and smelling like anything. But... you've got to believe me... you've got to believe us." Rainbow looked over her shoulder and nodded at the Jurists. Josho and Belle nodded back, and they took a few steps forward with Pilate. "We've seen them at their worse, and they've since changed," Rainbow continued. "They've changed for the better. They used to answer to one authority and one authority alone, but that's changed. They no longer answer to a malicious calling."
"That's a very intriguing notion, Miss Dash." Merigold squinted. "Could you, perchance, stand to be less vague?"
Rainbow opened her mouth—but one of the changelings stepped up and spoke boldly. "Our Mother is no longer in control of us."
Ponies instantly murmured upon hearing the changeling speak.
Drakshaa's face wrinkled in confusion. Merigold took a few steps closer. "Your... Mother?"
"It's not all that disimilar to how the ponies of Amulek obey you, Governess," the changeling said, its green eyes flickering above its fangs. "Only, they follow you through respect and admiration. For us, our Mother was the source of everything. We felt and fed and lived through her. But all she fed us was misery, and like mindless drones, we accepted what she gave us—for we confused it with love, the most nourishing emotion of all."
"But not anymore..."
The changeling shook its head. "No, ma'am. That all changed weeks ago." She turned and glanced bashfully at Rainbow Dash. "It changed when she found a way to break Mother's control over us. Now... we are free." The changeling grimaced. "Although... it has left us no less confused and frightened..."
"Governess..." Booster Spice turned towards the old mare. "In all of the dragon's attacks, it never ever tried to harm us physically. And now we know that it was them all along and—"
Merigold daintily waved him off. "I'm in no need of your genius intellect right now, Booster."
Booster hung his head, shuddering. "S-sorry, Governess..."
"Quite alright..." Merigold paced slowly around the group of Jurists and changelings. "You, creature..." She singled out the shape-shifter right next to Rainbow Dash. "You're rather well-spoken for a 'form-swapping freak,' as my children are so apt to call you."
The changeling shivered. "We... are g-good at emulating ponies around us."
"I see." Merigold nodded. "Then you have been emulating the ponies of Amulek?"
"You were... th-the first souls we found outside of our nest when our connection with Mother was broken," the changeling hesitantly said. "The love and the comraderie you all share is palpable... and palatable. Just being within miles of your town is enough to sustain us for—"
"Sustain you?" Merigold blinked. "Then you mean to feed on us?"
Ponies murmured in fright. The changeling struggled to speak above them. "It was Mother's desire for us to do such a thing when she made her nest in the mountain to begin with! But since we lost contact with her, we lost all nefarious desires! Please... I-I wish I could prove this to you somehow!"
"You could prove it by being forthright about every single detail that you know!" Merigold exclaimed.
"Ma'am, if I may..." Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "It's impossible for them to know every single detail."
"And you do, I'm guessing?"
"I know a lot," Rainbow said, nodding. She teetered a bit, gulped, and continued. "For instance, I know that this 'Mother' that she refers to is in fact a Changeling Queen named 'Chrysalis.' She feeds off the misery of entire kingdoms of ponies. She takes their love and twists it into something evil that she can control and then feed to her hive."
"To what end?"
"To gain power," Rainbow Dash said. "So she can reinforce her sibling who's at war on the dark side of the world."
Merigold and Drakshaa both collectively blinked at that.
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash waved her hooves. "Look, I-I know there's a whole lot of crud to take in. Basically, what you need to know is that my gang and I have run into Chrysalis before. Somehow, I was able to reach through her control of her children and give the entire changeling brood a taste of harmony. This—like—severed their intense connection with Chrysalis." She pointed at the small group of metamorphs. "These guys—and the others outside—are the first bunch of changelings we've discovered since our last run-in. Somehow, I wouldn't doubt that there're bunches of shape-shifters stuck in random places all over the surface world, abandoned and lost, not knowing what to do with their newfound freedom."
"You mean like terrorizing an entire town full of non-freaks?!" Drakshaa snarled. Despite Merigold's insistence, he further spat, "Just where do you get off?!"
"Please... you have to understand..." The changeling beside Rainbow Dash stammered. "There was no other way! We know! Because we tried!"
"Really?" Drakshaa frowned. "How?!"
"Weeks ago, we first came to this village posing as wealthy ponies seeking to buy out the town and the mines! We even salvaged some silver from the mountain itself to make it look like we were rich!"
Booster Spice murmured aside, "The suited stallions from the north..."
"Good heavens," Merigold murmured, holding a hoof over her muzzle "No wonder they were so awkward..."
"You can't buy silver with less silver," Drakshaa muttered. "Friggin' idiots..."
"And do you remember the week after?" the changeling exclaimed. "The Val Roan officials with the royal decree for relocation?"
"You mean those charlatans were you too?!" Booster Spice stammered. He grinned stupidly. "Wow, you don't know what Val Roans even look like, huh?!"
"It never occurred to you to simply appear to us as you truly are?" Merigold inquired.
The changeling shook its head. "Judging from today's reaction, would we have gotten any better a reception then?"
Drakshaa rolled his eyes.
Merigold glanced at him, then at the speechless villagers seated all around the hall. She sighed and looked straight ahead. "Allow me to guess, you ran out of options?"
"We were hatched to be agents of misery and destruction," the changeling said. "It occurred to us that the best way to handle this situation was to do so naturally. If we couldn't convince your village to flee out of harm's reach, then perhaps we could frighten you into action."
"And then you took on the dragon form?" Merigold remarked.
"But wait..." Booster Spice scratched his head. "The dragon started attacking us months ago."
"We know," the changeling hesitantly said. "That... w-was Mother's doing. Among her many experiments, she was attempting to find a way to have mass broodlings impersonate the Dark Divine that she had in her employ."
"Nevlamas, Governess," Rainbow Dash explained. "It was a creature sent to destroy the ponies who lived on a continent far to the west."
"Ledomare and Xona, ma'am," Pilate spoke up. "It's where my beloved and I hail from."
"For decades, they had been locked in a bloody, ongoing conflict," Belle said. "Entire generations had been invested in the war."
"Chrysalis sought to use the war in her favor," Pilate explained. "She seized an immortal dragon already corrupted by chaos and used her diseased flesh to construct something called 'chaos strips.' These strips are capable of tapping into the discordant miasma through which our plane drifts and summoning horrible, otherworldly abominations."
"Just like the ones inside your mountain," Rainbow said. "Chrysalis had gone so far as to replace a Xonan monarch and control entire legions of otherwise innocent Xonans." She gulped, fighting dizziness still. "This same changeling queen threw prisoners into a giant flying city called Stratopolis, using the ancient sentinel to accomplish her own means. It's... really n-not hard to believe that she was doing something similarly evil in this continent as well. In fact, the reason why my friends and I have come this far is because we heard word of an invasion she was attempting to stage on Val Roa."
"An invasion?!" Merigold breathed.
"Or something like it! I'm not sure exactly..." Rainbow sighed. "But shoving a nest full of changelings and chaos monsters inside your mountain makes total sense, because it's such a good staging area." She winced. "Erm... you know what I mean."
"No, Miss Dash." Merigold shook her head. "I don't. All of this that you're telling me, it goes beyond the heads of simple miners such as oureslves—"
"But it's all true!" the changeling exclaimed, shivering. "Mother had so much planned here!"
"Then perhaps you can tell us what her plans were!"
"I... I wish that we could." The changeling winced. "We... were s-severed before her message became clear."
"Was she ever here?" Merigold leaned her head to the side. "This 'Chrysalis?'"
"Once. Long ago. When we were first hatched," the changeling said. "Of this, we are sure. But she left at some point, and she gave her commands from afar. That's what led us to guard over the silver that she had corrupted in your mountain. That's also what taught us to take on the form of Nevlamas. We all feel something tugging us east—which we're now told is in the direction of your Val Roa."
"She probably wanted to send the whole arsenal in one fell swoop," Josho spoke up, his jaws tight. "Dragons, changelings, chaos creeps—the whole works. All that shock and awe would have made the Val Roans piss in their armor, without a damn doubt. They'd probably have galloped straight into the Grand Choke."
"But now that Chrysalis' connection is severed—"
"She lost control of us. But you have to understand, Governess..." The changeling stepped forward. "Nopony and nothing controls the chaos monsters now!" Ponies throughout the hall murmured in fright. She continued, "Only Mother knew the secret to overpowering them! She must have personally overseen the transport of Nevlamas' spawn from Stratopolis to here! But since we've been severed, we've lost our influence, and the creatures have been stirring in increasing levels of unrest! Even now, as each hour of each day ticks by, we can feel them growing more wild and unpredictable! Please understand, we haven't just been trying to get you ponies out of this valley... we've been trying to keep those monsters inside the mountain! But we're failing! We're failing on both fronts!"
Ponies broke into a worrisome commotion, exchanging glances.
"You must leave this town... you must leave this valley!" The changeling's fangs glistened in the torchlight. "I... I-I don't know what else to tell you to convince you!"
Merigold paced closer. "Even if all of this is true—"
"And it totally is," Rainbow said.
Merigold ignored her. "I find it intriguing that you and your fellow 'hatchlings' ultimately decided that the best thing to do was continue terrorizing us in the dragonform that your 'Chrysalis' instructed you to do in the first place."
"We... have never been skilled at diplomacy, ma'am," the changeling said, hanging its head.
"You could have fooled me."
"And we have," a voice said from the far end of the room. "But only to understand more what we were dealing with, in hopes of learning a different, better solution."
The entire room stirred. Merigold turned aside, squinting into the shadows. "Who speaks? What is the meaning of this?"
Three random villagers trotted into the center of the hall from the far corners of the room. In the center, Rainbow spotted a familiar face.
"Keebroo...?"
"You have to forgive us, Governess," Keebroo said. "While we knew that we had to drive you out of here, we... also h-had to feed. It was the only way we could sustain ourselves throughout the whole effort."
"Feed?" Merigold blinked. "What do you mean, child?"
Rainbow gulped. "Hoboy."
"Huh?" Booster Spice glanced over. "Why does this deserve a 'Hoboy?'"
Keebroo took a deep breath. In perfect coordination, he and the two ponies beside him vanished in a wave of green flame, replaced by three identical changelings.
The entire room exploded in gasps and shrieks of shock.
"Okay!" Booster squeaked, shivering beside Rainbow Dash and Roarke. "Definitely a 'hoboy!'"
"You..." Drakshaa slurred into a growing snarl. "You were one of these deceitful manure bags the whole time?!"
"You dare replace three of ours?!" Merigold said, the hairs on her wrinkly neck rising up. "We had thought they had fled Amulek with their families!"
"And they did, Governess!" the changeling who was Keebroo exclaimed. "We simply found strategic ways to pretend that these three hadn't, and in that way we facilitated our place among the township!"
"To do what?!" Drakshaa growled. "To spy on us?!"
"Not... a very smart revelation," Roarke muttered out the side of her mouth.
The changeling glanced at her. "We were told to be completely forthright!" It turned towards the gawking villagers. "And so we are! No more secrets! No more shadows! We have..." It winced. "...greatly underestimated the fierce love and loyalty that you ponies share with one another. This is something we've learned overtime, even while sharing the emotions we've sampled in this town to keep ourselves alive. Please, understand, we only ever wanted to relocate you! We've never meant to dissolve you as a culture!"
"That's not the way I'm seeing it!" Drakshaa paced thunderously around. He shouted at the onlooking ponies as much as at the changelings. "Sounds to me like you decided to siphon us for all we had to give!"
"What?! No! We just meant—"
"To terrorize us from the outside and coddle us from within! You call thathelping us?! Fuzzy skin or bug shells, I can smell a hypocrite when it's in the same room with me!"
"Drakshaa," the changeling spoke. "If a single one of you stepped into those mines you'd be eaten alive by what Mother planted in there—"
"Do not call me by my name!" Drakshaa pointed viciously at the creature. "You are no friend of mine! The real Keebroo may have been a total pushover, but at least he knew what it meant to be loyal!"
"But—"
"And not some deceitful bastard!" Drakshaa spun towards the elder. "Governess, are you gonna friggin' stand for this?! These freaks have been eating us from the inside out! What more evidence do you need?!"
The whole hall erupted in angry shouts and furious rants.
Josho glared left and right. Belle and Pilate held each other nervously.
"Hey... Hey!" Rainbow Dash hovered on weak wings, wincing slightly. "Cut them some slack! Come on!"
"Quiet, outsider." Drakshaa grunted. "You've said enough—"
"No, you shut up, jerkface!" Rainbow frowned at the crowd. "Less than a month ago, these changelings knew nothing but misery! They were fed nothing but the stuff! All the time! They devoured pain day and night, courtesy of a selfish mutated Alicorn who's willing to risk anything—even the lives and welfare of her own hatchlings—just to accomplish some stupid agenda in a far off place! Suddenly, overnight, they're free creatures who desire harmony and love! Can't you friggin' forgive them for taking a few bumps and making goofy mistakes along the way?! I mean—for Pete's sake!" Rainbow flung two hooves towards the hall's entrance. "Your mountain's filled to the brim with life-eating chaos serpents! Love these changelings or leave 'em, nothing's going to change the fact that all this time they were trying their darnedest to save you from a very real... very dangerous... very chaotic threat!"
Belle spoke up, "They might seem monsterous on the surface, but they only mean well! And as hard as it may to believe, Rainbow and the rest of the jurists witnessed them turn leaf first hoof!"
"They ambushed us in the flying city of Stratopolis, governess," Pilate said. "But then—within a day—they all turned and helped free us from the very same threat. They are capable of good. You just need to give them the benefit of a doubt!"
"And if you don't, then you'll end up as bad as the Ledomaritans and Xonans back west!" Josho said firmly. "Even worse! The whole lot of us have yet to see what can really happen when these friggin' fart monsters are let loose on an innocent pony populace. Hell, back in Xona, Rainbow stopped Nevlamas and Chrysalis before the absolute worst could happen!"
Silence hung in the room.
At last, Merigold took a deep breath. She trotted towards Rainbow Dash. "These friends... they speak for you..."
"Yes, ma'am. They do."
"And do they speak the truth?"
Rainbow blinked. "Of... of c-course!"
Merigold frowned. "And just what would you have me do, Rainbow Dash? Flee from our very own home?" She waved at the creatures. "Give in to these imposters demand and trust them more than my own flesh and blood... my own instincts?"
"I know that it's a lot to take in, Governess—"
"No." Merigold shook her head. "You don't know. Your travels sound remarkable and they sound perilous. But a life lived in the air, constantly on the move, is a far cry from the weight of having to dissolve the only home you've known for generations."
"Governess, with all due respect." Rainbow Dash touched back down beside Roarke. "I've given up more than you think. There are nights when I can't stop dwelling on what I've lost... and what I've sacrificed. But..." She bit her lip, glanced aside at Roarke, and sighed. "...if I chose to regret all of those changes, I would choose to reject what I am now. And that's impossible. In spite of all of the highs and lows, I'm proud of who I am and where I am—even if there is no 'where' to be drawn on a map."
"How do you expect us to even possibly relate to that, Miss Dash?"
Rainbow's ruby eyes narrowed. "Because, in the end, loyalty is the best home you can ever have." She gulped. "This village may not survive, but your villagers can. Leave this place..."
The entire room erupted in shock and anger.
Rainbow spoke louder. "Leave! And we'll help you get the Val Roans to come here and—"
"And do what?!" Drakshaa snarled. "Build us all aircraft so we can fly around the world, disturbing the peace like you?!"
"No! I mean—"
"Silence!" Merigold exclaimed. "All of you!" As the room died down, she gave Rainbow an exhausted look, and then the changelings an even more exhausted look. After a firm breath, she said, "Leave us."
"But—!" The changeling that was Keebroo stepped forward. "Governess—!"
"Leave now!" Merigold growled. "Leave the premises! We will talk again when I decide. I must... deliberate on this..."
"And just how long do you intend to do that?!" Roarke spoke up. "Rainbow and the rest of us have told you everything you need to know about the looming threat and—"
"I know, metal one!" Merigold retorted, eyes like daggers. "That is why I am asking you to leave rather than forcing you by knife point!" She pointed out the front entrance. "Until you can claim to have selfless ancestors who've lived and died on this land, you cannot pretend to make decisions for it. Now, depart, before my patient draws thin."
Gradually, the ponies broke up, murmuring in shattered clusters.
The changelings exchanged glances. Their eyes flickered green in cadence, and they buzzed limply out the front entrance, causing local villagers to flinch and gawk at them.
Rainbow Dash was panting as if having galloped up hill. She tried taking a step, but stumbled. Roarke caught the wincing pegasus. Using her weight, the metal mare helped Rainbow out the door, where they were joined by the limping trot of Josho, Belle, and Pilate.
Booster Spice looked all around, biting his lip. Finally, with a nervous breath, he galloped out, joining the jurists.
Drakshaa stood in the center of the hall, fuming with folded forelimbs. As the crowd gradually broke up, he drew over his face, sighing as his features went slack... dull.
The sun was setting red and rosy over the western reaches of Amulek. On the opposite side of the sleepy village, between where the treeline began and where the fog rolled in, a cluster of ponies stood under swaying branches in a chilly wind. Changelings hung in the shadows, several of them perched on the branches as their clear eyes lingered on the town hall at a distance.
"Well, that went about as well as a Ledo passing a watermelon-sized kidney stone," Josho grunted. "And by that, of course, I mean 'as well as could be expected.'"
"I can't understand the Governess! This shouldn't have to take some long, overwrought decision!" Booster Spice stammered, pacing in a loose circle. "Why can't she see what's right in front of her?!"
"More like what's looming above her," Pilate said. His ears twitched to the sound of several sets of hooves swiveling his way. "What? Surely a blind zebra can still use metaphors of 'sight.'"
"Ahem..." Belle turned towards Booster. "The meeting could certainly have gone better. A lot of startling bits of information were thrown on your town all in one heap."
"Granted, there truly is no way to soften that sort of a blow," Pilate said.
"We had to convey the urgency of the situation to her!" a changeling said. "Even before the one called Rainbow Dash arrived, we were starting to realize how impossible our venture had become—"
"You should have known better than to have infiltrated their ranks like they were some enemy batallion!" Roarke shouted, marching into the feeble changeling's face, forcing the creature to fall on its shivering haunches. She further snarled, "At least you could have remained hidden! I don't know where in your cockroach minds you thought it was excusable to use the facade of Keebroo and the other two as some sort of diplomatic bargaining chip!"
"I... but we... we just—"
"Roarke..." Rainbow wheezed, leaning tiredly against a tree. Her eyes flickered red-on-yellow then back as she winced. "Just... l-lay off for once..."
"No! I shall not!" Roarke snarled, all-but-spitting in the nervous changeling's muzzle. "They've made it perfectly clear that they're more than self-aware of their own inexperience! They should have come up with a less risky plan than continuing the hijinks of their putrid matriarch!"
"She does have a point, Rainbow," Josho grunted. "It wasn't very smart."
"We c-couldn't leave these ponies!" The changeling gulped. "We just couldn't abandon them in the shadow of these chaotic abominations! Like Mother abandoned us!"
"I do not buy for a second that you are as helpless as you paint yourselves to be," Roarke hissed.
"Roarke—" Rainbow wheezed.
"I've seen you in action!" Roarke shouted. "I've seen you consume lives and transform entire kingdoms!" She flung a hoof in the air. "You could have stolen those chaos strips away! You could have destroyed them! You could have done anything but just leave them as a death trap for everypony around you! Just look at what the discordant energy is doing to Rainbow Dash—!"
"Dammit, Roarke, would you—nngnh!" Rainbow collapsed onto the grass beneath the trees.
"Rainbow!" Belle shouted.
Roarke spun, gasping. She rushed over to the pegasus' side.
Belle, Pilate, and Josho were already there. Booster Spice and the changelings watched over their shoulders, nervously. Roarke rushed down and scooped Rainbow up.
The mare panted and panted, her thin eyes flickering in and out of ruby brilliance. "Nnnngh... Roarke, don't..." She gulped. "D-don't blame them for that. You and I b-both know it ain't the changelings fault for what's... h-happening to me." She shuddered, ears folding back. "Celestia, it's getting so light..."
"Oh Spark... bl-blessed Spark!" Belle held a hoof over her muzzle as tears welled up in her eyes. "Roarke, we have t-to get her on board the Jury! There's still room in the infirmary beside Ebon—"
"Ding Dong, relax..." Rainbow reached a hoof out and touched her shoulder. She smild warily. "I know it looks bad... but it'll pass—"
"And they keep getting worse, though, Rainbow!" Belle shrieked. She hiccuped on a sob and leaned on Pilate's frame as she said, "How 'bad' are they going to look until you can't even stand to breathe?!"
"I... tr-try not to stress so bad about tomorrow."
"Rainbow, for Spark's sake—"
"For real..." Rainbow hissed, shook, and struggled to sit up. Roarke ultimately helped her, and Rainbow rested dizzily on her haunches. "Let's not change the subject. There's more at risk here than me." She turned and stared up at the changelings in the trees with thin eyes. "What if Merigold decides to move all the villagers out of town. Then what?"
"That's not going to matter!" one of them said. "Don't you get it?"
"Lay it on me."
"The abominations are growing restless at an exponential rate!" another one of the shape-shifters spoke up. "We can't guess when or at what time, but they're going to grow weary of feasting on wildlife in the forest surrounding the mountains!"
"Several times!" another said, nodding its dark head. "Nopony understands just how many times we've saved the ponies of Amulek time and time again from a narrow brush with death! There were days when the monsters were practically nipping at their hooves!"
"And just now?" Roarke asked, still fuming. "When we lost Whizzball due north of here?"
Josho spun and blinked at her. "Oh, did you, now?"
"Silence, obese one," Roarke grunted.
"Hrmmff..."
A changeling was already replying to her. "That was the largest outburst of the creatures yet," it explained. "They only returned to mountain because either there was nothing left living in the vicinity to feast on, or their silver strips still had cohesion. But, soon enough, the strips will no longer be able to contain their own structure. They've been gradually dissolving since Mother abandoned this place."
"Then that means...?" Pilate began.
The changeling shuddered as it said, "They will have nothing anchoring them to the mountain anymore. There will be nothing to draw them back from their holding place."
"Where will they go?" Booster Spice asked in a quiet voice.
"Simple. Where there is life," the changeling said. "They feast on more than just emotion. They devour harmony, for they are chaos incarnates."
Another changeling spoke up, "They will consume Amulek in an instant, turning all living flesh into ragged strips of distorted meat. And then they will take their feast as far as their boundless energy will carry them. Even to Val Roa and abroad."
"Durandana..." Pilate murmured. "...Alafreo."
Belle gulped. "Luxmare..."
Rainbow Dash sighed, leaning against Roarke's limbs. "Equestria." She gulped. "I get it." She looked up. "And what if we get a powerful bunch of ponies here to stop them? Like the Val Roans."
"Rainbow Dash, there simply isn't enough time!" a changeling stammered. "That's why it's absurd to wait for Merigold!" It gestured at the group. "Even discussing this with our mouths like normal ponies is a terrible waste of time!"
"Surely we must mutually discover a solution to this problem—" Pilate began.
"And these 'Val Roans' will not properly eliminate the threat!" the changeling stated. "It doesn't matter what sort of weaponry they have in their arsenal!"
Roarke's lenses pistoned outward upon hearing that. "Why would that be so?"
"Isn't it obvious?" One of the changelings in the trees spoke up. "Of all emotion, anger is the closest ally of chaos. That's why Mother was so keen to harvest these things from the dragon called 'Nevlamas.' Her goal was to spread malice so that we—her children—might consume it and make her strong."
"So... what you're trying to tell us..." Josho scratched his chins. "...is that if we send a bunch of soldiers into the mountains to blow these freaktards up—"
"It will only strengthen them!" the changeling said. "Of this, we are most certain! The abominable feast will quadruple in strength and ferocity!"
"Somehow, I totally believe that," Rainbow Dash said.
"Then there is no proper solution at this point," Roarke droned.
"Roarke," Belle sighed. "We can't simply dismiss—"
"It was folly to come here," Roarke said. "I don't care what Rainbow Dash has seen in her visions."
"Roarke—" Rainbow protested.
"It's decided." Roarke hoisted Rainbow Dash up and tried leaning her over her flank. "We're leaving. Us, Rainbow, the Jury."
"Roarke, nnngh... stop—"
"We must make as much distance between us and this damned mountain as conceivably possible—"
"Dammit, Roarke, stop trying to protect me!" Rainbow shoved off of her. She teetered a bit, but found her balance in time to glare at the metal mare. "Stop it!" She aimed her frown at the others. "All of you!" Her hooves stomped in the ground. "I love you and I get that you all love me too but why can't we just wrap our heads around the fact that there are some things bigger than me and the rest of uscombined?!"
Roarke stared back, lips quivering. Her lenses retracted, and in a very quiet voice she said, "I do not wish to lose you."
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut. She fought the urge to sniffle. One wobbly step after another, she shuffled towards the mare and gently took two of her hooves in her own. "Roarke... sexy girl..." She opened a pair of eyes. Tiny tears refracted the flicker of red and yellow as she said, "You lost me long before you ever had me."
Roarke's ears folded back.
Rainbow took a shuddering breath. She swallowed a lump down her throat and looked over at Belle and Pilate. "Bellesmith... Pilate... I... I-I'm so sorry." She tried hobbling over towards them. The pair met her halfway, holding her up. "You... you guys know me. I was soaring my way east long before I made the best friends a homesick pegasus ever could. After all the dragons I've kicked and zombies I've headbutted, I'll be damned if I'm going to breathe the last breaths of my life while running away from something."
Belle nodded, a tear running down her cheek. "We know, Rainbow Dash."
"We do understand," Pilate said. "But..." He tilted his head up. "What can we do?"
"I..." Rainbow winced. She turned towards Roarke, who had her head bowed. A cold breath. "I don't know..."
"It is not your place to know, Rainbow Dash," one of the changelings above said. "It was never your place. Not once did we expect the pony who freed us to cross our paths."
"Yeah, well... she has." Rainbow looked up. "So, what now? There's gotta be some sort of silver bullet."
"Maybe at one point, there would have been," the changelings siad. "But it is far too late for that now. The abominations are restless, and we are the ones responsible for the terror they're about to unleash."
"Hrmmmmf..." Josho folded his forelimbs with a frown. "Told you we shouldn't have dicked around in that Pegasus Sex Crater..."
"Cram it, breeder," Roarke groaned.
"Roarke—" Rainbow entreated her.
"We must not tarry here any longer," the changelings overhead said. One by one, they took flight, their wings buzzing. "We must go."
"Go?!" Booster Spice gawked at them through his goggles. "Go where?!"
"We will head back to the mountain. All of us."
"Just how many of you are there?" Roarke asked.
"Less than fifty," one explained. "Even if we had two hundred, it doesn't make our task any easier."
"And just what sort of a plan do you have in motion?" Pilate asked.
"We will attempt to forge a wall using our own bodies," one changeling said. "A wall that will block the exit from the cave."
"What good will that do?!" Booster sputtered. "We saw these creatures! They were see-through ethereal monstrosities! How could you possibly hold them back?!"
"We must nevertheless try."
"Yeah, and you will die in the process!"
"If that is the case, so be it."
Booster clammed up, blinking. He hung his head with a sigh. "There has to be another way..."
"There is not," one changeling said. "If we go now, we and our siblings can perhaps corner the monsters against the metal walls. There, they might find solace among the metal strips and delay their inevitable—"
"Wait... wait wait wait." Rainbow Dash held her hooves up. "...did you just say 'metal walls?'"
"Mmmm. Indeed." One changeling nodded. "Deep in the belly of the mountain."
"But..." Booster squinted. "Drakshaa and his miners never found any such—"
"It dwells deeper than any possible mineshaft. Mother had the changelings who facilitated our hatching bore a hole to its location months ago. What her plan was with the material, we cannot fathom, but it has acted as a secure base against which the strips were deposited."
Roarke gulped. She turned towards Rainbow. "Rainbow..."
Rainbow, in the meantime, was staring northeast. The Yaerfaerda symbol flicked before her, brighter than ever.
"Rainbow..." Roarke trotted closer, nearly breathless. "Wh-what are you thinking...?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "...that we need to get on board Floydien's ship right friggin' now." She turned and looked wearily at the metal mare. "We'd better get the whole Jury in session over this..."
"Are you loco in the coco?!" Props' voice echoed against the nearby treetops. "You'll turn to mush mush from those snake thingies before you can do anything!"
Meanwhile Eagle Eye carried Ebon Mane up the stairwell. The mercenary and cook leaned against one another. Eagle Eye blinked while Ebon squinted into the starlight.
The Jurists were gathered all across the top deck of the Jury. Booster Spice stood with them while a cluster of changelings clung to the skystone crystal and its support struts above.
"EE...?" Ebon murmured nervously.
"Spark alive." Eagle gulped. "These guys again."
"Props, there's a piece of the machine world deep inside that mountain," Rainbow wheezed, hovering weakly in the center of the group. "I've seen this sort of thing multiple times. Where there's a layer of metal, there's a door. I can totally fly in there, draw the chaos creatures after me, and seal them away for good."
"Dashie, not everything is like White Rap!"
"Windthrow."
Props waved her forelimbs around. "You could be flying into a death trap! Or a dead end! That's the deathliest death trap of all!"
Zaid trotted forward, resting a calm hoof on Props' shivering shoulder. "Rainbow, for real." He gulped. "You didn't find a door in Durandana. So what makes you so darn sure there's gonna be one here?"
"Durandana was a fluke," Rainbow said. "A crater caused the metal layer of the world to be exposed. Nothing else." Rainbow's ruby-eyed gaze swam across the group. "This mountain is different. I see something glowing in the heart of it—"
"Rainbow?!" Props frowned. "Just because some Yogi Bearra symbol is calling for you doesn't make it the same as the flame you've huffed before!"
"You're right." Rainbow nodded. "This makes it all the more important for me to investigate. To find out for sure what it is and what it means." She gulped hard, pointing northeast. "Something's gotta be done about the abominations that are chomping at the bit to fly out of the mountain and ravage every living thing on this continent. I... I feel as if Yaerfaerda is calling to me." She shook her head. "I'm too close to ignore it now."
"The paint bucket boomer has always had her own glimmer shimmer," Floydien said. "This does not surprise Floydien."
"Don't joke, handsome!" Props yelped, her eyes welling up with tears. "Dashie could die! Don't you g-get that?!" She fell on her haunches, shivering. Zaid leaned in and nuzzled her close.
"Or, y'know, Lil' Miss Awesomeness could not die." He looked up, ears folded. "Right...?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She turned and looked at where Pilate and Belle stood with Kera, then at Roarke.
"Rainbow...?"
Rainbow looked across the top deck.
Eagle Eye gently placed Ebon down. The cook leaned against a skystone support beam while Eagle trotted closer. "Take us with you! We've fought terrible creatures before! We... w-we could hold these things off while you take your dive into the heart of the mountain!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, EE," Rainbow said. "Whizzball is down for the count. Even as light as you are, carrying you alone would slow me down." A bittersweet chuckle. "Don't even bring Josho into the equation..."
"We really must be going," one of the changelings stammered. "Even as we speak, the monsters are stirring, more and more restless."
"What about th-this ship?!" Booster spoke aloud. His goggles glinted in the starlight as he smiled. "You can fly her there and provide cover!"
"If you're near the mouth of the mountain when the monsters fly loose," another changeling said, "You will all be the first to be consumed."
"They fly faster than you can imagine," explained another. "The only reason they didn't catch up to Rainbow Dash and her two friends this morning is because we collectively distracted them."
"Well, we c-can't just abandon her here!" Eagle Eye stammered, increasingly breathless. "Not with the way sh-she's been feeling lately and... and... and..."
"Kiddo," Josho spoke up, his tone neutral. "We've got the fastest ship this side of the continent. If things go south here in Amulek, Val Roa's going to need forewarning of this catastrophe."
"The fat boomer is right," Floydien muttered. "Nancy Jane may be the only thing to prepare this world for the new spread of glimmer shimmer."
"After all we've been through, we can't let that bastard Chrysalis win," Josho said.
"I don't get it!" Kera trotted forward on tiny hooves. "Why would we be leaving Rainbow behind?! We're gonna need her in Val Roa, r-right?"
Rainbow leaned down towards her. "I'm needed here, Kera. I'm the only pony who can open up the machine world's door. I'm the one soul who can seal the monsters away."
"But why can't you join us in Val Roa?!"
Rainbow Dash sighed heavily. "Because I-I'm probably not coming back from this, Kera."
Every Jurist hung their heads.
Kera stared, her lips quivering beneath glossy green eyes. "No... no...!"
"I need you to be strong, Kera," Rainbow said firmly, squeezing her shoulder. "For Pilate and Bellesmith. They're going to need you from now on—"
"Not without you!" Kera flew forward and buried her sobbing face in Rainbow's chest. "Not w-without you!"
Rainbow clenched her jaw as she gently held the crying filly. It was a tense effort, for the waves of dizziness still plagued the edges of her vision.
Belle sniffled and leaned against Pilate's shoulder. Props rubbed a hoof over her wet eyes while Zaid watched quietly.
"Y-you c-can't just give up like th-this!" Kera whimpered. "You just can't! You're bigger than this! Stronger than this!"
"Kera..." Rainbow stroked her back. "Pssst... Scamp." She tilted the filly's chin up and smiled at her. "The fact that I'm bigger than this is precisely why I have to do what I've gotta do."
"But... b-but..."
"If I was the kind of pony to give up, I'd never have gotten past the borders of Equestria." She smiled. "I'd never have come close to crossing paths paths with a pony as awesome and radical as you." She leaned in and nuzzled the foal. "You have so... so much strength, Kera. I'm super thrilled that you believe in me, but now you have to believe just as much in yourself. Belle and Pilate need it. And so do you."
"Rainbow..." Kera hiccuped, her face awash with tears. "Don't go. Please..."
"There's a spark waiting for me down there, Kera." Rainbow Dash stood up, gently patting the filly's head. "Someday, you'll too find that spark, and you'll realize what has to be done." She gulped. "I just hope it's not in as dark and freaky of a place. You're the kind of pony who deserves an audience." Rainbow heard hoofsteps; she looked up.
Belle and Pilate stood on either side of Kera. They gazed at Rainbow Dash, struggling to stand straight.
"We believe in you," Belle said with a bittersweet smile. A tear rolled down her cheek. "We always have. Please... please f-forgive us for doubting."
"Stop apologizing, Ding-Dong," Rainbow said with a smirk. "I don't want my last memory of you to be slapping your stubby horn left and right—"
Belle lunged forward, engulfing Rainbow in a deep hug. She nuzzled the mare's neck and murmured through her tears: "You will come back... I know it..." A shuddering sob. "I've witnessed it before..."
Rainbow squeezed Belle's back. "If you believe in me, then you'll know not to wait around if I buck things up." She murmured into the mare's ear. "Have Floydien get you guys to safety. Head for Val Roa. Find a place that's peaceful to live for the rest of your lives. I don't care if you have to cuddle up to the Grand Choke."
"We are at peace, Rainbow," Belle whispered. "You've given us that. You've given us everything."
Pilate leaned in, cuddling Rainbow from behind. "We love you, Rainbow." Kera leaned in, rubbing her moist cheek against one of Rainbow's forelimbs as the zebra continued, "You've never let us down. You won't now."
Rainbow tilted her head back and nuzzled the stallion. "Look towards the mountain, bright eyes." A wry smirk. "If you guys see the fog roll back, that means I've done it. If you don't—"
"You will succeed," Pilate hissed, his ears twitching. "You always do."
"Heh... who am I to second-guess my favorite referee?" Rainbow winked while Pilate produced a dry chuckle. "Promise me whatever life you guys live, it'll only have contained explosions."
"We promise, Rainbow Dash," Pilate said. "The world won't be as stimulating without you with us."
"I don't think I've had a sexier compliment." Rainbow Dash said. She backtrotted, her hooves dragging... dragging... then finally slipping out of Eljunbyro's grasp. Belle and Pilate knelt down, holding Kera close as they watched Rainbow draw further away.
Rainbow brushed past Josho. "I mean this as sincerely as I can say it with my own vocal chords," the obese stallion uttered. "You've got bigger balls than I ever did."
"Heh... why else do I have so many colors in my tail?" Rainbow smiled. "It's to distract everypony's eyes."
Josho smiled tiredly. "What are the odds you will make it? For real?"
Rainbow shuddered through a wave of dizziness. "How about this, Josho? You go on a diet until we talk again muzzle to muzzle again."
The stallion's ears folded back. "I might enter a beauty pageant faster than Eagle Eye."
"Now I'm actually sad." Rainbow pivoted. "Floydien. You've got good ears." She gulped and glanced at Pilate, Belle, and Kera. "You know what to do if the fog doesn't roll away..."
"Nancy Jane has only ever tried to mimic the paint bucket's glimmer," Floydien said. His red eyes narrowed. "Floydien only hopes paint bucket boomer isn't attempting to mimic Nancy Jane."
"Sorry to disappoint you, Rudolph. This is all me."
"For that, Floydien is proud."
"The one day I can actually read your lips." Rainbow Dash shook her head with a smirk. "You go on and say something like that."
"Yes yes yes."
Rainbow's teeth showed through a tired grin. She nearly ran into Props and Zaid.
"I really d-don't think this is so swell, Dashie," Props stammered. "I'm just an engineer like my Unky Prowsy before me. But..." She sniffled. "An engineer of the world?"
"I wish I knew how to throw wrenches at stuff and have it make music overnight." Rainbow gulped. "Heck, if you were Austraeoh, you'd probably have fixed Urohringr months ago."
Props giggled inwardly, then sniffed. "Thank you, Dashie, for giving us all new lives."
Rainbow smiled. She leaned in and nuzzled the mare. "Thanks, Props, for giving me a little breath of home."
Props tried to smile back, but she broke into further tears. She hid her face in Zaid's shoulder. Meanwhile, the stallion glanced quietly at Rainbow.
"I don't think I've seen you so serious... ever, Zaid."
"I'm trying it on for a little bit," the stallion said with a weak smile. "I'm only charged twenty bits if I turn it in a day late past the rental period."
"Is there anything in the old Herald's book about Austraeoh taking a crazy stupid plunge into a death mountain full of monsters?"
"No, but I could recite the bit about scrubbing a toilet while a thousand feet up in a skystone ship."
Rainbow smirked. "Never change, Zaid."
"I'd say the same about you, sexy, but..." He gulped. "You're a hard act to follow."
"Yeah." Rainbow nodded and turned around. "I know."
She fell into a tight pair of lavender forelimbs.
Rainbow wheezed for breath.
Eagle Eye snuggled her close, his eyes tearing. "Thank you..."
"For... f-for what?"
"Everything," the stallion whimpered, holding her closer. "I found life... I found love... all because of you..."
"EE..." Rainbow patted his shoulder and pressed them both apart. They looked into each other's eyes. "You found yourself. I only pointed you in a dangerous, kaizo direction, ya feel me?"
"Yeah..." Eagle sniffled with a tearful smile. "Yeah, I do..."
"Rainbow Dash," Ebon wheezed as he trotted closer to the scene. "Is there really no other way...?"
"Look at the bright side." Rainbow parted from Eagle's hug and trotted over to the cook. "There'll be a crapton more apples for the rest of you guys to eat from now on."
"Always so brave... so thoughtful..." Ebon sighed, teetering slightly. "Even when you're not saving us, you're saving us."
"Wish I was saving you more often." Rainbow squinted. "You look almost as bad as I feel, Ebon."
"I feel great, Rainbow..." Ebon smiled with a single tear. He leaned in just as Eagle trotted over to his side. The stallions nuzzled each other dearly. "Just... great." He shuddered, his soft eyes falling on Rainbow once more. "When you come back, I'll f-feel even greater."
Rainbow Dash opened her muzzle... hesitated, then said, "Good bye, fellas. Whatever you do..." A backtrot and a salute. "Don't have your honeymoon in the Grand Choke."
Ebon bit his lip. He and Eagle leaned against each other, watching Rainbow trot away with heavy sighs.
As Rainbow came closer, Booster Spice raised his hoof and opened his mouth—
"Hey Booster. Nice goggles."
Booster blinked. He turned and blankly watched the mare as she trotted past.
Rainbow stood beneath the perching changelings. "I'm strong enough to fly, now," Rainbow said. "I guess, in a way, I always was."
"Good. Because there isn't much time left," one changeling said.
"If we hurry now, we just might be able to lead the escaping creatures back into the mountain," another said.
"We'll do whatever we can to make sure you reach your destination."
"But I still gotta lead the creeps, right?" Rainbow said. "I mean, when all is said and done, they gotta be chasing me into the heart of the mountain."
"Do you think you can fly for that long?"
"Dudes, I've been flying for far longer than even your 'Mother' can boast of. Less talk and more flapping."
From afar, Ebon's head jerked towards the scene. He blinked worriedly.
Eagle Eye bit his lip.
"We will lead the way," one of the changelings said as one by one they took off from the skystone. "If your companions value their lives, they will do what the ponies of Amulek refuse. They will put as much distance between themselves and this place."
"The Jury knows what to do. Don't you worry."
"EE...?" Ebon stammered.
"Let's go, Ebon," Eagle murmured, leading the stallion back down the stairwell.
"But... but Rainbow—"
"There's n-nothing left to see here." Eagle fought back a sob as the two descended below deck. "Spark, sp-spare us..."
Ebon nervously trotted along with him, though he gave one last feeble glance over his shoulder.
As Rainbow Dash was just starting to take off, she caught a glance of a brown shape in the corner of her vision. She looked over, eyes bright.
Roarke stood on the starboard side of the ship, facing out towards the forests and mists, dead silent.
"Just... j-just one second," Rainbow wheezed.
"Rainbow Dash, there is no more seconds!" a changeling yelped.
"We must make haste—"
"Will you just friggin' wait?!" Rainbow snapped, galloping over to the starboard side. "Without me, you're not doing this at all! So just hold up!"
Roarke stood motionlessly, her lenses reflecting the starlight from where she stood.
Rainbow Dash galloped to a stop, panting as if having run fifty miles in ten seconds. She gulped and clenched her jaw tight.
A bitter breath ran through Roarke's figure. "Hey."
Rainbow's ears instantly folded back. "H-hey..."
"You know, there was a time when the only greetings I would give a pony was a headbutt."
"Heh... funny..." Rainbow smirked crookedly. "For a while there, that was how I alway said 'good bye.'"
"Would you like to headbutt me now?"
Rainbow winced. She hung her head and glanced at her squirming hooves. "Listen, Roake—"
"I can deal with pain," Roarke droned. "I've had organs ripped out of me and metal things shoved into me."
Rainbow gulped. "Bet you never thought you'd find a heart beneath all that blood and pulp, huh?"
Roarke finally turned around. Her lips were quivering "You found it, Rainbow."
Rainbow gazed at her in silence.
"For a while there, Imre c-came close," Roarke said, her voice gradually collapsing, taking on a frighteningly foalish tone. "But... she left this world before she could ever show it to me." The metal mare's shoulders began to shake. "She left me, Rainbow. And... and n-now you?"
"Take me with you!" Roarke hissed, although her head was bowed. "I-I don't care if I'll slow you down! We'll think of something! We always think of something—"
"I can't. This is something Austraeoh's gotta do. It'll be tough enough for me to make it out on my own—"
"I don't care if we don't make it out!" Roarke squeaked, trembling. "I don't want to be alone again!" She grimaced. "Not after what y-you've given me. Not after what I've t-tasted!"
"You won't be alone, Roarke—"
"Stop saying that!" Roarke was whispering at this point. "With you gone, there is n-nothing, Rainbow!" Something rattled from deep inside of her. "I've got nothing left!"
"Shhhhh... Roarke..." Rainbow reached up with two hooves. She gently unclasped Roarke's lenses, freeing the mare's tears. She buried her face in her chest, protecting her from the starlight as she held her close. "Roarke..." The mares rocked together as Rainbow spoke in a comforting tone. "I did not kick your ass in Foxtaur, blow up your den full of scumbags, drag you across a warzone, and make sweet, sweet love just to introduce you to nothing. Don't even pretend to smack talk what we've made together here."
She tilted the mare's face up. Twin blue slits struggled beneath a pool of tears to look up at her.
Rainbow smiled. "Life is awesome, Roarke. If you don't believe that now, then you're not the 'Genius Most Rare' that all the cyborg gals touted back in Searo. And understand this... I am not giving up. I know it may look that way on the outside, but we all have our journeys to finish, and this is simply the next leg of mine. It's a path that only I can take. You've got one of your own, and it's just beginning."
"You've... always h-had a beacon to guide you," Roarke stammered. "And now, mine is going away. How... h-how can I keep going?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "You know, Roarke..." She nuzzled the mare close, speaking into her ear. "There was a time... long ago... when I didn't th-think I was capable of..." She winced, but eventually murmured, "Of loving again..." A tear ran down Rainbow's cheek. She clenched her jaw. "I am no longer that mare now. I can't even understand her." She leaned back, smiling tearfully at Roarke. "I have you to thank for that. I have you to thank for everything." She squeezed the mare's shoulders. "You are my brightest beacon. It just... took a while for the fire to be kindled, that's all." She smiled sweetly.
Roarke bit her lip. "Rainbow," she whispered. "Please don't do this. Don't throw yourself into the abyss..."
"Roarke—"
"I love you," Roarke said. "I love you so much."
Rainbow stared at her. She leaned in, resting her fuzzy forehead against Roarke's. "If you love me, Roarke... be loyal to me... be loyal to me by being loyal to them."
"Rainbow...?"
"Bellesmith, Pilate, Kera... EE... the whole gang..." Rainbow stroked Roarke's braids. "Promise me you'll get them to safety. Promise me you'll find them all a happy, serene, peaceful place to spend the rest of their lives." She gulped. "And for you as well, Roarke." She stared into the mare's silver-blue gaze. "Pursue love and friendship in all you do. I know it sounds fruity... but I bet even you can admit..." A devilish smirk. "It's pretty darn magical."
Roarke gazed at her. After a lasting sniffle, her brow furrowed, and a hint of the steely bounty hunter bobbed up to the surface. "I will."
Rainbow stroked her braids one last time. "Look to the mountain, but don't wait for me." Rainbow Dash stepped back. Her lungs heaved as she struggled for the strength to say, "You don't win in life by waiting... but by moving." Her muscles twitched once... twice. Then in a spastic burst, she flew herself skyward, rocketing northeast as fast as her feathers could carry her. The changelings actually had to struggle to keep up, swarming over the fir trees as they followed Rainbow towards the mountains beyond.
Roarke shuddered. She clasped her lenses back in place, damming her tears. Slowly, she tilted her face towards the night sky, finding it full of sparks.
Ebon lay sideways on the infirmary's cot, twitching feverishly. Perspiration fell down his muzzle as his glazed eyes swam across the walls of the tiny compartment.
Eagle Eye squatted by his side, reaching in with a hoof to stroke and caress the stallion's mane. The look on the ex-mercenary's face was dull and melancholic. He was just inches from his partner, and still their eyes couldn't meet, as if they were thousands of miles away from one another.
Nevertheless, Eagle Eye leaned in and kissed the stallion's cheek, then nuzzled his neck. Ebon shuddered slightly, his legs curling inward.
Eagle Eye sniffled. He glanced worriedly out the starlit porthole as he rested his chin atop Ebon's shoulder. Tears collected at the edges of his eyes, so he closed them, murmuring indecipherable words into the stuffy air of the place.
Rainbow Dash had to squint against the cold, pelting winds. The air above the mountains punished her without remorse, and her only choice was to glide faster through the unpredictable drafts.
Before her, the northeast horizon was a series of black jagged shapes against a celestial canvas. Gradually, with each minute of high-speed flight, the stars disappeared while a foggy ceiling overtook the heavens.
Rainbow had to blink—a dangerous thing at her speed with nothing but misty mountains dead ahead. Constantly, she ascended, angling herself skyward with feathery lift. There was a flicker of light in her peripheral vision. She glanced left.
A veritable squadron of black shapes hurled through the air alongside her. The changelings' green eyes flickered like zeppelin beacons in the cold, cold clouds.
Rainbow Dash looked to her right. Several more black shapes knifed through the air alongside her, their glowing eyes like headlights in the thickening mists.
With a deep breath, Rainbow reached down and rubbed a hoof across the ruby lightning bolt dangling from her neck. After a few sparks, the pendant pulsed with a persistent crimson glow. A swath of red light swam across the haze directly in front of her. Rainbow's trained eyes made quick judgments of the directions in which the mists were moving, and she plotted her flight accordingly, ascending rapidly to reach the peak of the mountain lingering beyond the densest part of the looming miasma.
The onyx squadron's flight was chillingly silent. They soared like black missiles into obscured starlight—a rainbow streak acting as their center.
At least a good hundred instruments beeped, flashed, and clicked across the Noble Jury's cockpit. For the first time in weeks, Floydien did not preoccupy himself with them. Instead, he sat back—slumped—in his seat as his red eyes stared dully through the windshield. The elk took a deep breath, reaching a cloven hoof up to scratch just beneath a twitching ear. His muzzle clenched and unclenched, a strangely wordless occasion.
Brow furrowed, Floydien rotated in his seat and glanced out of the cockpit.
Starlight bathed the top deck of the Noble Jury. Its dim glow glinted off the metal braces of a mare standing port side, her lensed-eyes locked towards a fixed point along the northeast horizon. For minutes... even hours, Roarke did not move from that one spot. She remained leg-locked on her hooves, motionless, faithful.
Rainbow gritted her teeth. At the altitude that they were reaching, a tempestuous wind had picked up, assaulting her from every direction. The roots of her feathers twitched and tugged as her wings dealt with the brunt of the turbulence.
It didn't help that it was next to impossible to see more than fifty meters straight ahead, especially at her speed. The fog was so dense now that Rainbow Dash could almost smell something in it. There was a haunting rust to the scent, like dead ash blowing in a circle and then mixing with her tears. Rainbow wheezed, and she instantly felt a shudder to her lungs—like that of a sobbing pegasus in a land far, far away.
Still, her muscles were fully complying with her. Every limb was working perfectly, and the mare didn't feel the slightest hint of dizziness. She took deep breaths, reveling in the strength she was being afforded thus far. There was no telling how bad things would get if she were to spontaneously—
The fog suddenly cleared.
Rainbow Dash blinked, for she suddenly saw the jutting spire of a familiar mountain straight ahead of her. In the twinkle of starlight, she could see gray clouds rolling down from the snowy heights as if melting from a volcano's invisible eruption.
"What... wh-what's happening—?"
"It's clearing!" one of the many changelings shouted into the wind. Rainbow turned to see the flying creatures' eyes pulsing with an emerald cadence on either side of her. "They're fleeing their hold!"
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Ah jeez... here we go..."
"Prepare yourselves, brothers and sisters!" another changeling shouted. Green tufts of flame erupted and billowed between them. "No matter what happens, Rainbow Dash must get to the mountain!"
Rainbow Dash shouted, "I know it's a teensy bit late to ask, but do we have a plan or something?!"
"You get yourself to the mountain!" a closer metamorph hollered. "We will take care of the rest!"
"'Take care of the rest?!' But—"
"There's no time!" A changeling pointed. "Here they come!"
The world exploded with a high-pitched siren.
"Aaaugh!" Rainbow slowed slightly, clamping hooves over her ears. Her eyes teared as she struggled to glance ahead. As she did so, a gasp escaped her lips.
Like swarming insects, a solid worm of deathly creatures spilled out of the north side of the peak. The ethereal serpents branched out, spreading in every directiong through the air.
Rainbow stared and stared. She winced as—suddenly—a pulse of dark energy ripped through her. Her eyes flickered red-on-yellow.
Almost instantly, the branching monsters coalesced together as one. With a combined howl, they bent around and sailed due south, heading straight for Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Alright..." She cracked the joints in her neck as her pendant flickered brighter. "...let's dance."
"Together!" Changelings hollered; changelings shouted. They pressed themselves together—wingtip to wingtip—and formed a solid, buzzing wall right in front of Rainbow Dash. Between their dangling limbs, Rainbow could see the glinting fangs of the chaos creatures as they drew closer, closer, shrieking. "Together as one!"
A hellish thunder wracked the heavens at this point. The air heated up, pulsating with every roar and growl of the otherworldly serpents. By the time the two flocks converged, the equines could see their own sweat in the abominable glow from the chaos spawn.
The changelings let loose a collective shout. Rainbow knew that her yells were joining the chorus, though she couldn't hear it. She didn't care. She flew straight into the maelstrom of limbs and fangs as both flocks converged over the mountains.
Loud static.
Props stared dully into the communications array atop the table in the corner of the Noble Jury's engine room. Her peach hoof lazily turned and tugged at the foremost dial across the instrument panel. There was no hint of Prowse's voice, no hint of anything. All was dead and noisy.
She sighed, her whole body deflating. A chill ran through the mare, and she trembled slightly.
A blanket draped over her suddenly.
Props' head jerked up. She blinked, and she smiled gently.
Zaid smiled back, tucking the blanket tightly around her body. He leaned down and nuzzled her forehead.
She tilted her head up and kissed his chin, then his muzzle. A lasting breath, and she clenched her eyes shut, sniffling.
Zaid squatted beside her, holding the mare close. Quietly, with a dull expression, Zaid turned and glanced across the compartment.
Inside its iron cage, the runed tome flickered with bright lavender light, ever persistent.
All around Rainbow, changelings were yelping and monsters were howling. The staccato bedlam thumped like dull thuds against the heartbeat in her ears. Rainbow darted left and right, breathless, as she sought to punch her violent way northeast and towards the mountain peak. This was more than just a little bit challenging, with nightmarish serpents plunging at her with every turn. She could even see their clear eyes flash, brimming with lightning as they hungrily intercepted her.
Just milliseconds before each abomination could impale her, however, a changeling or another darted up, plowing into the bodies and knocking them out of the air—out of range of ripping Rainbow asunder.
Rainbow gasped, glancing left and right. In brief flashes of chaotic luminescence, she saw changelings tangling with serpents, morphing their hooves into hooks and pinchers as they ripped the creatures to ethereal strands. The air had become so thick with clashing bodies that Rainbow briefly lost her bearings. There was no up and down, only the spark-bright collisions of unearthly monstrosities in every direction.
The mare held her breath, squinting through the meaty battle. Beyond the mayhem, Rainbow spotted the ever-present glow of 'Yaerfaerda.' She locked her vision on the beacon, uprighted herself, and propelled her body forward, threading through the massacre as scales and sinew ribboned around her.
Soon, the dark body of the mountain drew closer, and Rainbow's nose tickled from the chilly proximity of its snowy peaks. She glanced down—and she gasped. In the flickering glow of the chaos beasts, she spotted several shadows converging on her.
Rainbow looked straight up. All she saw was fangs and teeth.
"Hnnnkkt!" Rainbow spun, swinging a foreleg up in a mighty kick.
One serpent's skull instantly collapsed. Two of its kin darted down, shrieking. One looped around Rainbow's flank while the other entangled with her forelimbs.
"Gnnngh—Mmmfng!" Rainbow snarled, struggling with the creatures. She hooked her wings at an angle and spun savagely. With a shriek, the monster clinging to her lower body was flung off. This gave Rainbow the strength she needed to wrench the other from her hooves. "Yaaugh!" She gave the thing a heavy punch to the face.
As it dissolved in wispy gray bands, a bigger, angrier flock came streaking her way, lunging for her neck.
"Aaaugh!" Rainbow clamped her hooves around the foremost creature's jaws, fighting it, holding its fangs just inches from her muzzle. Two more latched onto her body, slowing her down. Rainbow felt herself descending—breathlessly plunging towards the treeline below. She wheezed, panted, and twirled as she wrestled with the lashing monster in her hooves. Suddenly, she was sailing straight into a thick line of fir trees. "Hrnnnnnngh—!" She used every ounce of strength to push the monster's skull at forelimb's length, meanwhile she strafed sideways into the trees, smashing through branch after branch.
Thwp-Thwp-Thwppp!
One limb after another, the creature was torn in several places. In a pitiable shriek, it slinked out of Rainbow's grip. She was now imbalanced from the weight of the monsters clinging to her lower body. Rainbow toppled through the trees, ricocheting off a trunk or two. Grunting through the pain, she flapped her wings hard, pulling herself off and disorienting the creatures before they could bite into her flesh. She punched and kicked at them, struggling—panting—to get them off. As she fought, three more dove down and latched onto her with drooling fangs and rock hard scales. Rainbow wheezed as she felt herself plunging earthward, bound by the reptilian cocoon—
"Raaaaaaaaugh!" A quartet of changelings plunged down from the main fight. Their shells hardened like granite with a flash of green flame, and they knocked the serpents off of Rainbow's body.
"Guh!" Rainbow spun, twirled, and uprighted herself. She drifted in a breathless glide, glancing down as the changelings tangled with the monsters in separate scuffles across the forest floor. She heard shouting, pained voices, but they were all too soon out of her line of sight.
Steeling herself, Rainbow flapped her wings and ascended once more, scaling the southern face of the mountain. Above her, the skylight was blotted out in thicker and thicker shadows. Within seconds, she made out the pinprick specks of abominable eyes leering down at her.
Rainbow was ready with a rising growl. She soared upwards, forelimb thrusting like a pike. WHACK! She broke a serpent's neck with one punch, bounced off its limp body, kicked off another, and plowed her way through three more creatres. WH-WHAP! The line of monsters grew thicker and thicker, their fanged mouths like converging hydra heads. Holding her breath, Rainbow twirled through their biting jaws and ascended faster. WHUMP! Two bodies pounced on her shoulders. Grunting, Rainbow twirled and twirled until she swung them to the front of her body. She uppercutted one and gripped the neck of another. Its jaws thrashed and chomped at her muzzle, forcing her to jerk her head to the left and right. Several more crowded around, threatening to squeeze Rainbow in from all angles.
Her eyes flickered red. "Rrrrrrghhh—" She bravely slipped a hoof free and clasped her pendant tightly. The air around sang with static, followed by a bright ruby glow. Then, in a solid beam, Rainbow unleashed a wave of harmonic resonance straight from her lightning bolt. "—haaaaaaaugh!"
The crimson light sliced through the chaotic lot like butter. Ethereal entrails melted in a bursting circle around her. Rainbow sailed triumphantly through the translucent gray efflugence, but not for long. A cold sweat ran across her body, and her eyes constantly pulsed with a sickly yellow hue.
"Nnngh... mmfff..." Rainbow panted, hyperventilated. Her muzzle hung open in a weak expression as her coat paled. "Oh no..." She wheezed... she whimpered. "Please, Celestia, no..." It was too late. The world spun. The mountain twirled towards her as she lost all grip on up or down. "Mmmmfnngh... please no... n-not now... not—hnngrkkt!"
She tried flapping her wings, only to zig-zag in random, hopeless directions. Branches and needles pricked her neck, but that was just the start of it. Wham! Her body pinballed off a tree trunk, broke through a mess of twigs, and plunged towards a rocky mountainside.
"Grkkk!" Rainbow gritted her teeth, forcing her wings out at the last second. She pulled up, twirled, and struck the ground at a shallow angle, grinding to a stop across her aching shoulders. "Grnnngk—Augh! Mmmf!" At last, her body rolled to a stop, pulsing all over with numb pain.
She shuddered, struggling to get up. Every breath was tainted with bile, and she whimpered into her clenched teeth.
Howls lit her ears, like a pack of jackals rushing in through the trees. She squinted her eyes open, instantly regretting it. She could barely see the skies from the serpentine bodies plunging down at her. Clinging to the earth, Rainbow rolled up into a tight blue ball, waiting for the inevitable.
Josho sat at the end of the mess hall's table, digging his spoon through a bowl of fruit salad. He blinked unenthusiastically at it, not taking a single bite.
At last, with a bitter sigh, he leaned back and stared blankly at the empty seats before him. Scratching his stubbled face, he finally turned and looked over his shoulder. He gazed quietly across the room.
In the lounge, Pilate and Bellesmith sat on the sofa, their legs curled beneath them. Sandwiched between the two ponies, lying down with fitful, sniffling breaths was Kera. She laid her chin on Belle's forelimbs, clenching her eyes tight to dam the tears.
Belle slowly and gently caressed the mare's emerald bangs. She swallowed a lump down her throat and gazed forlornly out the nearest porthole.
Pilate tilted his head her way. Without hesitation, he leaned in and gently nuzzled her cheek.
Belle closed her eyes, accepting his embrace. She dropped her head low enough for the stallion to rest his chin over her soft mane. Holding in quiet sobs, the couple's necks locked together, keeping close to Kera the entire time as the minutes lurched by.
Bellowing howls.
Like banshees, the beasts pounced on Rainbow's body. They grabbed legs, limbs. Their fangs brushed and raked her skin. She could already smell blood. Her blood. A knifing pain from beyond the numbness—
Thwooosh! A solid mass of dark carapaces sailed out of the immediate treeline. Within seconds, the changelings had plowed the monsters off of Rainbow's body.
The pegasus rolled over, sputtering, wincing. She fought dizziness to turn and glance.
Across the lopsided world, she saw the abominations reeling from the unexpected blow. With instinctual resilience, they uprighted themselves and began flying and slithering straight towards Rainbow Dash's body once again.
In a blink, the changelings had formed a tight circle around her.
"Rainbow—!"
"I... I-I can't..." Rainbow wheezed. "The ch-chaos..." Her tearing eyes flickered yellow. "Too much..."
"You will make it to the mountain!" another shouted. Its body flashed green, and suddenly Keebroo was standing in front of her. "They will not harm you!"
More flashes. Suddenly, a solid ring of Amulek villagers stood tightly around the pegasus. Gone was the glossy black nakedness of every changeling, replaced by living and breathing doppelgangers.
"Fly as soon as you get your strength!" they hollered in separate voices. "Exorcize this land of Mother's curse!"
"Wait... w-wait!" Rainbow fought to sit up, waving a weak forelimb. "No! D-don't do this!"
"Hey!" one changeling shouted and whistled, followed by another. "Over here!"
Swiftly, the abominations twitched, their attention falling on the flesh-and-blood "ponies" situated in front of them.
"It's us you want!" Several Keebroos and Drakshaas galloped away from Rainbow Dash, heading back into the forest. "Come and feast!"
With slowly rising hisses, the serpentine monsters coiled up their bodies.
"Dang it—Don't do this!" Rainbow hollered.
It was too late. The monsters all abandoned Rainbow Dash, converging like sharks on the mass of unprotected changelings. Not just the creatures in the clearing—but the abominations in the sky and the far corners of the mountaintops. In the center of the hellish feast, Rainbow spotted flashes of green light. Muffled screams rang across the fangs and limbs, and soon the rocky mountainside was oozing with emerald juices.
As strength finally returned to Rainbow's body, she threw it all into an anguished scream. The dizziness returned the very instant that a gigantic flash of green light emanated from the massacred changelings...
...the very same flash of light pulsating across Ebon Mane's eyes at that exact moment.
"Aaaugh!" He fell off the cot and collapsed on the floor of the infirmary, gripping his skull. "Aaaaaaaaaaaugh!" He threw his head back, howling in agony. Slowly, like a dark curtain unveiling, his burgundy coat morphed into a black carapace with hollow hooves and webbed ears.
Trotting down the hall, Eagle Eye gasped. He dropped the tray of food he was carrying with a loud clatter and galloped into the hallway, taking a sharp right. There, he froze, staring wide-eyed into the infirmary.
The stallion—or what was once the stallion—was sitting on his haunches, staring into a mirror that had fallen to the floor from his violent shaking. He stared long and hard into the tiny sheet of glass, and a frail insectoid thing stared back, its clear eyes blinking beneath a sheen of perspiration.
Eagle Eye grimaced.
Slowly, the creature tilted its head up. Thin, green tears collected around its pulsating eyes. "EE..." As soon as it heard its own distorted voice, it shuddered. A dull pulse flickered off its horn, startling it even further. It stared at its porous hooves as a deep hyperventilation rattled across its shell. "EE... what... wh-what am I?"
"Ebon... I..."
"What am I?!" The thing hugged itself, collapsing into the corner of the infirmary. "Oh Mother... Mother..." Its fangs clattered as it sobbed hysterically. "Mother, no... pl-please no! No no no no no..."
"Please, Ebon..." Eagle could already hear himself crying. With violent shivers, he crawled over, reaching a loving hoof towards the changeling. "Ebon, y-you must stay calm. Ebon!"
It was too late, for the creature collapsed into wailing hysterics.
Rainbow stood up as she felt blood rushing through her tingling limbs. Seething through her teeth, she stared at the carnage happening downhill to where she teetered.
More and more serpents were sailing down into the gorging feast from above. Splashes of emerald life juice and segmented shells flew through the haunting starlight. At one point—with a pained grunt—a bloodied changeling tumbled out of the main group, rolling painfully to its side. The poor thing's body flickered back and forth from Keebroo to Merigold. Seconds later, three serpents slithered free from the group and stalked its bleeding corpse.
Rainbow's muscles tightened. With a burst of strength, she rocketed towards the scene.
The three monsters were about to pounce. Rainbow streaked low, knocking two of them off balance. She swooped up the bloodied changeling survivor in one breath. The third monster pounced at her rear, but she bucked it in mid-air and flew uphill before any of the feasting creatures could sense her.
Breathless, Rainbow carried the shape-shifter up the mountainside for several meters. The battered thing twitched and sputtered in her grasp. She looked down and almost wretched to see that its lower legs were completely missing. At last, still fighting a cloud of dizziness, Rainbow touched down with the creature.
There, she squatted low and cradled its, brushing its blood-stained bangs aside to gaze into its face.
"Why...?!" She seethed. "Why did you give yourselves up like this?!"
"Not... all of us..." the changeling whimpered, sputtered. It stopped pulsing with green flame, hyperventilating with a rattle of its dark carapace. "S-some... brothers and sisters... st-still alive..." It coughed up slimy juices and wheezed, "I... I-I can feel them..." Its eyes darted left and right in sudden confusion. "And another... another..."
Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "Dang it, you could have fought them off!"
"Too... m-many of them..." The changeling's glossy eyes reflected Rainbow's grimace. "Had... to distract them fr-from you..."
"I'm dying anyways!" Rainbow grunted. "I'm dead as soon as I enter that mountain! It wasn't worth doing that!"
"Worth it...?" The changeling exhaled quietly. It raised a twitching hoof up. Rainbow clutched it, and it instantly turned brown and fuzzy. Pale blue eyes twinkled beneath scarlet braids. "Of c-course it was worth it..." A tear trickled down Roarke's bloody face. "You g-gave us freedom, Rainbow D-Dash..." A hiss, gargling. "You g-gave us love..."
Rainbow bit her lip.
The changeling smiled. It stared at her. Then it stared at something else. The smile trailed off, forming fangs as the glossy shell returned, dull and lifeless—just like the changeling's limb as it slipped limply out of Rainbow's hoof.
Rainbow's ears folded back. She clenched her eyes shut, leaning in and pressing her forehead to the shape-shifter's. Her next breaths came through flaring nostrils. At last, she gently laid the body down. When she stood up, the pegasus felt blood rushing through every limb, hot and strong and righteous. With a single flap of her wings, she bulleted skyward in a blue streak.
Flying backwards up the mountainside, Rainbow turned and yelled down at the horrendous feast happening below. "Hey!"
The abominations kept devouring what was left of the chitinous pile.
"Hey! Flankfaces!"
At last, several serpentine eyes flickered in Rainbow's direction. The mass of chaos paused in its ravenous bloodthirsting.
"Bet you're wanting dessert, aren't ya, ya motherless melon fudges?!" Rainbow motioned after her as she rocketed up hill. "Come and get me if ya friggin' can!"
With mindless shrieks, the legions of chaos lurched uphill, sailing after her with whipping scales. They weren't alone; the entire sky's worth of otherworldly summons surged as one. Soon, a pulsating ribbon of translucent bodies were tailing Rainbow closely.
Flapping her wings with iron-tight precision, Rainbow made a beeline for the north end of the mountain. The crisp air ahead of her was clear and the atmosphere behind her dribbled with blood and death. Unfazed, she led the murderous beasts to her final destination, her eyes locked on the eternal Yaerfaerda the entire time.
"Follow me to oblivion, ya dumbasses!" Rainbow smirked privately to herself. "Hurry up! I ain't got all night..."
"Ebon..." Eagle Eye sat just inches across from where the changeling violently shivered. "Ebon Mane, look at me!"
"How c-can you call me th-that?!" the creature stammered, face awash with tears. "How c-can anypony call me that?!" It looked around, wincing as the cabinets and counters of the tiny infirmary reflected the sheen of its natural green glow. "All th-this time! All this time!" It hugged itself tighter, curling up into a little ball. "Mrmmmfff... I've been leeching ponies! It makes so m-much sense! Oh Mother..." Its body jolted with a heavy gasp. The creature's eyes turned glossier as its fanged muzzle hung open. "Good heavens... Mother! She's..." A sob. "Sh-she's...!" A harder sob.
"Ebon! Please!" Eagle thrusted his forelimbs forward, grasping the shape-shifter's. "Look at me!"
"I c-can't! Eagle, I-I can't! Mmmmnnghh-Mother!" The thing tried to shake and wriggle its way out of Eagle Eye's grasp. "Mother, please... n-no! Oh Goddess, no!"
"I said look at me!" Eagle shouted.
The creature locked eyes with him. There was a brief flash of burgundy, but it was all-too-swiftly devoured by the black gloss. Nevertheless, the changeling froze in place with tiny, tiny twitches.
"You are Ebon Mane," Eagle Eye said quietly, firmly. "You're a kind and gentle earth pony. A handsome stallion."
"Ebon Mane... is a n-name..." The creature hissed, snarling now. "The name of a gentle earth pony who's dead!" It spat. "An earth pony who I killed!"
"Ebon—"
"I'm a monster, Eagle! A monster and a murderer—"
"You are a Jurist and a dang good cook—"
"I'm an imposter and a freak—"
"You are the stallion that I love!" Eagle shouted, yanking the metamorph onto his haunches so that the two stared eye-to-eye. "Ebon, I love you!" He panted, his tears mixing with sweat as he leaned forward. "I love you, Ebon." He gulped. "More than anything or anyone or anypony."
The changeling stared back, fangs trembling. A tear ran down its shell. "H-how do you know that, EE?"
Eagle bit his lip.
"You... you feel things... and I-I taste those feelings." A gulp. "And I feast..." A sneer. "And I starve!"
"Ebon..."
"I wish to Goddess that I knew sooner..." The thing sobbed, head bowing. "I w-would have fled! I would have rid every one of you of th-this danger!"
"I couldn't let that happen, Ebon!" Eagle said. He shook the creature's shoulders. "I promised myself I would not let you go harm's way!"
Just then, the creature's head jerked up. Its glossy eyes narrowed. "You knew?"
Eagle Eye held his tongue.
"You... knew, didn't you?" The changeling gulped. "For h-how long..."
"Ebon..."
"For how long, EE?!" its alien voice warbled.
Eagle took a deep breath. "...since Stratopolis, Ebon."
The creature slumped against the cabinet, shivering.
"Listen to me..." Eagle crawled closer, reaching a tender hoof towards the thing's shoulder. "I can't pretend to know what you're thinking, but trust me. You are the Ebon Mane of Gray Smoke. You are the Ebon Mane who made friends with Props. And you are the Ebon Mane who joined the jury and brought peace and contentment to my life. It is not a curse and it is not a magic spell, Ebon. I love you. I... I..." He winced. "I'm so sorry, Ebon. I'm s-so sorry that you had to find out this way. I should have told you, but I was scared. I was scared and I was selfish b-because I didn't want you punishing youself in a panic like this..." He gulped. "...and I didn't want you leaving me."
The creature hugged itself, rocking back and forth.
"Ebon..." Eagle sniffed, wiped his cheek dry and leaned forward. "Ebon, please, tell me what you are feeling..."
The changeling panted and panted. More tears trickled down its shell. "I'm sc-scared, EE..." Its eyes darted towards the ex-mercenary. "I'm so scared..." It whimpered and shook. "But how can I? What right do I have to be scared?" It gulped. "I'm not real..."
"Yes you are."
"Don't say that. You can't possibly know that!" It clenched its eyes shut. "If I open my eyes again... what will I be? Who will I be? Will I even be alive?! Mmmmff..." It curled its hollow forelimbs before its petite face. "Grhhhh... I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know—"
"Ebon, listen to me, you are real."
"I'm not. I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm—"
"And was Elma any less real when she found out?!" Eagle blurted. "And was she poisoning us to love and care for her?!"
"Not the s-same. Not... it's n-not—"
"Ebon..." Eagle grabbed the creature's hooves and hoisted it up in a jerk. "Open your eyes!"
"Mmmm—!"
"Open them!"
The changeling squinted at Eagle, weak and feeble, trembling.
Eagle smiled. "I'm still here. And so are you." He sniffled, but fought to maintain his grin. "And I am never... ever leaving you. I promise with my whole heart. I will keep you safe. I will help you through this."
It blinked at the stallion. Its body trembled, and when it finally collapsed, it was with its face buried in Eagle's chest. Anguished, muffled sobs racked its carapace. Eagle folded his forelimbs around it, holding the creature close.
Nevertheless, the changeling whimpered and wailed, "Oh Eagle, it's n-no use! It won't work. It c-can't work!"
"Shhhh... We can make it work!"
"No we c-can't!" The thing hiccuped and whimpered, "I'm just a freak... a m-monster!"
"Ebon—"
"If you won't hurt me, they will!" It shivered. "Floydien... Josho... the Jury..."
"They'll understand..." Eagle fidgeted. "I... I-I'm almost certain of—"
"Roarke! If she finds out, then wh-what?!"
Eagle froze in place, his violet pupils shrinking.
"Nopony will have me! Not here! Not anywhere!"
"Ebon, just calm d-down. I..." Eagle grimaced, looking all over the infirmary. "I n-need to think. I..."
"EE, I'm so scared! Please..." It sobbed and shivered in the stallion's embrace, a tiny flutter of what the earth pony once was. "Help me. I beg of you. I d-don't know what to do... Mother... I-I don't... don't..." Its words melted into indecipherable cries.
Eagle teared up even more. He hugged the thing tight, nuzzling his head over the creature's head. He clenched his eyes shut, taking several deep breaths. Finally, with steely determination, he opened his eyes and frowned. "Come with me, Ebon."
"Mrmmmfff..." The shape-shifter shook, spasmed. "Wh... what?"
"I'm getting you out of here." Eagle was already levitating several supplies and shoving them into a floating bag.
The changeling looked up at the stallion, fangs trembling. "Getting... m-me out...?"
"Far away... as far as we have to..."
"But... but the Jury—"
"I made a promise..." Eagle hoisted the bag over his flank and tied it tight. "...a promise to you and you alone. I don't know how dangerous it will be with the secret out, and I don't want to risk it. All I want is to make sure you're safe. Do you understand?" At last, he levitated his shield over to himself. "I'm taking you away from here before anypony finds out."
"Where... wh-where will we go?"
"I don't know, and it doesn't matter." Eagle knelt down and cradled the creature's chin so that they stared face to face. "We'll be together. We'll start a new life—the life you always needed and the one I always wanted."
"But... b-but..."
"Please, Ebon..." Eagle stared firm, his eyes dry and determined. "Trust me. I will not let you down."
The changeling stared. Slowly, its trembles built back up. Without a word, it sniffled and leaned in to nuzzle the stallion back.
Eagle took the opportunity. He hoisted the weak creature over his flank and shuffled his weight until the changeling was comfortable. "Okay... okay okay okay..." He took a long, desperate breath. "... ... ..." He closed his eyes, paused, then reopened them. "Let's go."
The stallion dashed out, all the while the changeling clung tightly to his back, burrying his face into Eagle's mane.
As Eagle rushed into the mess hall, he slowed his gallop into a trot. Clenching his teeth, he eyed the couch where a tiny family huddled.
Pilate and Bellesmith were fast asleep. Kera dozed quietly between the two of them, her tattooed muzzle salty from dried tears.
Under bands of starlight twinkling through the portholes, Eagle Eye carefully crept past them. He paused once, staring at the two slumbering beloveds with their foals. His lips pursed, as if he was about to say something. His face teetered on the brink of an intense sob, but he swallowed it down with a frown.
Swiftly, he spun towards the kitchen and resumed his speedy canter.
The lounge fell in silence.
A few seconds later, one of Kera's green eyes squinted open. She blinked brightly. A breath later, she jumped up to her hooves and began shaking Belle's limbs.
"Belle... Belle!" Kera hissed. "Come on, wake up!"
"Mmmfnngh..." Belle stirred, wincing. "Pilate, beloved... Rainbow's... mmrff..."
"Wake up wake up wake up!" Kera's horn flashed as she tugged at the two ponies' manes.
This time, even Pilate began stirring. "Guhh... what in Spark's name...?"
"Kera?" Belle squinted at the foal.
"You never g-guessed what I just saw!" Kera squealed breathily.
Eagle bounded down the Noble Jury's stairwell until he was at the bottom floor. He paused to make sure the changeling was still clinging tight. With a deep breath, he made for the door to the rear hangar.
He bumped straight into Josho.
"Ooomf!" Eagle stumbled back, almost dropping the creature on his back.
"Can't sleep either, huh?" Josho grumbled from where he paced. "Yeesh, Princess, I'm telling ya. If I had a bit for every time we waited for the paint bucket to sacrifice her life in our absence..." He suddenly froze in place, squinting. "Uhhhhh... kiddo? What's with—"
Eagle Eye trotted briskly past him. "Josho, thanks for everything. I gotta go."
"Go?! Go where?!" Josho pointed. "And what in Ledo's name is that—"
"Hrrnngh!" Eagle spun with a glint of metal.
CLANG! The shield uppercutted Josho.
"Augh!" He fell back on his fat flank, sliding to a stop against the engine room's doorframe.
"Don't follow me, old stallion!" Eagle Eye snarled. He opened the door—but lingered slightly. A tiny whimper escaped his lips. Fidgeting, he spat out, "I-I'm sorry..." Then darted into the hangar, locking the door behind him.
"What... in the bl-blue bucking blazes?!" Josho struggled and struggled to get up.
The door to the engine room hissed open. Props and Zaid spilled out.
"JJ!" Props gasped.
"Whoah there, roly poly!" Zaid reached down with two hooves. "If you're gonna try pulling off that crap, try it in the shower!"
"This ain't no laughing matter, bozo!" Josho lurched up onto his hooves, wincing. "Eagle Eye's leaving!"
"He's leaving?!" Props gasped. "What for?!"
"I dunno, but he just went through me to do it!"
Hoofsteps echoed across the stairwell. Within a blink, Kera galloped to the bottom level, followed by a breathless Bellesmith and Pilate.
"Hey! Hey! Everypony!" Kera skidded to a stop. "Did you see Eagle Eye just now?!"
"No, but my chins did," Josho grumbled.
"Kera saw him rushing across the mess hall!" Belle said. "It looked like he had Ebon Mane on his back."
"He had something on his back alright," Josho grumbled. "But it sure as Hell wasn't Ebon."
"What on earth could you mean by that?" Pilate asked.
"Nnngh!" Props was shoving against the door to the infirmary. "Hey guys! Mr. Adoracutes locked us out!"
"He did not!" Zaid brushed Props aside and threw his shoulder into the door. "Nnnngh!" He leaned back, panting. "Holy hoofjobs, he did!"
Just then, the entire ship shook. Everypony could hear the metal rattle of hydraulic door parts moving through the bulkheads.
"What in heaven's name is going on here?!" Belle exclaimed.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say the hangar door was opening," Pilate stammered.
Everypony looked at one another.
"Blessed Spark," Belle gasped. "Top deck!"
Kera was the first to scamper up the stairs. Everypony swiftly followed suit.
"What in the spit is happening to Nancy Jane now?!" Floydien shouted from the cockpit.
"Feels like a release of pressure!" Booster Spice exclaimed. "Does this ship have opening compartments?"
"Yes yes yes! In the rear!"
"Then I think somepony's just opened it!" Booster exclaimed. His ears twitched to the sound of galloping hooves. He spun towards the stairwell.
The Jurists charged out, catching their breaths in the dim starlight.
"Anypony seen Eagle Eye?!" Kera asked.
"Who?!"
"The cute girl," Josho grumbled.
"You mean the blonde with the awesome goggles?"
"No, the cuter one!" Props chirped
Booster squinted. "The lavender unicorn?"
"That one!"
"I haven't seen anypony come up here until you guys just—"
"Don't be silly!" Belle shouted, rushing towards the starboard railing. "Look towards the ground! They'll have touched down by now!"
"They?!"
"Eagle Eye and Ebon!" Josho shouted, peering past the opened hangar doors at the stern. "They just jumped ship, and I'm willing to bet Princess used his magic!"
"Why in the spit would lover boomers jump ship?!"
"Just look for them, okay?! They can't have gone far!"
"Searching... searching..." Zaid squinted across the forest. "Reticulating splines..."
"Zaidy Waidy, less mouthing and more squinting."
"There!" Kera's voice cracked from the port side.
"Kera?" Pilate stammered as ponies galloped past him.
"Where?! Where?!" Props bounced.
"Down there! Look!" Kera pointed.
Every Jurist spotted two shapes galloping through the forest with a green glow.
"Then if it's not his horn that's glowing, what's—?" Pilate began but didn't finish. His ears folded and he tilted his face across the Jury.
Bellesmith blinked at him. Ultimately, she realized he wasn't aiming his ears in her direction. She turned completely around.
Roarke was leaning over the starboard side. Her lenses extended all the way, locked on the fleeing figure. After a deep breath, she scowled heavily.
Belle blinked. "Roarke..."
Thw-Thwppp! The metal mare shot out a length of metal cables. They latched onto a tree's upper branches. Within the same breath, she leapt clear off the side of the Jury, swinging until she was at earth level. There, she landed with the grace of her metal-reinforced limbs, then broke into a swift gallop after the two.
Belle fell back on her haunches. "Oh Spark, no..."
"Dammit!" Josho grunted, making to leap over the railing. "Not my kid—!"
"Whoa whoah whoah!" Zaid and Booster Spice reached in, tugging the unicorn's heavy weight back. "Blondie! We gotta catch up with them before Roarke does!"
"Handsome!" Props was already hollering towards the cockpit. "You gotta land Nancy! This is a super hyper turbo ultra emergency!"
"Ungh! If you boomers wouldn't bleed yourselves out so quickly—"
"Mr. Floydien, please, you must lower the ship at once!" Pilate shouted.
"Yes yes yes! Glimmering in the doing!"
Everypony braced themselves as the ship rapidly descended.
Kera bit her lip, trembling. She didn't realize it, but she was side-stepping towards Belle, clinging to one of the adult mare's legs. Belle wrapped a hoof around the child, all the while her worried eyes stuck to the forest below as the trees came closer. Fresh tears glistened in the starlight.
Rainbow Dash didn't dare look behind her. Hearing the ear-shattering death roar of the pursuing creatures was real enough.
At last, the mountain peak came within reach. Rainbow spun a hard angle around it, piercing a layer of thick mist as she approached the opening. The dark chasm yawned before her like a purgatorial gate.
"Whelp..." She sucked her breath in, a taste of bitter cold winds. "...time for open house." She took her last glance of starlight, then dropped.
Just as the closest waves of serpents nipped at her hooves, Rainbow jerked hard to the right, twirled, and plunged deep into the mountainous abyss. A solid rope of ravenous serpents sailed after her, returning speedily to their vile lair, abandoning the country outside.
Eagle Eye panted and panted as he galloped wildly through the trees.
The changeling on his back winced with each jolt, clinging as tightly as it could. It fought the urge to sob with every bounding trot the stallion beneath it took.
"D-don't let go, Ebon," Eagle murmured, his face pale with sweat. "Please... st-stay with me." He gulped. "I'll get us someplace s-safe! Someplace where n-nopony will know a thing about changelings..."
"What..." The shape-shifter stirred, shuddering. "What about th-the Jury?"
Eagle grimaced in mid-sprint. "I don't want to risk anything..." He gulped. "I don't want to risk you anymore!" He slumped against a tree, pausing to shiver. "It's all m-my fault, Ebon... I've ruined everything." He whimpered. "I should have t-told you. I should have told everypony. But n-now... how can I be trusted?"
"EE, I..." The changeling stirred, squeezing one of the stallion's shoulders. "I... I tr-trust..."
Eagle bit his lip, reaching up and touching its forelimb. "We'll start over, 'kay? Someplace... somewhere..." He broke into a gallop once again. "It'll be different, y'hear?! No more battles. No more blood."
"Eagle..."
Eagle sprinted out into a tiny starlit clearing. "No more pain! None of mine, none of yours, none of th-theirs!" He was hyperventilating at this point. "You'll have love and peace! Just like I pr-promised!"
"Eagle, please, don't—"
Thw-Thwppp! A length of metal cable lashed out from the treeline behind them and wrapped around Eagle Eye's left rear leg. Twnnng!
"Aaaugh!" Eagle Eye sprawled to the forest floor.
"Ooof!" The changeling flew off him and rolled raggedly across the clearing.
Eagle struggled for about three seconds. Suddenly, he was hoisted up into the air. He yelped, dangling by his one leg. He looked up to see the metal cable pulled tight over a hanging tree branch. Something blurred in the corner of his vision. Breathless, he twirled to look.
Th-Thud! Roarke's four hooves landed heavily inside the clearing. She marched icily towards the collapsed shape-shifter.
The creature looked up, spasming fitfully. Upon first sight of the Searonese mare, it shrieked and scooted away from her. "EE! Eagle!"
"Nnngh—Roarke!" Eagle spat, his eyes twitching. He spun and fought with his binding. "Mmrfnnngh—Stop it! Leave him alone!"
Roarke kept marching. She was so close now to the shivering changeling that her starlit shadow spread over its porous limbs.
At last, Eagle took a deep breath. He aimed his horn at the cable ensnaring his leg. A violet light shimmered brightly at the tip of his skull. He gritted his teeth, hissing beneath his breath. Slowly, the cable started to bend and unravel. The stallion concentrated until a tiny river of blood trickled out his nostrils. At last—Snap! The cable unraveled with a loud pop.
Eagle Eye fell like a dead weight to the forested floor. Ignoring the pain of impact, he rolled up onto his hooves, unsheathed his shield, and charged at full speed. "Dammit, Roarke—Go away!"
Roarke calmly turned around—instantly ducking.
"Rrrrghh!" Eagle flung the shield at full force, then slammed it down over her neck. "Haaaaugh!"
Perfectly quiet, she backtrotted from the blow, side-stepped Eagle's next to swings, and raised her hoof as he jabbed forward with the disc. Her metal brace caught the shield's edge, then pulled down.
Whang! Eagle was uppercutted by the other end of his own weapon. Wheezing, he nevertheless shoved the object at her at full force. Roarke simply planted her hooves in the ground, taking the brunt of the attack. When her hooves could drag through the earth no longer, she lifted the shield up with both forelimbs, tossing Eagle Eye's petite body over her.
Eagle Eye fell hard to the ground and rolled into a tree trunk. Growling, he stood up and began galloping towards her immediately—
P-Pow! Roarke fired two large metal staples from her forelimb.
Cl-Clack! Both braces caught around Eagle's right legs, pinning him sideways to a thick tree trunk. Wide-eyed, he shook and struggled to get out of the trap. "Nnnnrghhh—Gkkkt! Sp-Spark! He aimed his horn at the tree, unraveling the bark like a peeled potato. The staples had embedded too deep, and the chances of getting unpinned was slim at best.
Without saying a word, Roarke swiveled around and trotted firmly towards where the changeling limply scurried.
"No... No, Roarke, p-please!" Eagle was sobbing at this point. "Don't d-do this to him, Roarke! I beg you!" He tilted his head up and hollered into the night air. "Ebon, Run! Don't let Roarke get near you! You hear me?! Don't let her touch you!"
The changeling was a whimpering mess. It kicked and scraped at the earth, sliding weakly away from the looming mare. "Please..." Its fangs quivered. "I... I-I didn't know! I swear!" Its clear eyes teared. "I-I wasn't spying for Mother—I mean Chrysalis!" It winced, covering its glazed muzzle with a pair of webbed hooves. "Don't, Roarke, please! Don't hurt Eagle! I-I beg you!"
Roarke's brow furrowed. She lowered in front of him.
"Ebon! Get out of here—"
"You c-can do what you want to m-me!" The thing howled, "But don't h-hurt Eagle! He d-didn't mean anything! He j-just wanted to protect me—"
At last, Roarke hissed, "Look at me."
"Nnnngh—no—!"
Fiercely, Roarke yanked both of the changeling's forelimbs. She pulled it up so that she could snarl into its face. "Look. At. Me."
The creature winced... shuddered... and eventually squinted at her with constant trembles.
Roarke's nostrils flared. She tugged on its left hoof until it rested against her beating chest. "Feel."
The changeling merely blinked at her, its gossamer fins twitching.
Roarke inhaled deeply. "Who... do you love...?"
The creature's breaths fell short. Its eyes glazed over, reflecting Roarke's lenses, then pulsed with a green flame. In five melting seconds, its black carapace gave way to a blue coat. A rainbow mane dangled off the mare's folded ears.
Eagle Eye gawked silently from afar.
Roarke sighed. "Who do you love?"
Rainbow's eyes quivered, then slowly turned violet. Her ragged hair waxed into a luscious purple mane. The starlight reflected a glossy shine over the petite stallion's lavender coat.
At this point, the air rattled with hoofsteps. The whole Jury galloped to the edge of the clearing, stopping with a collective gasp.
"There!" Props yelped, pointing. "There they are!"
"What in Ledo's name is she doin' to them?!" Josho growled, pumping his shotgun. He took two thunderous steps further. "Hey! Leave 'em be, ya bionic bitch—!"
"No..." Belle stuck her forelimb out, blocking the stallion. Everypony glanced wildly at her. She gulped and said, "Just wait..."
Pilate's ears twitched curiously. Kera sat on his backside, craning her neck to see. Zaid and Props watched with worried expressions while Booster Spice and Floydien squinted quizzically.
Roarke was leaning forward at this point. Still gripping the unicorn doppgelganger's hoof, she then pressed it to his own chest. "This... Feel this?"
The stallion bit his lip and nervously nodded.
"This is your home," Roarke droned, staring intently into his violet eyes. "It is your anchor. You can fly for millions of miles in any direction, but you'll be nowhere if you lose track of this. It's who you are. It's what you are. Your outside might change, whether you wish it or not, but that isn't what makes you you."
The unicorn shuddered, eventually mewling forth, "But... b-but I'm not real..." He sniffled, tearing. "I've never been. What if I'm not meant to have a h-home?"
"You had one as soon as you found him," Roarke said firmly. "And you sure as Hell won't be staying there if you run away... if you let fear and doubt get the best of you... the both of you..."
The stallion blinked, his breaths slowing, calming down...
Roarke took a deep breath and said, "I've not been truly living for most of my existence." She gulped. "That's all changed now, and even with my anchor gone, I know where I belong, and... I now know how to keep what I have real." She leaned back. "Can you say the same?"
The stallion clenched his jaw. He looked over her shoulder at Eagle Eye across the way. In a flicker of warm green light, his burgundy coat returned. "Yes," Ebon Mane said.
Eagle stared back, his features going limp in a soft breath.
Roarke stood up, staring down at Ebon in pure silence. A few seconds later, she jerked towards Eagle Eye. Th-Thwppp! She launched a pair of metal cables that instantly wrapped around the staples binding him to the tree. Cr-Crack! She loosened them in a hearbeat.
"Ooomf!" Eagle Eye fell to the ground, wincing. He didn't try galloping, moving, or charging. He didn't say anything. The stallion simply sat there, stunned.
"Go to him," Roarke said quietly. "He's been seeking a home for a very long time as well."
Ebon took a deep breath. He stood on strong legs, then shuffled softly across the clearing. When he reached Eagle, he squatted low, placing a hoof on the stallion's shoulders.
Instantly, Eagle quivered. He clenched his eyes shut and sobbed, "I'm sorry, Ebon... I'm so... s-so sorry..."
"Shhhh..." Ebon leaned in, nuzzling the stallion softly. "Don't be sorry..." He bore a tiny smile as a tear trickled down his cheek. "You're my protector, after all..."
A bittersweet giggle escaped Eagle's throat. His smile was a crooked thing, buckling under the first of many heavy sobs. His forelimbs snaked blindly forward, and Ebon caught them—caught him, enfolding the ex-mercenary in a heartfelt embrace.
"I l-love you, Ebon," Eagle whimpered, sniffling. "Spark help me, I love you s-so much. I'd do anything for you..."
"I know." Ebon rested his chin atop the shivering stallion's head, holding him close. "Just... n-no more running away, 'kay?"
By this point, several shadows had gathered around the couple. The rest of the Jurists stood around them, some resting hooves on the stallions' shoulders while Props and Kera squatted know, nuzzling them with happy grins. Belle bore a teary smile as she leaned against Pilate.
"It's never too late," Roarke said. She inhaled warmly, her lensed eyes swimming across the tranquil forest. "It's never too late to begin again." At last, her gaze fell upon Josho.
The stallion stared back. He leaned on his shotgun and gave her a smug smirk.
Roarke's lips almost curved. Then, with a meditative breath, she turned from the warm scene and gazed into the cold mist of the northern mountains...
With a shout, Rainbow Dash plunged into utter darkness. She felt stuffy patches of air nipping at her ears and bangs. Squinting, she ran a hoof over the lightning pendant hanging from her neck. Immediately, a solid ring of blurred stone walls illuminated around her in a ruby glow. There was barely any room to breathe, much less spread her wings out straight.
So, she did neither. Squeezing her body into the shape of a blue torpedo, she hurled herself down the near-vertical shaft in the heart of the mountain. It was around this time that she heard a deaffening salvo of echoes and roars.
She narrowed her eyes and looked behind her.
Just beyond her ruby aura, a solid wall of gray ethereal light came charging down after her. The monsters were gaining inches by the second, their fangs, talons, and scales streaking after her whipping tail.
Rainbow Dash stopped looking behind. She set her eyes on the darkness ahead, twirling her body like a corkscrew as she fought the increasing friction of her claustrophobic dive. The walls were smooth and polished from changeling acid, and soon they started spreading apart, opening up into a grand cavern of sorts.
When Rainbow pierced her way into the lower depths, she could feel the ghostly echo of her wind-splitting wings. It morphed into a whining sound that echoed off every extremity of the cavern. Rainbow pivoted until she faced the direction from which the last echo reverberated. Sure enough, the Yaerfaerda symbol glistened from beyond. Rainbow hurled herself towards it, wheezing for breath in the deep, deep tomb.
Soon, the darkness from beyond swallowed up her ruby pendant altogether, as well as the ribbons of spectral beasts sailing after her.
The Jurists congregated inside and outside of the ship. Eagle Eye and Ebon sat on the hangar's entrance, their hooves intertwined as they gently, quietly nuzzled each other. Josho watched from a distance, occasionally staring out into the misty treeline beyond where the Noble Jury was parked.
Bellesmith and Pilate sat together in the grass while Kera paced anxiously around them. Several times, Belle tried coaxing the little filly to stop and rest, but the foal insisted on trotting in worried little circles.
Pilate tilted his head up. Standing along the port side of the Noble Jury's upper deck were Zaid and Props. Zaid was murmuring something into Props ear, all the while rubbing her shoulder. Props shook, quivered, then clenched her teary eyes shut. In a sad fit, she galloped off and ran down the stairwell.
Zaid stood in place, sighing. He glanced towards the cockpit where Josho, Floydien and Booster Spice could be seen, sitting limply against the wooden rails of the starboard side. With a limp breath, Zaid stared back at the forest clearing beneath the ship. He squinted.
One shape stood on the treeline's edge, staring ever vigilantly into the mountain mists, not moving a single muscle.
Rainbow's wings were growing numb, as were her ear drums.
The shrieks of the monsters were all around her, closing in on her, consuming her.
She hissed and panted for breath, but she couldn't feel her lungs at this point. The whole world was a soupy puddle at the bottom of a heartless abyss. All that accompanied her was the sickly pale glow of every conceivable abomination from nightmares. As the legions of chaos closed in, she felt the walls doing the same. Something was glowing along the uneven floor of the cavern.
Rainbow Dash looked down, and her eyes reflected row after row of tombstones. Only they weren't tombstones, but instead giant silver strips of chaos metal laid side by side for hundreds of meters. Queen Chrysalis' devilish hoofwork was evident everywhere Rainbow looked, and as her living self sailed over the unearthly "nests," she heard louder and fresher shrieks. Like infant banshees, entire flocks of nubile monsters flew up from the metal strips where they were demonically spawned. They joined the hungry crowd flocking after Rainbow's tail, adding to the speed of their malevolent pursuit.
Sweat dripped off Rainbow's aching limbs. She took one fateful look back—and that's when it happened. Her eyes flickered, and it tore her lungs inside out.
"Aaaugh!" Rainbow yelped, dropping rapidly. She flapped her wings twice as hard, straining against the cold air as dizziness set in. Seething, she lifted up, barely skimming the tops of the silver strips. Tiny serpents leapt out, nipping and snapping at her flesh. She kicked off of them and propelled herself towards the cavern ceiling, bobbing and weaving in a vain attempt to even out.
She was panting at this point, hyperventilating. She flung her head forward, trying to look straight ahead.
The Yaerfaerda symbol was a twirling streak of alien light. She couldn't center herself—couldn't glide evenly.
And this was when the first of several monsters pounced on her body.
"Nnnngh—Gagh!" She twisted, twirled, and bucked the thing off.
Two more pounced on her, dragging her legs and wingtips down to the jagged cavern floor.
"Mmmmgnnngh—Raaaagh!" She bucked and bucked and kicked the things off. Wheezing for breath, she tried ascending once more.
The abominable flock closed in all around her. With fangs barred and claws raking, they folded around the pegasus, dragging her into the glowing depths of the swarm, slowing her flight to a bloody grind.
Soon, the rest of the legion caught up, bunching up in the center of the cavern, dogpiling on the putrid strip of pony flesh. The stuffy air was ripe with victory roars and clattering jaws.
As the suffocating group grew thicker and thicker, their chaotic glow glistened off a solid wall ahead of them... a golden door looming just a few fateful meters away.
Ebon was exhausted. He lay his chin on Eagle Eye's forelimbs as he succumbed to dull slumber. Eagle caressed his mane, pausing every now and then to stare at the changeling's finely crafted fibers. He sniffled, his muzzle neutrally caught between and smile and a sob. He leaned down multiple times, kissing the top of Ebon's fuzzy head while staring into the forest.
Past where Pilate, Belle, and Kera sat, Eagle could still see the figure of Roarke.
The metal mare hadn't sat for one second. Even if her legs trembled, she still remained standing, staring like a stalwart statue into the murky depths of the forest. Her ears twitched every now and then, but her rigid stance was absolute.
Eagle Eye bit his lip. He tilted his muzzle down down and nuzzled Ebon in his sleep, closing his eyes before the tears could squeeze out.
Deep inside the mountain, the feasting cluster of monstrosities began to relax... to settle. Their scales loosened while their tails and talons went slack.
Then, all of the sudden, there was an undulating quiver of flesh, emanating outward from the center of the ravenous pile in a violent wave.
A second later—
POW! The bodies went flying in every direction, their flesh smoking with trailing embers.
In a beam of bright ruby light, Rainbow's body shot out from the center of the horde.
She collapsed five seconds later, stumbling across the cold stone floor. Her pendant's ruby glow flickered, highlighting dozens of scrapes and deep cuts along her body. Her breath was a pained shriek. She lurched forward, vomiting blood and mucus onto the craggy granite. Wincing, wheezing, she squinted up with one good eye.
The door to the machine world loomed straight ahead. She saw the Urohringr symbol in all its golden brilliance, and through the encroaching fogginess she made out Austraeoh and Eljunbyro and a few others as well.
Hissing in pain, she dragged herself forward, leaving bloody little streaks across the cavern floor. The pegasus inched her way towards the door. Shrieks sounded off behind her; she sensed shadows soaring in.
"Rgghhh!" She spun around, clamped her pendant with two bloodied hooves, and aimed high. Fl-Flash! With two well-aimed harmonic blasts, she crippled a pair of serpents before they got a chance to touch her. They collapsed in burnt heaps on either side. More monsters rushed in. Rainbow pulled herself up with quivering wings, stumbling towards the door. When her hoof made contact, she could spot the blood splatter before the metal began glowing.
Just as the air filled with the tell-tale whine of harmonic enchantment, three beasts leapt on Rainbow's backside. One took a ragged bite of her shoulder.
"Aaaaaugh!" Rainbow howled in pain. She shook two of them off and struggled with the third one whose fangs were lodged in her flesh. Hissing, she instead flattened her body against the metal door. A pony-shaped light emanated from the gold surface in response, intensifying in brilliance. Not long after, the serpent biting into Rainbow shrieked as it dissolved from the outside in, finally releasing its grip.
As the doors parted, a combination of pressurized air and golden light knocked several of the leaping monsters back. They bellowed in pain, struggling to get closer to Rainbow Dash and finish her butchered corpse off.
Rainbow clenched her teeth in pain. She tried standing up, but the blood from her wounds made her slip on the metal floor. Wheezing, she stumbled forward, then moved the only remaining strong parts of her—her wings. Like a limp balloon, she drifted into the halls of the machine world. Her torn body was followed by a golden glow, illuminating rows upon rows of long-dormant pendulums and gears and pulley systems. The immaculate platinum surfaces reflected her ragged body as she fluttered unevenly like a ghost, lost in the abandoned basement of a forsaken world.
Her eyes twitched left and right, searching for her center. It was then that she realized that the glow of Yaerfaerda was all around her, blinding her. So, instead, she squinted bravely into the luminous bowels, seeking the focal point of her goal. At last she found it, below her and to the right. Careful not to let her wings go fully limp, she descended slowly through the metallic maze.
She heard a crackling echo behind her. The beasts finally recovered from the door's opening, and the whole entire legion soared in, raking their claws against the untouched surfaces of the holy place. They rattled gears and pistons and chains as they searched every crevice for the living pegasus that had opened the domain.
When they at last found her, it was at the far end of a bridge, in the center of which loomed a bright golden pedestal with an even brighter flame.
Rainbow saw it, and she ignored the resounding shrieks of the monsters as they closed in around her. She angled her wings and glided straight for Yaerfaerda, its six circles rotating faster and faster as she got closer. She held her breath, stretching a hoof straight forward.
Wh-Wham! A serpent slammed into her side.
"Hrkkk!" She collapsed, rolling off the bridge. She gripped the metal surface at the last second—even thinking to raise a rear hoof up and buck the serpent on its second approach. She pulled herself forward, tugging weakly at the floor. Two more serpents landed. She blasted one with the light from her pendant and uppercutted the other with her hoof.
Then, on the next breath, her body went deathly cold.
"Guh!" Rainbow fell chin-first against the bridge. Blood pooled around her, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't even smell it. Every time she opened her red-on-yellow eyes, the world swam blazing pirouettes. She tried whimpering somepony's name, but all that came out was bile. Between the feverish blinks, she realized that something in her legs was mustering the strength to pull her forward, but it was a pitiable crawl at best, and the entire legion of monsters had closed in around her, circling at just a spit's distance.
Up ahead, the pedestal was just a trot or two away, though the ruby flame billowed thinner and thinner, dying out—just like another light.
Rainbow's eyes darted through the dizziness to see that her pendant was dimming. Half a second later, she was howling in pain, gripping her forehead as two fixed points bled out along her brow. She felt the brush of suddenly hairy fetlocks while a singular fang ripped through the gums in her teeth.
Rolling over onto her back, Rainbow hugged herself, spasming in pain. She didn't expect it to be this agonizing... to feel so excruciating. A queer thought entered her mind: that her biggest mistake all these months was fighting it. Upon contemplating that, the numbness returned. Her yellow eyes opened, and she saw the monsters swarming in on her, for they knew—as she knew—that there was no harmony left to keep them at bay.
Her eyes rolled back, and she shaded herself from the mess of fangs with a pair of twitching limbs. It would do no good.
The creatures descended on Rainbow in a violent, churning mass of teeth and claws. At the same exact time, the ruby flame atop the pedestal went out completely.
Props gasped. It was intensely dark inside the Noble Jury's engine room. She spun around.
There was no lavender light coming from the black iron cage.
Muzzle quivering, the blonde engineer shuffled nervously towards the container. Gripping the bars, she pensively peered in.
The ancient tome lay on its side, completely dormant. Nothing was glowing—not a single rune.
The mare's eyes turned instantly glossy.
Up on the top deck of the Jury, Zaid lay limply against the railing, his eyes thin as he gazed at Roarke and the forest beyond.
Suddenly, there was a loud galloping of hooves.
He turned around just as Props skidded to a stop. He stood up straight, ears twitching at attention.
Props stared back, panting, her eyes wide as saucers.
Josho, Booster, and Floydien craned their necks to see. Once they witnessed her expression, they slowly exchanged confused glances.
Zaid shuffled towards her. His mouth hung open on the edge of an unspoken question.
That was when Props bit her lip. She shook her head, harder and harder. Tears welled up in her eyes as she collapsed right there, sobbing pitifully.
Zaid's ears folded back. Gulping a lump down his throat, he squatted alongside her and held the mare close. He peered nervously over the ship's edge, where he made eye contact with Bellesmith. He wished that he hadn't, so he instead buried his face into Props' neck.
Belle gasped, clasping a hoof over her mouth. Pilate tilted his head curiously towards her.
In the meantime, Kera gawked, her mouth agape. She shook, she fumed. With a growl, she galloped straight into the misty tree-line. Pilate and Belle were too late to stop her.
Roarke, however, only needed to fling one hoof aside. She caught Kera and lifted the foal up into her forelimbs. The filly shrieked and struggled and fought. Her horn glowed and the branches of the trees shook overhead. As the leaves fell and Roarke's grip tightened, Kera's body untensed, melting into a series of pent-up sobs. She clenched her eyes shut and let loose one long howl, surrendering to Roarke's embrace.
Ebon awoke with a start, glancing worriedly towards the treeline. Eagle held him close along the hangar's entrance, his body shaking with crying heaves as he clung to the changeling.
Belle and Pilate nuzzled each other, helplessly looking on... listening on while Kera's wails echoed against the trees ahead of them.
Roarke was silent. She weathered every sob that wracked through Kera's body. Only when it was time to nuzzle the child did she finally break eye contact with the foot of the mountain, her lenses devoid of glint or starlight. She caressed the filly's mane, murmuring a single word over and over again that even she couldn't be bothered to remember.
The cosmos glittered endlessly, segmented into brilliant portraits with spectral nebulae as their majestic frames.
Galaxies swirled with liquid grace across the ebony expanse, their epic, glowing arms like golden bands that streaked through inky darkness.
Between the comet streaks, the solar flares, and the electromagnetic pulses, a solid ring hovered at a fixed point in space. In the very center of its rotation was a shimmering beacon of light, warming every square kilometer of its curved inner surfaces. The light flickered for a space of time, dimmed, then flickered once more, repeating its cycle evenly for decades, centuries, millennia, eons.
In the far distance, occupying the far ends of the same galaxy, more rings twirled. Dozens of them. Hundreds. Thousands.
They swam a fantastic dance through the universe, like glowing eyes forever exploring the infinite expanse.
"Ah, I see now. We are forever learning, aren't we?"
One ring in particular sailed through a patch of chaotic space, its outer surfaces suddenly covered in malevolent shadow.
"Life, after all, is about progress. Surely, one can expect a few bumps along the way, epic or not."
With multiple pulses of light, the ring broke up into twelve separate parts. They turned dark, dim, and swam away from each other across the miasmic emptiness.
"There is chaos, and there is evil—for sure. But then there are also those who do the wrong things for all the right reasons. History will forever demonize them, but history doesn't have to be just a straight line, don't you think?"
As the planes dwindled into darkness, their reflections vanished in the tears clinging to Rainbow Dash's eyelashes. She drifted through the dismal clouds of chaos, her scarred limbs hanging limply by her side, her muzzle frozen in a perpetual grimace.
"What...?!" She gulped dryly. "Where...?"
"I'm beginning to understand, as maybe you're starting to, that history needs someone awesome like you... someone bold enough, crazy enough, and daring enough to complete the circle with just that—a straight line. Are you up for the challenge?"
"I..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth. She opened her lids just as she drifted past an artificial sun. "I-I don't get it..." Her eyes danced between bright and dark ends of a lone plane in chaos. "...why am I not dead?"
"Because you are up for the challenge. It's silly of me to even ask. And it's silly of you to feel so alone."
Rainbow wheezed, watching as the curved plane tilted about to face her, its vast mountains, valleys, deserts, and oceans glittering beneath a brilliant sunrise.
"I..." Rainbow Dash seethed, her wings spreading apart as her muscles tightened. "Fly." She stretched a hoof forward, into the blinding light. "I n-need to fly."
"... ... ...let me help you."
A soft hoof gripped Rainbow's and tugged—
—her up into a sitting position.
Rainbow gasped, sputtering. With wide eyes, she looked around from where she sat, panting heavily.
She was on the bridge deep inside the machine world. Monsters loomed all around her, thrashing and gnashing at a rippling sphere of harmonic energy emanating outward in all direction. Despite all of their ravenous efforts, they could no longer pierce through the field and touch her.
Rainbow shuddered. She blinked, then glanced down at her pendant with a gasp.
The Element of Loyalty was pulsating brighter than the pegasus had ever before witnessed. She was surprised that the ruby glow wasn't melting her already torn flesh.
With a jolt, Rainbow faced the pedestal ahead of her.
The flame was gone, but the Yaerfaerda symbol remained.
Rainbow clenched her breath, took a deep breath, and lunged forward.
Yelling, trailing blood, Rainbow soared towards the pedestal. She slapped both forelimbs onto the very top. There was no flame because she was the flame. As soon as she made contact, the ruby light left the pendant and filled the brazer instead. Her body erupted with harmonic energy, glowing all over with an immaculate crimson shine. Every wound, gash, and bruise lit up. Rainbow Dash ignited the pedestal, incinerating the cavernous interior of the machine in every possible direction.
The abominations had nowhere to go. They were doomed from the very moment that they followed Austraeoh inside. In hellish shrieks, they dissolved one after another, consumed by the ruby torch as it billowed outward, filling every golden nook and cranny of the world's basement, spinning every gear and swinging every pendulum to life. Soon, there was nothing left to see, for the burning dust of serpentine flesh had cast a fine blanket over every conceivable surface. In mere seconds, the flame erupted outward, surging into the mountain's hollow core and melting the chaos strips outside to a coarse powder. The frothing energy illuminated every cursed patch of stone with a cleansing, warming light.
Beside the stationary Noble Jury, Bellesmith and Pilate cuddled closely with one another on the grass. They weren't asleep, but they weren't exactly awake either. Their calm breaths were interrupted every now and then by a sad shudder or a sniffle. Otherwise, they were still.
Ebon and Eagle Eye sat not too far away along the Jury's hangar doors, their slumbering expressions frozen in a melancholic glaze. Further inside the hangar entrance, Props slumped in Zaid's faithful forelimbs. The two of them were as cold and still as the metal bulkheads of the Jury that loomed around the two.
All in all, a bitter quiet hush hung over the Jury as they greeted the dawn.
And then the dawn greeted them.
Kera was the first to notice it. Her tattooed face twitched, wrinkled, then scrunched. Her soft eyelids fluttered open, crusty with the salt of nightly tears. She squinted her emerald eyes, peering into the mists. She stood up, climbed over Bellesmith's tail, and padded quietly through the grass.
She passed by Roarke, who stood at the forest's edge with her head bowed. Upon hearing the crunch of leaves from the filly's small hooves, the metal mare looked up. Her brow furrowed as she followed the foal's gaze. Roarke's head tilted up, and she gazed into the treeline with whirring lenses.
Belle looked up as well. A slow gasp escaped her muzzle with increasing velocity. She vigorously shook Pilate, who snapped awake.
Ebon and Eagle woke from the sudden commotion, peering upwards to see. Not long after, the rest of the Jurists trotted quietly out of the ship's hangar. Josho, Floydien, Zaid, Props, and even Booster Spice stepped out into the clearing, all of their eyes locked on the mountainside.
The fog was receding, dissipating. It ran up the mountain's southern face like a reverse blanket, evaporating with translucent tendrils along the way. Within the span of a minute, the entire cloud of mist had vanished, exposing every beautiful green treetop in the crispness of dawn.
Kera gawked at the sight. She spun and looked at Belle and Pilate, her muzzle dropped. The couple stood up, trotting softly towards her in numb awe. Suddenly, Belle flinched, shading her eyes. Pilate lurched to a stop, tilting his head towards his beloved worriedly.
Curious, Kera spun around—and she too had to squint. The sunrise had just broken the eastern edge of the mountain, and it pierced the fir trees around Amulek with multiple golden harpstrings.
Kera had to rub her eyes. Roarke, on the other hand, stared persistently through her guarded lenses. Her lips pursed, and it wasn't long after that an uncharacteristically dainty gasp escaped her lips.
Wincing, Kera looked up, once again braving the brightness.
As the sun slowly swam its way above the mountain's edge, a petite figure came into focus, trotting quietly towards the Noble Jury, emerging from the dense forest with all her healthy limbs intact. An unblemished coat shone like the blue sky itself. At last, when she had fully entered the treeline, Rainbow Dash came to a stop with a rattle of her pendant, bearing a devilish smirk.
Kera gaped. Slowly, she sported a tattooed grin that almost mirrored the mare's, if only it weren't for the happy tearstreaks. She waddled forward, ran, galloped—then threw herself into Rainbow Dash's chest, nuzzling her fuzzy coat.
Rainbow wrapped a hoof around the filly, messing up her mane. With a slight chuckle, she looked over the child's shoulder. When she locked gazes with Belle, her cheeks turned suddenly rosy.
Belle was lurching forward with Pilate not too far behind. She reached a trembling hoof forward, giving Rainbow's face and ear the lightest of feathery touches. Rainbow giggled and nuzzled Belle's hoof back. At the warm touch, Belle finally caved. She flung herself forward, swallowing Rainbow in a deep hug with Kera smooshed in between.
Breathless, Pilate wandered in a zig zag, reaching forward with a stumbling hoof.
Rainbow pulled her neck out from Belle's nuzzles and gave a sharp whistle.
Pilate jerked towards the sound, collapsed, and practically plowed the group over with his hug. The four of them laughed and sobbed at once, all of them clustering together to hold Rainbow Dash tight.
Eagle shivered, holding a hoof over his muzzle. He glanced aside at Ebon with a bittersweet smile. Ebon smiled back, nuzzled him, then grasped the unicorn's hoof with his own—graciously leading him forward. Soon, both stallions were squatting down, reaching in to nuzzle Rainbow Dash as dearly as they could.
By this time, Props was bouncing in an ecstatic circle around the group, whooping and hollering her head off with several tosses of her blonde mane. She barreled into the pile, causing several ponies to chuckle breathlessly. Zaid smirked, squatting down and hugging Props from behind while the engineer gave Rainbow a cheek-rub or two or twelve.
Josho leaned on his shotgun with a smirk. Floydien trotted up beside him. Josho glanced at the elk and did a double-take upon seeing a smile plastered across the pilot's muzzle. Scratching his chins, Josho gave the air a booming laugh while once again returning his gaze to the warm scene.
The laughter was not unheard. Booster Spice glanced over his shoulder and spotted many familiar faces pouring out of the buildings of Amulek. From afar, the goggled stallion could see Merigold, Drakshaa, and several others emerging into the sunlight. The villagers gazed in shock at the clear blue skies and the golden dawn bathing their valley once again in wholesome warmth for the first time in months. Biting his lip, the stallion turned around and gazed happily at the returning hero. He clasped his hooves together and shuddered inwardly as his eyes moistened.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was trying her best to catch a breath from all of the legs and hooves of friends enfolded around her. Chuckling, she blew her bangs out from her eyes and stared across the clearing. Her breath left her as her ears twitched.
Roarke stood across the clearing, staring into the hug. Her braids danced in the warm morning wind... and she smiled.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She clasped her lips together and grinned, a warm, lingering, amorous smile of contentment.
Roarke exhaled calmly, her cheeks starting to match the color of her mane.
Rainbow's teeth showed beneath her smile. She heard something—a shift in the wind. She tilted her head up from the center of the Jury, staring into the clear blue sky. For a second there she thought she saw something streaking overhead, the hint of dark red scales, and then those wings were gone once more. Her head fell to the mountain as the shadow slipped by, and then she glanced east.
Yaerfaerda was in another place, a distant, far-off destination. And now it glistened with a distinctly lavender shine.
Rainbow blinked, and she put on her best smirk. "Heh..." Closing her eyes, she calmly drifted back down to earth, caught in the loving hooves of Pilate, Belle, and Kera. "Awesome."
